Kristin Gore, daughter of Al, published a novel in 2004 entitled Sammy’s Hill: a Washington DC comedy about an idealistic young political aide working on healthcare reform. Four years later, work began on an independent movie entitled Nailed, freely adapted from the book, with Gore herself co-writing the script and David O Russell directing: a bizarre Obamacare parable with a huge high concept.
Alice (Jessica Biel) plays a smalltown waitress who gets a nail stuck in her head through a freak accident; she doesn’t have the insurance to get it removed, but this injury has apparently pierced the lobe that causes inhibitions, so with unnatural verve and confidence she comes to Washington with a bunch of other embarrassingly afflicted pilgrims on a mission to change the law – and has an affair with dopey congressman Howard Birdwell, played by Jake Gyllenhaal.
The chaotically underfunded production had eventually to be abandoned, and the salvaged footage (disowned by Russell) has now been released with a new, blander title and a fictional director’s name on it: Stephen Greene. It’s a real mess: a sort of Mr Smith Goes to Washington meets The Wizard of Oz. It’s that black-comic brain injury that must have interested Russell in the first place: the part of the film that vaguely resembles his Silver Linings Playbook. And that goes for nothing at all. If there are David O Russell completists out there, this is something for them.
