To me, this movie is perfection.

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

I read a few of the reviews that tossed this film "under the bus" Decided I would give it a try anyway. After all I like most of the players that graced the stage in this unbelievable waste of film.The plot starts a bit thin and never gets any deeper. A crime boss that commits himself then decides he's OK(or does he?) must get his town in order and re-connect with the only woman that can touch his jaded,bipolar,sociopathic heart.(that old chestnut) Two hours of horrible dialog and even worse acting comes to a climax with predictable stupidity. The over cool good guys and wise cracking bad guy face off in a scenario that was meant to be exciting and unpredictable.I must say this actually hurt me to watch. Any time you have to have two of the main characters spend three or more minutes explaining what just happened, there is a good chance it was too ridiculous for the average person connect the dots. Then when the dots are connected you realize it wasn't worth connecting after all. And did I mention terrible acting? Ellen Barkin did an OK job the rest,especially Dreyfuss,were horrendous.Do yourself a favor and avoid this disaster. Your time would be better spent watching infomercials or pulling your fingernails off.

Yes this is one of the best mafia style movies I have ever seen. I did not realize Jeff Goldblum had made a mafia movie until I caught this movie on a movie channel, possibly on my Independent Films Channel not 100% sure on that though. However I give this a 10 out of 10 simply because every big star in this movie was awesome in their roles, especially Goldblum, but R. Dreyfus, H. Silva, B. Reynolds, J. Bishop L. Bishop, G. Hines, G. Byrne and of course the women in this film Barkin, Layne, Everhart were phenomenal as well. This film is in my top five best ever mafia style movies that necessarily didn't over do it with violence and gun shootouts but it seemed to have just enough violence to make it more realistic and true to life. The story line was great as well and I can't express how much I enjoyed this movie and will buy it on DVD soon! I don't understand what is with Hollywood and why they can't produce great movies such as this one. I agree with a prior comment on how little notoriety this movie got and how hard it is to find it playing on TV, makes little sense to me. But as I always say the best movies don't come out of Hollywood but through Independent films sources more often than not.

Hint number one - read the title as "the Time of the Mad Dog," or perhaps dogs. This is a pretty good ensemble piece (look at the cast and rent it - you know you're curious already), and first-time director Bishop gives them their chance, taking his time, letting the characters interact and chew the scenery as they wait - not enthusiastically - for the return of "the big boss" and whatever revenge ensues.For some of us, the highlight is seeing Christopher Jones after his self-imposed exile from films; he remains a commanding film presence. And yes, with Christopher Jones, Larry Bishop and Richard Pryor involved, this IS the "Wild in the Streets" reunion party!

This movie is great. Simply. It is rare that you find a comedy with levels, and this is a bloody good example of such. When I saw this movie first, as the credit rolled, a friend and I looked to one another and asked... 'did you just catch that?' For those doubters, look at the levels. See the comparisons between Vick and the people in the club, the DNA! See the diverse characters, each jostling for position, and if you see nothing else, see the connection between the cure of Vick and the path through the film. IT'S ALL IN VICK'S HEAD! The opening line about Vick's world. The closing scene with the camera going into Vick's head, and inside, a whole universe! Thoroughly quotable, wonderful cartoon gangsters, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!