Partly Cloudy, 64°
Affable everyman Christopher Miller’s Tuesday stalled in its narrative conclusion last week as the protagonist’s day entered its resolving action. Shoddy and overwritten plotting resulted in a hodgepodge of nonsensical events, stilted dialogue and confused motives, as Miller seemingly lost track of the circumstances in which he had been embroiled ever since Tuesday’s first plot point. The sympathy and interest gained in the rising action were all but wasted, a lack of focus resulting in aimless meandering as Miller prepared himself a meal, watched just under three hours of television and turned in early.
“It feels right now like Christopher’s Tuesday is about 30 pages too long,” said screenwriting instructor Robert McKee when reached for a statement. “In a second and third draft, I would like to see us really rooting for Christopher Miller. Why this Tuesday? Why this story?”
Many critics complained similarly about the deus ex machina device, by which the presentation Miller was supposed to give at the end of the day was postponed until tomorrow when the clients’ flight was delayed by four hours because of weather. Such convenient coincidences were typical of the late afternoon and early evening’s entire course, Miller catching his train without delay and arriving everywhere with hair unmussed. Christopher proceeded through both the day’s major conflict and dénouement unphased and went to bed without learning any valuable life lessons.
“There’s no action here,” commented famed script guru Syd Field. “The main character appears to be totally content, appears not to want anything. Without any tension, this whole Tuesday seems to just fizzle. Why have I spent any time with Christopher Miller? If I find myself asking that question as a viewer, I’m already bored.”
Notable as well were the many flagrant, seemingly willful continuity errors. We see Miller park his car in a lot Tuesday morning only to find it in a deck upon leaving, this further complicated by the fact that we see him on the subway not a scene later. Likewise, it is mentioned that the narrative events of last Tuesday take place in Cleveland, Ohio—but an establishing shot of a sunset against the New York City skyline figures very prominently. Such oversights are unaccounted for and seemingly unintentional, character detail after character detail lazily retconned within the course of an extremely limited amount of time. All of which lend the Tuesday an unpolished feel that the work never quite manages to own up to.
“As it stands,” quipped Field, “this Tuesday seems like a flimsy excuse to bring back the characters from Monday.”
Script doctors suggest that Miller take further stock of his narrative situation, find the most economical way of relaying that situation, and remember that writing is rewriting.
