When 13-year-old Adam Stafford (Cameron Bright) meets the much older artist Catherine Caswell (Gretchen Mol), his interest -- and loins -- are instantly stirred. It's 1963 and he worships her anti-Establishment existence, her enigmatic allure, and her obvious physical attributes. When asked to work in her garden, Adam instantly accepts, much to the chagrin of his journalist parents (Noah Wyle, Perry Reeves). It's not long, however, before our underage hero learns his object of desire's secret. A recently discovered diary lists her many trysts, including one with a certain President of the United States. After a visit from the Commander in Chief himself, things turn from sexual to sinister, especially when Catherine's abusive CIA agent ex (Mark Pellegrino) and his boss (James Rebhorn) show up.
If contrivances were coins, An American Affair wouldn't need a theatrical release. It would have enough money in its coffers to pay off its cast, crew, and a portion of the National Debt. Films about young boys discovering sexuality from older women are a Harlequin romance a dozen, and when you consider the Lifetime Channel sheen over this entire production, the creative chestnuts it employs seem good and stale. Adding Kennedy into the mix -- and his womanizing, specifically -- seems like a weak-willed writer's ploy to make his sad Summer of '42 more saleable. By placing Catherine at the center of the standard Cubans/Bay of Pigs/Missile Crisis motive for JFK's death, the gimmick then turns grotesque.
Part of the problem here is the casting. Gretchen Mol has the right period look but she clearly deserves better than to be a bohemian Norma Jean substitute. Her occasional outbursts of indignation run in stark contrast to her forming free love attitudes. Between the LSD and the abstract painting pretense, she's a screenplay invention, not a realistic individual. Elsewhere, minor players Wyle, Pellegrino, and Rebhorn are forced to work within plot parameters so tortuous that few in the audience will be able to tolerate them.
But it's the irritating Cameron Bright who will bother viewers the most. Confusing lust with legitimacy, he feels entitled to be part of everything, from Catherine's outsider status to her more 'intimate' moments. He has no problem manipulating his Catholic school classmates, believing cruelty is the proper response to his raging, uncontrolled hormones. By the time the November 22 tragedy occurs, all he wants to do is 'comfort' Catherine, and not in the traditional way.
Given the surreal subject matter explored, it's hard to imagine how An American Affair could work. Focus exclusively on the May-to-December aspects of the narrative and you risk alienating the audience. Give into the political intrigue part of the plot and you just look stupid. In such a situation, a movie with creative common sense would cut its losses and simply move on. But this dated melodrama wants to exploit its connection to a fallen icon and its does so -- to its detriment.
Like a candle in the wind.
