Reviews

I happened to see this movie at a drive-in when I was 6 yrs. old. I don't know what the hell my parents were thinking taking a 6 yr. old (me) and my 4 yr. old sister in an Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser station wagon. Sure, we were real comfy with the seats folded down lying on blankets and pillows munching on popcorn, but wow, this movie really had an effect on me, and it wasn't real good. As a young child, I was able to grasp the concept of a deep love between Buster and Billie but when things began to get ugly, it really freaked me out. All I remember after Buster's full frontal shot was Billie getting raped and then her being wrapped in cloth or mummified in some way (this was 28 yrs. ago so the visual details elude me) and then Jan Michael Vincent doing some kind of crazy karate move where he flips some dude with his arm on a pool table and killing a few guys. I have to tell you this shook my 70's innocent Disney perspective on life to the core! When we got home and I was in my pajamas, brushing my teeth, I started crying my eyes out. My mom came in and said, "Oh, sweetie, why are you crying? Was it because Billie died at the end of the movie?' I said, "No". But...umm ya...hell ya, it was because you subjected me to this terrible rape and murder that would be hard even for an adult!! Again, WTF were they thinking (incidentally, I will make them both read this review). Wow, glad I got that out of my system! BTW, hope I don't seem too harsh on my parents, after all, they seemed to think it was "OK" to let me stand up in the middle of the front seat in the blue Chevy Chevelle whilst speeding away and lie down in the back window when I was "sleepy". WTF was up with my parents and most parents who owned automobiles until the early 80's!?!? LOL. Anyway, don't let your 6 yr. olds see this movie (and don't let them sleep near the back windshield) sheesh!

This movie has certainly gained cult status and nothing I could say would persuade any reader to watch it because if you are reading this review you are one of the 99% of the people who absolutely love this flick.

Growing up in the Chicago area my dad was the manager of a bowling alley for 30 years and I was a bowling alley rat as a kid. This film is especially funny to me because I remember characters like "The Dude" and Walter Sobczak drinking and bowling all the time. A lot of wing nuts hang at the lanes, which to me, made the story even more plausible. LOL. I remember the late 80's & early 90's and they captured the ambiance of the bowling alley crowd perfectly. I adore this movie.

The movie is hilarious but this is something you already know. I have a soft spot in my heart for the scene after Donnie has the heart attack and the next scene is a really cool pan of the lanes and the bowlers as Townes Van Zandt pines the Rolling Stones' "Dead Flowers" live as a backdrop; a really great combination of great Coen brothers and great music. Sadly, Townes Van Zandt died a year before this came out, which makes me wonder if they put that song in there as a tribute to him, and also fitting with Donnie's death; both are sad moments.

And remember: "That's right, nobody f*cks with the Jesus!"

The story has been laid out in many user reviews so I won't re-hash. The first viewing will separate the wheat from the chaff. If you're still up for a second viewing, it will become clearer (and more interesting). On the third viewing, you will hopefully start to get it.

It's a brilliant story and one that I have always been fascinated with; the issues of time travel and the paradoxes that might be created. Causality is something not to be toyed with as our friends Aaron and Abe soon find out as their lives start to spiral out of control near the end.

Shane Carruth offers a great, smart script; that alone would merit this movie an instant classic, but to pull it off while directing, filming, scoring, producing, editing, acting, etc. This isn't a one trick pony. Carruth is somewhat of a phenom, at least in my eyes and many, many others.

This is a movie to watch over and over, until your doubles can get back to watch it again. :P

*** Possible spoilers ***

What a fantastic film! I'm sure you have read the basic premise. This movie is visually gorgeous; amazing camera pans, tight shots, silhouettes, etc.. The lighting is incredible! Anderson continues to make amazing films (and he is still a kid)! The visuals aside, the story and acting are equally perfect! I saw this again for the second time tonight and caught some of the subtle nuances that I missed at the theater.

I forgot that Barry's life changed when he first wore the blue suit (and he wears it thru the whole film).

The semi-truck that passes him while he takes the harmonium from the street appears again when he is on his first date.

The phone booth lights up when he gets a hold of Lena in Hawaii.

I've already forgotten many other subtleties.

Sandler, who I liked on SNL (but hated in many a lame comedy movie), finally shines. He is pretty damn amazing in this movie and has earned my complete respect as an actor. Emily Watson is great too. Both should have had Oscar nods.

I love how Barry's violent, frustrated rage of self-loathing is, toward the end of the film, focused on the people who stand in the way of his true love; his sister at the phone booth in Hawaii, the four blond brothers and the final and amazing anti-climactic scene with the "mattress man". The last two scenes I mentioned are among my favorites. After the four blonde brothers hit Barry's car and he sees Lena's blood spill from her forehead, he steps out of the car and in a very professional, almost business-like manner, proceeds to kick the sh!t out of three of the four brothers. It's a funny scene really because, if you notice, he buttons up his suit before the brief carnage and after he smashes the windows of the pick-up truck, he politely hands the last brother the crowbar. Quite funny! The scene with Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the mattress store is perhaps in my top 5 all time movie scenes. When he goes face to face with the mattress man and says, "I have so much strength in me you have no idea. I have a love in my life; it makes me stonger than anything you can imagine". The matressman has no choice but to tuck tail because Sandler comes off like Superman with a blue suit who is about to put this chump down. And at this point, you don't know what he is capable of, I could swear he could bend steal after this last scene :) Great stuff! Just a great, great scene that plays on the frustration of credit card scams in general, but Barry holding the detached phone throughout the scene makes it equally surreal, funny as hell,and psychotic.

All in all it's a pretty great romance movie (and I hate that genre). I would hesitate to call it a romantic comedy because, though very funny at times, is skewed with tension and violence, but that is what makes it so great! There are many original and quirky elements to this story. Great to see a tragic character like Barry Egan finally see happiness at the end.

For those of you who think this movie was boring or didn't get it. You are either idiots or don't like great movies. 'Nuff said. Keep on rocking, Anderson!

What do all the major film critics and people who loved (or at least respected) this movie have that the rest of the bad review writers have? A clue. As one positive reviewer said, it balances on a knife edge between comedy and sadness. That's it in a nutshell. This doesn't necessarily make it a dark comedy; on the contrary, I found a lot of things to celebrate about dysfunctional families. This movie was funny, sweet, and sad; tweaked just right with Anderson's semi-skewed view of the world. If you can't appreciate that, then I feel sorry for you. To call this movie bad, however, just pegs you as...clueless.

** Minor Spoilers ** Anderson & Wilson just keep getting better. I love Anderson's ability to compound an emotional scene with music. He carefully fits in the soundtrack in the most precise moments, it's beautiful. Consider the scene where Margot and Ritchie meet at the bus station with close up shots and Nico's "These Days" as a backdrop. I mean, I hate Nico's music, but it works here. Same goes with Nike Drake's "Fly" and Elliot Smiths "Needle in the Hay". Everything clicks. I love the detail that Anderson puts into his sets. If you pick up the DVD, listen to his commentary track. It's amazing to see all the intricate details that go into his shots. Things you really wouldn't notice nor care about, yet add to the ambiance of the world he creates.

**Spoiler Alert (not really, nothing to spoil)**

I had high hopes for "Spy Game" but the opening scene was a joke. I try not to pick apart a fictional drama-action movie, but man, they made it really hard. At times during the movie my wife and I would just look at each other and say, "WTF?". Case in point: Opening scene, our boy Brad pops a few pills in his mouth, rubs some gel on his hands, palms an electrified fence, blows a breaker, fakes death by electrocution, and then manages to spring a prisoner out of a maximum security jail...all within 6 min.? Huh? I know this is fiction and the film is entitled to some creative license and perhaps, departure from reality, but this was a joke! The other thing that was WAY over the line was Brad Pitt as a hotshot sniper in the Vietnam War. Huh?!?! I'm the same age as Brad Pitt, both born in '63. I don't know about him, but in 1975 I was in Jr. High trying to cop a feel, he apparently was overseas in the bush, 40 clicks outside of Saigon sniping high ranking Vietnamese Generals. Wow. And then in later scenes, as the years go by, he looks even younger!?! In the present scenes, I'm supposed to believe this guy is in his late 40's? It blew my mind. A little makeup isn't going to hurt you, pal. Do it for the film. LOL. Also, Robbie Redford looks like a mummy in the Vietnam shots, and he somehow also seems to look YOUNGER as the years go by! Did these guys run into Ponce De Leon? I'm tired so I won't go into the many other things that bugged me. Overall, it was a semi-decent movie that was in dire need of an editor/director that should have cut about 20-25 minutes of useless footage. Dragged it on, big time! Redford/Pitt did a decent job. The best scenes were with Redford making his superiors look like bungholes. Which begs the question...if Redford's character is such a genius spy-guy, why isn't he running the show over there at his CIA division? Also, he gives up his life savings to knock out the power on some Chinese island for 30 min.?? Why didn't he just let Commander Willy or whatever his name was just use an F-16 to blow out the power plant? And since when does the director of the CIA give orders for missions involving the Armed Forces? I could be wrong about that, but I don't think so. Man, this movie was lame!