Vera Farmiga and Nick Stahl in"Quid Pro Quo""Quid Pro Quo" opens in theaters today, and is garnering mixed reviews of its provocative story about able-bodied people who want to become disabled.
Nick Stahl (pictured above) plays a disabled character who is also a radio journalist who learns about a subculture of disabled wannabes. Out of the blue, a woman named Fiona (Vera Farmiga) contacts him and tells him of people bribing doctors to have their limbs amputated. The Fiona character desperately seeks becoming paralyzed.
The NY Daily News review praised the acting, particularly of Farmiga and Stahl, but little else in the film, saying "it's as if (director and writer Carlos) Brooks read a magazine article about an unusual subculture and was inspired to make a movie about it. But as both writer and director, he gets in so far over his head that he can only bail out in the easiest, most disappointing way. And never do we believe that he truly understands how his characters feel, whether they're confined to a wheelchair, or just want to be."
The Christian Science Monitor gave it a C-.
The NY Times review found the semi-surreal, film noir flavor of the movie appealing but said the film lost some focus as it progressed: "After spinning out metaphors of paralysis and eroticism in its characters’ feverish imaginations, 'Quid Pro Quo decides at the last minute that it has to explain everything. The moment it pulls away from the fantastic, it lands with a thud."
You can watch the trailer at imdb.com.
One plus of the film is that Paralympian, model and actress Aimee Mullins is in the cast. It's always a good thing when an actual person with a disability plays a character with a disability.
