by John P. Meyer

Writer/director Mike Million's good hearted tale of a college professor at the crossroads played at the Lone Star Film Festival Friday night.

When I spoke by phone recently with writer/director Mike Million, I was pleased to learn that he had, in fact, read Lucky Jim -- Kingsley Amis' biting, hilarious, novelized account of the trials and tribulations of a college professor battling for tenure. Turns out he didn't read it until after he'd completed his own screenplay, but the two tales share subject matter and sensibilities. (Both are insightful, funny, melancholic, and wise.)

Tenure played at the Lone Star Film Festival Friday night. (The festival continues through Sunday.) It's the story of Charlie Thurber (Dallas native Luke Wilson), a professor of English Literature on the tenure track at Grey College.

Charlie's efforts at getting his most recent scholarly article published are going nowhere (even the St. Louis Voice turns him down). His best friend, a professor of anthropology at Grey named Jay Hadley (David Koechner), is proving to be a real liability, in that he is so far OFF the tenure track he'd need a GPS unit to find it. Charlie's dad, meanwhile (Bob Gunton, as William), currently resides in a nearby assisted living facility as a result of some episodes of wandering off aimlessly and becoming lost. Charlie's sister Margaret (Sasha Alexander) demands that Charlie make more frequent visits to see his dad in the "home." Her wishes derive traction from the fact that a) she's footing the bill for their dad's room and board, and b) Charlie has promised to do so. Although he finds it so depressing. (William, a former tenured professor at Princeton, makes it clear that he expects more of his son than has thusfar transpired. He even criticizes Charlie's Scrabble play.)

Jay's own bid for tenure has just been deep-sixed; perhaps the faculty advisory board did not appreciate the professor's obsessional interest in Bigfoot, which has resulted in his sponsorship of a campus Bigfoot Club ("We're Searching for Sasquatch," proclaims its motto). Certain that Dean Leakey (William Bogert) had it in for him from the get-go, Jay vents his anger by soliciting Charlie's reluctant help in TP-ing the dean's house.

Sadly -- and amusingly, in a perverse, cat-kicking sort of way -- Jay and Charlie accidentally paper-drape the trees of Dean Leakey's neighbor, an old man confined to a wheelchair who can be seen the next morning motoring around his lawn plucking at streamers with his cane.

Into this closed and politically charged academic environment steps a bright new presence in the person of Elaine Grasso (Gretchen Mol). Elaine comes to Grey College from Princeton, where she's been an assistant professor of -- you guessed it -- English Literature. Furthermore, she's just had a piece published in a prestigious journal (something along the lines of Granta). Charlie recognizes a dangerous professional competitor when he sees one -- even if she is easy on the eyes.

The remainder of the story chronicles Jay's underhanded attempts to assist Charlie in discrediting Elaine with the faculty, which include slashing her tires so she arrives late to a staff meeting, and fixing it so she appears to have stolen Jay's last Coke from the faculty lounge refrigerator.

Charlie, against his competitive instinct, finds himself appreciating his new colleague, and not just from the standpoint of physical attractiveness: Elaine struggles to make a connection with her students, and Charlie sees how important it is to her that she do so. So he actually begins helping her in this regard. Jay thinks he's nuts. (Takes one to know one.)

The denouement finds Charlie coming to grips with the fact that what he wants for himself out of life is different than what society and his father expect for him.

Wilson plays the role of Charlie with a contained, self-deprecating style that fits the role well. It's a more restrained and reflective role than those in which we typically see him, and he wears it like a comfortable, patched-at-the-elbows Harris tweed.

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