The Polka King *** / *****
Directed by: Maya Forbes.
Written by: Maya Forbes & Wallace
Wolodarsky.
Starring: Jack Black (Jan Lewan),
Jenny Slate (Marla Lewan), Jason Schwartzman (Mickey Pizzazz), Jacki Weaver
(Barb), Vanessa Bayer (Binki Bear), J. B. Smoove (Ron Edwards), Robert Capron
(David Lewan).
The
story The Polka King tells won’t be surprising to anyone who has seen as many
episodes of American Greed as I have (whether they did one on this story or
not, I don’t know – but its right up their ally). A seemingly nice guy starts
taking donations from elderly people he knows, promising high interest returns
on their money. Then, of course, he has to start taking in more and more money
from more and more investors in order to keep the scheme going. It’s a classic
Ponzi scheme, and those all come crashing down eventually, because they must. A
few things make the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Jan Lewan different – first, he
was a Polish immigrant, second he seems like a legitimately nice guy, third he
didn’t spend money on a lavish lifestyle for himself, and fourth, he was a well-known
figure in Pennsylvania because of his Polka music. He really wanted the American
dream – he just couldn’t get it the legal way.
The
movie detailing his story is more than a little bit of a tonal free-for-all,
and seems to be lacking in some very basic details about what Lewan did, and
how (the biggest may well how he really did get his tour group to meet the
Pope). It is buoyed by a number of energetic performances however, that keep
the film from ever getting boring. Front and center is Jack Black as Jan Lewan
himself – a big goofy smile plastered on his face, as he fronts his Polka band,
and basically while he does everything else in his life. He is a devoted
husband to Marla (Jenny Slate), who loves him, and has delusions of grandeur to
match him, and father to their son David. Everyone it seems like Jan, except
his mother-in-law Barb (Jacki Weaver) – going even more over-the-top than
anyone else in the film (which is saying something) – who doesn’t trust him for
a minute. Even the government agent who shuts down Lewan’s initial scheme (JB
Smoove), likes the guy – and basically forgets about for years, after Jan
convinces him he shut down his illegal investing business. Jan has that effect
on people – you really be a criminal.
The
film is directed by Maya Forbes, who struggles a little bit with the tone of
the film, which is more often than not as big and broad as Black’s Jan Lewan
himself. Mostly, that works, but the film takes some darker twists as it moves
along – as it must – and Forbes struggles to find the right notes there. The
last act of the movie is a mess in many ways – not least because it doesn’t
feel like anyone is all that concerned with the details of what Lewan did.
Still,
the film is mostly an interesting watch for the performances alone. Black is
capable of doing this type of character in his sleep – Lewan fits in nicely
alongside a performance like the one he gave in Richard Linklater’s Bernie (his
career best work) – but he goes all in, as does Slate, especially as she tries
to become a beauty queen, and Weaver. Jason Schwartzman is a nice
counterbalancing performance – everyone else goes big, so he goes small – even
as he explains how he wants to change his name to Mickey Pizzazz.
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