Theater Review of American Buffalo
2 Out of 4 Stars
You know that you’re watching a David Mamet play when the pre-show announcement instructs you to “turn off your f***ing cell phones.”
We’ve been less than thrilled with Mamet’s behavior over the past year. For starters, he announced in The Village Voice that he was a newly converted political conservative instead of a so-called “brain-dead liberal.” Moreover, his new satire “November,” which starred Nathan Lane as the President, was pretty bad.
This fall, Broadway is reviving two of Mamet’s best three-actor plays. First up was “Speed-the-Plow,” his indictment of Hollywood producers, featuring Jeremy Piven, Raul Esparza and Elisabeth Moss.
Now comes “American Buffalo,” Mamet’s first full-length comic drama, which focuses on three petty criminals who plot to steal a rare Buffalo Nickel. Ironically, the characters view themselves as hard-working businessmen instead of hustlers.
To our surprise, Robert Falls’ disappointing revival is undercooked and lifeless. Whereas the cast of “Speed-the-Plow” completely mastered Mamet’s rapid-fire, rat-a-tat, foul-mouthed language, that same verbal style falls flat in “American Buffalo.”
It’s not clear whether the cast couldn’t handle the script or if Falls purposely slowed down the dialogue. As a result, Mamet’s exploration of desperate ambition and failed friendship feels underwhelming it finally erupts in a huge blast of violence.
As Donny, the street-smart pawnshop owner who conceives the trio’s criminal scheme, Cedric the Entertainer downplays his performance and displays none of his onscreen comedy talent.
John Leguizamo portrays Teach (a role once played by Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman and William H. Macy) as an angry, loudmouth hotshot. However, he too often feels ridiculous instead of genuinely dangerous.
Haley Joel Osment, best remembered as the child star of “The Sixth Sense,” portrays Bobby, Donney’s young lackey, as a dim-witted teenager instead of a junkie. Unfortunately, him and Cedric fail to establish a necessary father-son relationship.
Belasco Theater, 111 West 44th St, 212-239-6200, $26-116. Tues 7pm, Wed 2 & 8pm, Thurs-Fri 8pm, Sat 2 & 8pm, Sun 3pm. Thru April 19.
