Very disappointing...

Nice effects though.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Blistering performances.

Abel Ferrara to me is the most interesting and uncompromising American director working in movies today. He has had a career like no other, and one that even his fans would have to admit has been extremely uneven. For every brilliant movie he has made ('Bad Lieutenant', 'King Of New York') he has made some stinkers ('Fear City', 'Dangerous Game'). 'The Blackout' is somewhere between the two, half compelling, half embarrassing failure. Newcomers to Ferrara's work should probably avoid this one until they have sampled a few of his more successful works. One of my big problems with this movie is the casting of Matthew Modine. Modine is a pretty good actor but doesn't have the acting chops (of say, Harvey Keitel or Christopher Walken, previous Ferrara leading men) to really make his role here totally convincing. Modine plays a young Hollywood star who is out of control on booze, sex and drugs ala the real life escapades of Christian Slater or Robert Downey, Jr. A few of his scenes were excellent, but overall I just didn't believe him. The rest of the cast is a little shaky too. Beatrice Dalle ('Betty Blue') and supermodel Claudia Schiffer are both adequate but not that compelling, and Dennis Hopper, who I am a major fan of, just hams it up in what my friends call a "hey, maaaaaaan!" role. It was good to see Steven Bauer ('Scarface') in this movie, an underrated actor who hasn't received the roles he deserves, but then he is only given a few lines, and then he's gone. I'm also really taken by the beautiful Sarah Lassez who starred in Gregg Araki's weird and wonderful 'Nowhere', released the same year as this. I was hoping she became a major star, but sadly it looks like that isn't going to happen. 'The Blackout' is by no means Ferrara's worst movie but it is also far from his best. As uneven as it is fans will get enough out of it to justify watching it, but he can do so much better than this! A very frustrating movie this one.

Movie star in a failing relationship goes to Miami and Mexico on drug and booze binge to try and put things together. Instead he falls into a blackout and loses the girl with Hopper filming a video about it all. So he goes back to New York. drys out and finds another woman but he takes one of the AA steps too far for his own good. Making amends can be difficult if he killed the woman? The film missed US theaters and I can see why. The dreamier scenes and symbolism are ruined by the sound track which is deafening, irritating and not at all in tune with the flow of the picture. Modine is good but Hopper only goes thru the motions.

Lots of people seem to hate this film, but I think it is one of his strongest. Modine and Hopper are a great team. Ferrara does a fine job of summoning up the brooding menace of suppressed memories and bad love. Dennis Hopper takes time off from being a pantomime villain, and becomes genuinely scary for sheer decadence instead. The sunshine and sleaze of Miami are perfect counterpoints to one another.Claudia Schiffer lets the side down a tad, being only nice but dim. Oh, and the Schooly D title song is not really all that. But mostly it hits the spot.

"Video is the future!" So tells us madman Hopper. He could be right, if you take to drugs and booze. Only Abel Ferrare can attract big time actors for sleaze and plotless movies. So open up and enter the void where you may find meaning to this interesting piece of art trash!