Thanks for the memories!

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

As Good As It Gets

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Eccentric drifter Collie (Patric) left a career in boxing following a nervous breakdown. Having escaped a mental institution he wanders...And wanders...And wanders until one humid day he finds himself in the wrong town, stumbles into the wrong bar and meets Fay (Ward) -the wrong kind of older woman.In need of someone to care for him some way, some how Kevin is vulnerable to her entreaties though she pretty obviously looks down on him. Her flirtations are punctuated by insults no self-respecting person would tolerate. She waves red flags like a matador but Kevin has no place to go. Taken back to her place and offered a job with room and board the fly contemplates settling into the web.Fay takes Kevin to dinner and introduces him to Uncle Bud (Dern) - a mysterious older man who is a hundred different kinds of bad news. The quirky, charismatic, charming career criminal has a business proposition for Kevin. His instincts tell him to split especially after his new acquaintances have each warned him about the other. But a guy with limited resources can only get so far. In his case the fly nearly settles into a different kind of web which makes Fay's look appetizing.Jason Patric was on the verge of Hollywood superstardom before he was 25. His performance in The Lost Boys (1987), The Beast of War (1988), this film and Rush (1991) not only made him a heart-throb to millions of young women but also established him as a serious actor capable of giving edgy performances consistently. The career on the A-list which seemed almost certain to be his eluded him perhaps because he eluded it.Patric's first screen role was as Bruce Dern's drug-addict son in a dumb 1985 TV movie called 'Toughlove'.

Director James Foley's movie version of Jim Thompson's 1955 pulp novel "After Dark, My Sweet" provides an intriguing insight into the lives of three characters who've all seen better times. Their profound feelings of loss, despair and defeat contribute significantly to the downbeat atmosphere of the piece and its steady pace also reflects perfectly their lack of urgency, focus and direction.In common with many other neo-noirs, the action in "After Dark, My Sweet" takes place in an extremely hot environment. Its story however, with its themes of betrayal, treachery and hopelessness is classic film noir material.Kevin "Collie" Collins (Jason Patric), an ex-boxer who's escaped from a mental institution meets Fay Anderson (Rachel Ward) an alcoholic widow, in a bar in the southern Californian desert. She offers him a place to stay in return for doing work on the rundown estate that she'd inherited from her late husband.Fay's acquaintance, Uncle Bud (Bruce Dern) has, for some time, been working on a plan to kidnap the son of a local wealthy family and he and Fay persuade Collie to join them in carrying out the plan but predictably, after kidnapping the boy, things start to go out of control.Jason Patric's portrayal of the emotionally troubled and consistently misunderstood Collie is tremendous. He appears to be in bad shape physically and mentally but appearances can be deceptive as he's actually smarter than other people think and he's also quick to recognise when they try to exploit his apparent deficiencies for their own ulterior purposes. The experience of having killed an opponent in the ring haunts him and his attempts to befriend other people only attract abuse, exploitation or open hostility. His capacity for sudden violence at unpredictable times is also probably a manifestation of his despair and loss of hope for the future.Rachel Ward conveys Fay's despondency and bitterness very capably. Her mood swings and reliance on copious amounts of alcohol often make her relationship with Collie uncomfortable and her purposeless existence is reflected in the rundown condition of her estate.Bruce Dern is suitably slimy as the insincere and manipulative ex-police detective who's always working on a scheme and who patronises Collie because his flawed judgement makes him underestimate the one time pugilist. George Dickerson is also excellent in a minor role as the very creepy Doctor Goldman who befriends Collie, ostensibly to help him, but also for his own dubious motives.The setting for "After Dark, My Sweet" contributes strongly to the atmosphere of the movie and mirrors very powerfully, the desolation which is such a strong feature of the lives of its characters.

Three losers, a dirty ex-cop (Bruce Dern), an alcoholic seductress (Rachel Ward), and a punchy boxer (Jason Patric) become entwined in a botched kidnapping caper. Believe no one, trust no one, especially your partners in the crime. The story unfolds entirely from the viewpoint of the three kidnappers. "After Dark My Sweet" is slow, but never boring or predictable. I can't say I was totally satisfied with the outcome, and some plot threads dangle uncomfortably. Nevertheless, a better than average noir film, with competent character development and acting, nice photography, and interesting musical score. Marginally recommended. - MERK

If in the 90's you're adapting a book written in the 50's, set the bloody thing in the 50's and not the '90's. See, 40 year old mores and values tend not to play as well, or ring as true, that far down the road. It's a simple rule that Hollywood habitually keeps violating. And that's the problem with this film. It should have been set in the era it was written in. You'd think that would be a no-brainer, but nooo. I'd elaborate, but bmacv's comment spells it out quite well. I'll limit my commentary to Rachel Ward. She looks like she dieted her ass completely out of existence for this role. As a result, she looks like a crack ho' on chemotherapy, and is about as sexy as a gay leather couch in drag. I found her "I could die at any moment" look quite disconcerting, and it greatly detracted from her supposed "hotness" and the "sexual tension" the film intended to create. Other than that, the film was quite good; a 7+ out of 10.