A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the name Charlie Sheen means something different to you now than it did a few years ago.  Having starred in hits such as Platoon and Wall Street early in his career he eventually decided it was time for television and found enormous success with Two and a Half Men.  Then things started to get even crazier than usual for Sheen.  A huge public spat broke out between Sheen and Two and a Half Men producer Chuck Lorre.  This prompted the genesis of statements like ‘winning’ and brings to mind images of Charlie Sheen waving a machete on a roof top while rambling something about drinking tiger blood.

From then on it’s always been a bit of a thought experiment to wonder what direction Sheen’s future will take.  On one hand his new sitcom Anger Management could do very well.  On the other hand Sheen has taken to bizarre moves such as touring the country doing stand-up comedy routines – only there wasn’t anything funny or entertaining about them.  A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III is his latest project and it is directed by Roman Coppola.  The film stars Charlie Sheen, Bill Murray, and Jason Shwartzman.

If you’re unfamiliar with the name Roman Coppola its because most of his work has been related to putting together music videos for bands such as Green Day, The Strokes, Fatboy Slim, and Wyclef Jean.  It is hard to grasp what kind of influence he had on this project because the film reeks of Sheen’s craziness.  The basic premise of the film is that the title character, played by Sheen, is dumped by his girlfriend which causes a strange sort of depression to set in.  Sheen begins having wild fantasies and imaginings that are loosely related to his current predicament.

The film fails for the same reason that his stand-up tours failed.  Sheen’s ego is enormous and when left to his own devices he seems to believe that his sheer awesomeness will win everyone over.  The truth of the matter is that Charles Swan is boring, nonsensical, and has almost no redeeming value.  At least back when Sheen was yelling from rooftops it was a real person so watching the train wreck felt like a sort of sadistic view on humanity’s foibles.  While Sheen undoubtedly still has creative talent left in him, this film serves to reinforce the point that Sheen needs solid direction to be successful.