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The four little children of Fred G. Sullivan, aka 'Adirondack Fred', do not want to starve. And they don't want to be sold to the gypsies either. They say as much, several times, during the course of Beer Drinker's Guide in hopes that this film will let their father strike it rich. But audiences may hope otherwise, despite the fact that Mr Sullivan's jokey, charmingly ingenious (and actually very elaborate) home movie happens to be a real delight. |
Complain as Mr Sullivan does about the hardships of filmmaking and family life, there is reason to think that he's still got it made. Not financially of course; this film which fully details the life of the director (who is also writer, editor, producer and star), his wife, Polly, and their offspring, makes it clear that their's is not a conventionally glamorous life. Things are made tougher by the fact that Fred G. insists that he is a filmmaker, despite strong reasons to think otherwise. Mr Sullivan's only other feature, something called Cold River, didn't go far. Refusing to give up, he feels he has no recourse but to make some film, any film, to find out whether he's got what it takes. It's nice to be able to report that he does.
In its last moments, which are suddenly quite touching, The Beer Drinker's Guide makes its purpose clear; to turn a time in the Sullivan children's lives and a portrait of their parents into a live-action family album that will preserve these memories. It's remarkable that Sullivan does this with so tittle vanity and so much wry, self-deprecating humor. The scenes involving the fate of Cold River first show Mr Sullivan, dressed in a loin cloth with leather straps across his chest, wandering a burning desert with a film can in either hand, this is his idea of what looking for a distributor was like. After that, he is seen in a tuxedo, having mud slung at him as the reviews come in. Things will be different this time. -Janet Maslin, New York Times