I just got done watching an interview with Quentin Tarantino on Charlie Rose from 1994 where Quentin mentioned this movie, his love of Brian DePalma, and how the racial satire of "Hi, Mom!" not only predated but was more biting than "Bonfire of the Vanities".
I'd never seen this movie so I sought it out and watched it on YouTube. Wow, what an annoying schizophrenic mess. No wonder nobody's ever heard of it. It starts out great and with great promise -- the whole Charles During/sleazy landlord bit was truly satirical and funny, as was the initial Peeping Tom idea/DeNiro/Jennifer Salt sequence (she never stops eating during their date) -- but man, then it takes a complete 180 and nose-dives into a lengthy, unfunny, and very annoying cinema verite style whose point I'm still not quite sure about. The entire second half of the film is one long "Huh?", as is the ending. "Hi, Mom!" is a very dated film and an odd duck for sure, though not totally without merit, but all-in-all it's a misguided attempt that deserved to be forgotten.
I'd never seen this movie so I sought it out and watched it on YouTube. Wow, what an annoying schizophrenic mess. No wonder nobody's ever heard of it. It starts out great and with great promise -- the whole Charles During/sleazy landlord bit was truly satirical and funny, as was the initial Peeping Tom idea/DeNiro/Jennifer Salt sequence (she never stops eating during their date) -- but man, then it takes a complete 180 and nose-dives into a lengthy, unfunny, and very annoying cinema verite style whose point I'm still not quite sure about. The entire second half of the film is one long "Huh?", as is the ending. "Hi, Mom!" is a very dated film and an odd duck for sure, though not totally without merit, but all-in-all it's a misguided attempt that deserved to be forgotten.