Rental Unit: “Breakfast on Pluto”

With carefulness and restraint not displayed enough during the film, Jordan makes Patrick less an outcast than someone on the lam from the world, oppressed by society’s seriousness. Like a homosexual Forrest Gump, Patrick maneuvers through a world of cultural revolution, witness to protests, touring rock bands, wild sex, daring raids, bombings — nearly every facet of the times. Interestingly, there is no side-taking; the central preoccupation is what to do in a world of church, marriage, patriotism, war and social unrest when you aren’t interested in any of it.

There’s no lack of imagination in “Breakfast on Pluto,” even though at times you might wish there were. The movie is a wild departure from “The Good Thief,” Jordon’s homage to the great French heist films of the ’50s. You admire the director’s ambition, but you don’t envy his task. One must walk a fine line if the goal is to say something serious with a character who wants nothing to do with the seriousness of the world. Ultimately it proves too unwieldy, and the movie winds down rather ordinarily considering how we got there. “Breakfast on Pluto” feels like it wants to blast off for its titular meal, and although there’s a lot of weird fun along the way, it never reaches its target. S

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