Change Your Image
mcfly-4
Reviews
American Pie (1999)
It's true! This is the way guys really think!
This is not some silly fantasy about getting some; this is the real deal. An accurate portrayal of all that late pubescent angst which generally culminates in a less than satisfactory experience. Consequently, this film culminates in a thoroughly satisfactory movie going experience. It is a remarkably masterful work by a talented group of people. The script was honest, natural, and very funny. I would not be at all surprised if Adam Herz' writing is nominated for an academy award. 1000 years from now, when an inquisitive anthropologist wants to know what it was like to be seventeen in the late 1900s this could be part of the definitive reference trilogy along with "Breakfast Club" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". Well done! Let's see some more!
Bowfinger (1999)
And they let Robert Downey Jr. out of jail for this?
Even when a film is this badly done, one can at least get some idea as to what they were trying to do. In the case of "Bowfinger" even their intent escapes me. This was another example of posting the only good points of a film in the trailer, nothing else worthwhile remains.
Stepmom (1998)
Incredulous and not entertained.
The first two thirds of the film are quite clearly stated by the sixty-second trailer. The big screen, unexpurgated, version serves only to make these loathsome and hateful people (well portrayed by Susan Sarandon and Jena Malone) more substantial and more tangible. The events of the last third of the film are intended, I assume, to turn around our perception of these characters and somehow make them more endearing. Well, for me, it just didn't work. Although the acting was at least competent, the apparent moral of the story of absolute forgiveness under adversity was just not plausible.
If you are a staunch Julia Roberts fan you may appreciate her portrayal of the unquestioning Isabel but are not likely to enjoy the abuse her character must endure.