Donal Logue as Dex

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Donal Logue, Greer Goodman Director: Jenniphr Goodman Rated: R Parents' guide: Profanity, sexual innuendo, brief drug use Length: 90 mintues

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(Sept. 1, 2000) -- The Tao of Steve is a funny and refreshing independently made comedy that offers proof positive that you can't judge a book by its cover.

With its emphasis on relationships, its conversations about mostly nothing and its whimsical, dry humor, the flavor is vaguely Seinfeld, with an American Southwest spin. The topic is scoring with the opposite sex.

Dex is a rumpled, fat kindergarten teacher whom no one would mistake as a Lothario. That is, until he applies the Tao of Steve. It's his peculiar code of conduct that's made him a babe magnet -- the guy the women want to bed and his buddies want to emulate.

Dex (Donal Logue) centers his philosophy on the rogue screen image of the late Steve McQueen. It's founded on three tenets:

First, eliminate your desire, because "women can smell an agenda."

Second, be excellent in their presence, even if it's only at playing Frisbee.

Third, withdraw and wait. As Dex puts it, "Men and women both want to have sex, but women want to have sex 15 minutes after us. So, if you hold out for 20, she'll be chasing you for five."

Dex lives in Santa Fe, N.M., where we encounter him enduring his 10th college reunion. On the surface, his former classmates murmur about how heavy he's become. "You were Elvis," one tells him. "Well, now I'm fat Elvis," he says.

But that doesn't stop him from seducing a former (and now married) girlfriend.

But Dex also meets Syd (Greer Goodman) at the reunion. And though he doesn't remember that they once had a fling, he finds himself drawn to the appealing young woman who's come back to town as set designer for the Sante Fe opera.

Dex soon discovers Syd is a strong, determined young woman who can see right through his famous Tao. Perhaps he'll have to throw out his beloved code and be himself.

The Tao of Steve was directed by Jenniphr Goodman from a script she fashioned with her sister, actress Greer Goodman, and fellow Santa Fe resident Duncan North (who apparently was the real-life model for Dex).

Goodman applied a light touch and more than a bit of whimsy to the project. She also made ample use of attractive Santa Fe locales, distancing the film from the New York-Los Angeles-Chicago settings of most romantic comedies.

Most important, though, is the breakthrough performance by Donal Logue as Dex. He won a best acting award at Sundance for this funny, on-the-money portrayal of a bright, clever man who makes the best of his strengths and weaknesses. He has created one of the most entertaining and memorable screen characters of the year.

Steve McQueen would have been proud.