The Freshman

Clark arrives in New York to study film and is robbed of everything he owns on his first day. Chasing the thief, he meets a man named Carmine Sabatini and is offered a job. Sabatini's face, voice and way of sitting are familiar, because Marlon Brando is deliberately impersonating his own Vito Corleone. The parody works because Brando does not play it for laughs. He keeps his gravity and the joke forms around him. That Clark is simultaneously studying The Godfather as coursework doubles it. The production has a story too. After shooting, Brando criticised the film to the press and said he was quitting, then apologised to his colleagues individually and issued a public statement praising the screenplay. Andrew Bergman directed, with Matthew Broderick, Bruno Kirby and Penelope Ann Miller. Its flaw is that the plot comes apart in the second half and several subplots are left unfinished. Who it is for: viewers who know the Godfather films and like odd comedy. Who it is not for: anyone who wants a plot that holds.