Review - Tuner

Starring Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Jean Reno. Screenplay by Daniel Roher and Robert Ramsey. Directed by Daniel Roher. Rated R. 109 minutes. In theaters.

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Back in high school when I still dreamed of growing up to be a hotshot filmmaker, I went out and bought one of those Syd Field books that’s supposed to teach you everything you need to know about writing a screenplay. Screenwriting tutorials are almost as old as the movies themselves, with Field’s books later replaced by Robert McKee seminars and now the “Save The Cat!” online cliché emporium. They all follow the same formulas, and while I don’t think a manual can teach anybody how to write a great script, they can certainly help you write a bad one. If anything, screenwriting guides are extremely useful in illuminating why so many movies are lousy in such similar ways.

Director Daniel Roher’s new thriller “Tuner” is a picture imprisoned by screenwriting rules, a promising story sunk by foolproof formulas. The movie has all the elements you can’t teach: fresh characters, a novel premise and an interesting, underseen milieu. Then it runs them all through a forehead-smacking chain of events in such rigorous adherence to a standardized beat sheet you’ll be mentally announcing every plot development two scenes before it occurs. A friend compared the film’s outline to an instant brownie recipe, and I can’t top that.

Instant brownies hit the spot sometimes, and I won’t deny that there can be a comfort food appeal in following such formulas. This past January’s solid Jason Statham timekiller “Shelter” was a fine example of how familiarity doesn’t necessarily have to breed contempt. But “Tuner” has so much going for it, the rote story mechanics are doubly dispiriting, like you’re watching a jazzy, original picture get shoved into a panini press.