The Tao of Steve
July 2001 Reviewed by: Wes Marshall Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

INTELLECUALIZATION: A defense mechanism whereby problems are analyzed in remote, intellectual terms while emotion, affect, and feeling are ignored.

RATIONALIZATION: (A defense mechanism) through which things that were confusing and obscure and irrational (or, better perhaps, non-rational) are made clear, concise, and rational . . . it serves to conceal the true motivations for one's actions, thoughts, or feelings.

Penguin Dictionary of Psychology

Dex (Donal Logue) is an obese schlub, a poster boy for the Freudian defense mechanisms of rationalization and intellectualization who spouts Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Lao-tzu, while explaining to his buddies how to score with the babes. He is an obviously intelligent man who teaches kindergarten part-time and takes big bong hits the rest of the time. Like most intellectualizers, Dex has spent an enormous amount of time systematizing his theories. The main one is his universal concept of cool, embodied in the term "Steve," which refers to a state of mind and being personified by Steve McGarrett (Hawaii Five-0), Steve Austin (The Six Million Dollar Man), and most of all Steve McQueen.

At his tenth college reunion, after banging a friend’s wife in the library, Dex meets Syd (new actor Greer Goodman), an opera set designer working at the Santa Fe Opera. In a delicious piece of irony, she is working on a production of Mozart's Don Giovanni (Italian for Don Juan). He falls in love with her and it scares the hell out of him. He is unsure, scared, and self-conscious. Syd is charmed until she discovers Dex’s teachings about Steve-ness. In another piece of irony, she mistakes his insecure fearfulness for gaming, and he is hoist by his own petard, or, in this case, intellectualization. The rest of the movie is about pursuit, until our hero must finally REALLY pay attention to Kierkegaard and make a laudable leap of faith.

The movie starts off wonderfully, with clever dialogue, lots of intelligent irony, and multiple hidden layers of meaning. There’s plenty here to enjoy, not the least being the real sense of genuineness in the way everyone interrelates, which fits because, in true indie fashion and to keep the costs down, everyone is a friend of the director, Jenniphr Goodman. The only outside hire was Donal Logue, an effortless and amiable actor who has taken a star-making role and created a truly special character. What makes Dex fascinating is the node where his childlike glee, shown in his horsing around with his dog and frolicking with his grade school students, meets his infantile fear of life, utilizing intellectualization to mask a total lack of ambition and fear of commitment. Logue shows genuine affection for the character, and in so doing, he brings a three-dimensionality to Dex that we don’t often see in film. Depending on your viewpoint, you might love him or might just feel sorry for him. The only sour note is the romance between Dex and Syd; it just doesn’t ring true. We never see anything that resembles two humans truly falling in love. This makes the movie sag under its own weight as Syd hopes to make Dex grow up in time for the requisite happy ending.

Goodman has pulled together a pretty looking film on a budget. The DVD transfer is just fine. Sonically nothing special happens, but it is all clear. There aren’t many extras here. There is a commentary track with the Goodman sisters, Donal Logue, and the guy whose life The Tao of Steve is based on, Duncan North. Between them, we have graduates of Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and St. Johns. Listening to the commentary, it’s hard to tell whether they enjoy slacker anomie or playing "who’s smartest" more.

Goodman has put together a thought-provoking and occasionally hilarious film. It is not in any way a sweet romantic comedy. In fact, I was most reminded of In the Company of Men in terms of how it objectifies relationships. It is certainly worth renting.

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