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| Movies,
Dan Wolff,
20 January 1999 |
Rating: F2
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With a cast this good how could a film fail to grip the viewer for 2 hours? Good question. David Rabe adopted his play of the same name to make what is commonly know in Hollywood as 'a character/dialogue driven study.' As far as this film is concerned,that means four men snort, take dope, drink and fuck for what seems like a lifetime. Sean Penn, obviously inspired by the late film producer Don Simpson, does all these things throughout the entire film when playing the helpless Eddie. His flatmate, laid back Mickey, is played by laid back Kevin Spacey who tends to give people the blind truth at exactly the wrong moment. The foursome is rounded off by Chazz Palminteri as psycopath Phil and a hysterical performance from Gary Shandling as the uber-pervert Artie.
The four of them tend to sit around the house a lot, doing hardly anything apart from talking too much drug enduced crap. Anyone who has been to a party watching idiots talk for hours about nothing will realise this does not make for interesting viewing. Whereas the amazing Glengary Glenross was riviting with rich dialogue and a similarly talented cast, this somehow fails.
The minimum plot revolves around Phil trying to get back together with his estranged wife and Eddie doing pretty much the same with his on-off girlfriend Darlene, played yet again by Robin Wright Penn. One day it would be nice to think she could make a film without her real life husband. The two of them are in one of the better scenes as they have an argument over whether or not to go to a Chinese or French restaurant.
There is also a strong misogynist streak throughout the film as women are portrayed as either bitches, prostitutes or both. Meg Ryan tries and fails to dump her usual ditsy roles as hooker Bonnie while Anna Paquin from Far Away Home and The Piano is almost unrecognizable as the underage Bonnie. Sean Penn is his usual brilliant self but how many more times can he play exactly the same arsehole?
UK rating:
18
US rating:
R
Anthony Drazan and Changwei Gu1998, US
Sean Penn , Kevin Spacey , Meg Ryan , Robin Wright Penn, Garry Shandling
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