MY NEW GUN

US, 1992, 99 minutes, Colour.
Diane Lane, James Le Gros, Stephen Collins, Tess Harper, Bruce Altman, Maddie Corman, Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Directed by Stacy Cochran.

My New Gun is a small-budget serious/comic film, a rather ironic look at a smart young couple (Diane Lane and Stephen Collins) and how their lives are changed when the husband gives his unwilling wife a gun for a present. Once again, we see an obliviously chauvinistic man, trying to dominate his wife, for her own good, even with violence.

The wife becomes entangled with the next-door neighbour, a petty criminal, played by James Le Gros, who borrows the gun. The movie shifts from suspense to farce and back again. There are mysteries with the criminal, his mother (Tess Harper) and his country and western singing father. The offbeat style and the unpredictability of the screenplay might appeal to those who enjoy something different.

1. The blend of the comic, the serious? The light touch?

2. The portrait of the town, families, the comic touches, sinister elements? Homes, hospitals, the streets? The musical score?

3. The title, the focus on guns, gun culture? Myra and her husband, the gift of the gun? Gerald and Debbie examining the gun, Debbie and her horror? Fears? Gerald and his buying the gun, forcing it on Debbie, forcing her to practise shooting? The complications with hiding it in the house, its use? Intruders?

4. Gerald and Debbie, their age, experience, at home, their married life? Gerald, doctor, superior attitudes? Their friends, the meals? The issue of the gun? Debbie, the hiding of the gun, wanting to get rid of it? Skippy and his visit, taking the gun? Gerald’s reaction – and the scuffle, Gerald shooting himself in the foot?

5. Gerald and Debbie, the squabbles, Gerald and his condescension, the issues of the gun? Skippy and Gerald’s dislike? Suspicions? Gerald in hospital after the shooting? His reactions, treatment of people, harsh towards Debbie? Her visits?

6. Debbie and her life, ordinary housewife, subservient to Gerald, the gun? The practice? Skippy, her friendship, his taking the gun, her lending it to him? Her visits to the hospital? Her watching Skippy’s house, the questions about Skippy’s mother? The hospital, the relationship with Skippy, dependence on each other, the sexual relationship?

7. Skippy, age, the neighbour, weak character, looking after his mother, his coming into the house and discussions with Gerald and Debbie? Taking the gun? Naive? Taking his mother to the airport – and her return? The concern about his father? The father’s turning up – the confrontation, the violence?

8. Skippy’s father, character, career, background, seeing him in action, his return – the touch of madness, the violent confrontation?

9. Skippy’s mother, her life with her husband, with Skippy, eccentric, to the airport, coming back? Her husband and the return?
10. His friend, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman? The nature of the friendship? Death?

11. Debbie, the gun, the death and the comment on the gun culture, people drawn into it, the consequences – both serious and comic?