Hollywood movers and shakers dissect their own personal lives when everything seems to clash together.
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If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
It is very much like a stage play, (not surprising since that is where it came from). It is all in the dialogue rather than action; interaction between two or three characters only most of the time, sudden changes of mood and dynamics, more cerebral than visceral. It is more expansive than a stage play though, even though it has that feel about it. The screenplay includes nice cinematic touches like the car phone dialogues where one car over takes the other and he shouts at him as he goes past. A similar thing was done from the balcony of the flat earlier in the film. There are also some qualities of a Michael Mann about it with the use of architecture and music as film elements.The film grew on me as it went along. One of the things that made it difficult perhaps, was that none of the characters were very likable, but the acting by all of them was a tour de force. Nice to see Meg Ryan given a chance to do some real acting instead of being just pretty-pretty set decoration. It's a film that is hard to take in one sitting I think, and will bear repeated viewing with more coming out each time.This film is likely to appeal to people who liked such films as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Glengarry Glen Ross, Le Diner de Cons and others which have a stage play feel about them. Who said that theatre is dead?
HurlyBurly is one of those movies for me that i can watch over and over again, and each time see something different, each time connect to it in a different way. The movie captures one man's struggle for meaning and significance in his with a desperation that has rarely been caught on film before. The movie deals in archetypes, with nearly all the characters neatly sitting into one archetype or another. After watching the movie one cant help wonder which of the people he knows is like which of the characters in the movie.The direction and cinematography are used to serve the characters, and thats what the movie is about, the characters. Nothing much happens in the movie, other than people meeting, and people talking. I always find brutally honest characters interesting to watch, and this entire movie might just be about that. The cast, and the acting is excellent.Many people are bored by the movie because of its wordiness, and many people disparage it as a drug movie. Although the film is wordy, it is not a drug movie. I would say it is a philosophical movie if anything else. The movie forces you to be introspective, and the movie even acts like somewhat of a Rorschach test on the viewers. Some scenes, like the one where Eddie and Mickey describe the road trip, can be seen in different ways. I like to think that the way people understand this movie has a lot to do with the kind of people they are.Do watch this movie, but remember that the movie is demanding. The characters talk fast, and talk a lot. The ideas expressed are complicated, and need to be thought about to be properly understood. In fact, watch this movie twice.
an interesting adaptation of the play, of course there is much lost in the translation (pacing etc.) but the performances are brilliant especially Chazz Palminteri who i believe gives his best performance ever as phil a violent talentless wannabe actor who is desperately seeking meaning to his life in the soulless city of LA. Penn is also good as the slimeball with the heart of...slightly less slime quality material. Like Phil he is becoming more and more disenchanted with existence. All the characters seem to have a problem with cocaine and an inability to love. (is there a correlation?)Kevin Spacey is fun as himself and Meg Ryan is surprisingly not as "herself" as usual as a fading single mother party girl who gives fellatio to celebrities in moving vehicles...wacky. the movie is a great ensemble experiment and there are a million great moments that warrant it for multiple viewings.
After viewing this picture, I became a big fan of Sean Penn,(Eddie),"The Interpreter",'05, who showed his great acting abilities in playing a very hard role to portray on the screen. Meg Ryan,(Bonnie),"In The Cut",'03, played the role of a dippy blonde who would do anything for Eddie and I mean anything. Robin Wright Penn,(Darlene),"Nine Lives",'05 had the hots for Eddie and Eddie had a ball making love to her quite often during the film. Well, after all, they are husband and wife. Garry Shandling,(Artie),"Town & Country",'01 make a few brief appearances and tried to add some humor to his role, which was so so. This is a very strange story, but is really down to earth and has a cast of great actors who did a fantastic job of presenting way out people all mixed up and high on DRUGS!