Reviews

Can you have a psycho thriller, featuring a psychiatrist even, which completely lacks in psychological insight? can you have a suspense film in which the viewer feels absolutely no emotional investment in any of the poorly drawn, weak, and idiotic characters? can you invest the first half hour of a film developing a character that you immediately thereafter terminate? can you shamelessly rip off a classic like Psycho and simply call it an homage, even if your homage stinks? Can you make a film that insults every single special interest group (gay, black, mentally ill, prostitute) all at once? Brian de Palma tries to answer all of these questions in the affirmative with this truly, truly, spectacularly awful film. If it weren't for Scarface, de Palma would be a nobody.

A surprisingly strong script and solid acting performances saved what could have been a mediocre story involving cliché stock characters. As it turns out, the movie features a sensitive portrayal of a wanderlust cop, his wirey and scrappy colleague, an off-key loan shark, and a vulnerable girl. Each of the characters was subtly amusing and unique-- but not framed to be cartoonish. If the script had attempted to go in for more jokes, the movie would have suffered-- how many movies involve a disgruntled cop and a mob guy who sees a shrink? Too many... Many that often rely on overplayed cliché and slapstick to deliver. Or they go in for the melo-drama. Instead, the film just hopped along, taking the quirky story seriously, producing a film that is neither screamingly funny nor powerfully dramatic but instead small, light, and mildly interesting. Picture a just slightly-darker Mickey Blue Eyes, with a happier ending, a more interesting set of characters, and less humor.

Preliminary confession-- i've only seen the first two installments, seven up and 7 plus seven. But I'm expecting the ensuing chapters to be far more interesting than 7 plus seven, which was plagued by the unavoidable fact that the subjects were all in the most wretched throes of self-conscious adolescence. made the film very difficult to watch. i might also blame the filmmaker-- perhaps he was so used to the open, honest confessions that he was able to pry from seven year olds that he just didn't do the necessary legwork in making sure that his 14 year old subjects were comfortable enough to interview. maybe he didn't anticipate the resentment the subjects felt towards HIM for making them sit there and interview. while 14 year olds CAN be self-conscious, they can also be motor mouths if they are put in the proper environment. i'm hoping to like the next installments much more.

this film has a sort of indie, irreverent, youthful feel... maybe that's why people give it the benefit of the doubt and assume that it has something to say. unfortunately it has NOTHING to say. dialogue was brazenly unrealistic and facile, storyline was stiff and unoriginal, the ending really has nothing to do with anything... it was just so, so, so disappointing.

for every reason that "you can count on me" was a fantastic movie, this movie fell far, far short. i am just totally shocked that this film received the reviews that it did. people were taken in with the vibe, which, by the way, has been hacked to death already by every indie filmmaker out there.

i'm totally shocked this ever made it into the theater.

the writer, director, and actors barely seemed to be putting in an effort here. vince vaughn was really disappointing...while he can be great as a 'wacky' character (old school), this movie shows that he is a horrid 'straight man'. certain actors, like will farrell for instance, can play 'straight man' in a really funny way, but this was as flat as can be. ben stiller is funny, but the funniest jokes involved shoving his genitalia into his real-life wife's face. it's funny, don't get me wrong... but if that's your funniest joke, you've got problems. generally this movie just doesn't go far enough. none of the secondary characters are at all funny or useful. a pirate??? a fat nerdy guy??? a guy with a crush on a girl on the cheerleading team? can't they do better than this? a pirate for christ's sake.... what the hell is funny about that?

i'm shocked that this movie is doing well. anchorman will be 1000% better

Bruckheimer's attempts at entertainment are getting more and more transparent and futile. He makes movies that have absolutely no heart or interest. Its absolutely tragic to see so much money being wasted to produce such spectacular flops. WHY DOESNT HE QUIT?? Gone In Sixty Seconds is the most shallowly written, silly rot. There are too many characters and not enough Character. There is too much commotion and no movement. I can't make up my mind who was a more hackneyed, boring character: the protagonist or the bad guy.

Really it just sucks. The Shelby looks cool. They built eleven of them for the movie by the way. Each cost a million bucks.