By Dean Robbins
‘You Don’t Know Jack’
humanizes Dr. Kevorkian
“You Don’t Know Jack” (Saturday, 8 p.m., HBO) tells the story of Jack Kevorkian, the retired pathologist who became known as Dr. Death for his involvement in assisted suicide during the 1990s. Kevorkian is one of the most extraordinary American men in recent history, and only the most extraordinary American actor could bring him alive onscreen. In other words, this is a job for Al Pacino.
Most actors would turn Kevorkian into a cartoon, but Pacino delivers a fully formed human being. On the one hand, he’s a rumpled regular guy with big glasses and powder-blue sweaters. On the other hand, he has a messianic streak worthy of Gandhi, and he’s eager to be martyred for a cause be believes in: a patient’s right to request “a humane, quick and painless demise.”
The movie’s title notwithstanding, “You Will Know Jack” by the end of this exceptional production.
‘When Love Is Not Enough’
Sunday, 8 p.m. (CBS)
Winona Ryder is terrible in period dramas (see “The Age of Innocence,” “The Crucible”), but she keeps getting cast in them. The latest is “When Love Is Not Enough,” set in the 1920s. I admit that Ryder looks lovely in her flapper hats, but her stilted line readings make it hard to accept her in the role of Al-Anon founder Lois Wilson. Lois and husband Bill (Barry Pepper) marry after World War I, confident that love will be enough. But the movie’s title should have been a tip-off.
There’s not much to keep us entertained here, and after about an hour you’re grateful that at least Ryder looks lovely in her flapper hats. CV
