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A dark look at prescription drug trials, with a few funny scenes.

Superheroes have been quite a hot topic over the last few years.  Big summer blockbusters are being adapted from comic books and television has been running with with super powers for quite a while as well.  Evidently even the indie world is not even safe from the land of caped crusaders.  From the Magnolia Pictures offshoot, Magnet, we are brought a film called Special which explores a man getting the powers he has always dreamed about.

Longtime comic book devotee Les (Michael Rapaport) has signed up for a clinical drug trial with an up and coming new company called Special.  This drug is supposed to make his life better and while watching TV and eating a microwavable meal he realizes that he is floating.  Soon other powers begin to develop (telepathy, walking through walls, teleportation, etc…) making Les a real superhero.  Or is he?  Soon we realize this is all something he is believing in his head while everyone else sees him crash into the wall and hit the floor instead of really walking through them.  No matter how hard his friends and doctor try to warn him this is all a side effect of the drug making him believe he has powers he keeps on taking the pills.  The heads of the company are trying to get him to stop so they do not get any bad press, but he evades these “suits” every time.

The synopsis, and even the trailer, kind of make this out to be a comedy.  There are some moments with laughs, like him running into walls or tackling innocent people who he thinks are shoplifters and robbers, but the overall tone of the film has a much darker tone.  Watching Rapaport descend into a madness caused by this trial drug becomes less funny over time and more just plain hard to watch.  This along with the quiet girl who works at the supermarket, Maggie (Alexandra Holden), who he never has the nerve to talk to leaves you feeling sorry for him instead of laughing at his fantasy.  Most of the supporting cast is fine, but the movie is all about Rapaport.  Not that it is a shock for him to do well in a role but his performance carries the whole film and makes it worth watching.

The extras are rather skimpy on this disc.  Just under five minutes of outtakes, which are not very funny or interesting, some short ads promoting the film for HDNet and trailers for all of Magnet’s Six Shooter Films.  It would have been nice to have some interviews or a commentary to see what the filmmakers (Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore) have to say.  Special probably would not stand up to many repeat viewings but Rapaport makes it worth renting for sure.

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