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DVD I Love You to Death
This spotty black comedy from Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill)--based on a true story--stars Kevin Kline as a womanizing pizzeria owner whose mousy wife (Tracey Ullman) tries multiple ways of murdering him with the aid of sundry friends and hired hands. The film never picks up the necessary momentum or develops the necessary tone to drive it, and one is left picking and choosing which of the performers is at least adequately entertaining. Kline is good but perhaps a bit too theatrical, and Joan Plowright is hilarious as his mother-in-law. The funniest joke in the whole thing belongs to William Hurt and Keanu Reeves as deeply-stoned, would-be-killers who emerge from a taxi and look as if they can't remember what planet they're on. --Tom Keogh
THE PROMISE OF LOVE AND WHAT SHOULD A WIFE DO TO PUT AN END TO HER TWO TIMING HUBBY. A LOT OF LAUGHS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 4 STAR RATING.
Take The Family...Please!
I hadn't really studied the package that closely, but as the opening credits were playing, I couldn't help but think, "Wow! This is, like, the dream cast." I knew, of course, that it featured Tracey Ullman and Kevin Kline as the leads. But Joan Plowright! River Phoenix (what a tragic loss)! William Hurt! They even squeezed character actress Miryam Margolies. And, of course, you've got Keanu Reeves in yet another stoner role, but you know, you gotta give Keanu credit. No one did those roles better. He is spot on here.
A black comedy based on actual events? Hmm, how often do you come across something of that ilk? It is, as many reviewers have noted, something less than a complete success, and there were actually moments when I was ready to give up on it. Some of the shifts were just too abrupt. But if it falters here and there, the movie seems to somehow pick itself right back up again. The arrival of drugged out Harlan and Marlon (Hurt and Reeves) comes at one such lull and their presence gives the film a shot in the arm (no pun intended).
Not all of the gags work, of course, but the stellar cast is always worth watching. If you've ever wondered whether Tracey Ullman was more of a sketch comedian than an actress, her performance here should lay any such doubts to rest. As her mom, Joan Plowright is an absolute hoot. I can't tell for sure whether this legendary British actress's "Yugoslavian" accent is as flawless as countrywoman Ullman's "all-American" one, but she is so priceless, I can't imagine even the proudest Croatian critic arguing the point.
What of the "actual events" on which this is based? Apparently, the movie gets the gist of it, maybe more. Apparently, the Pennsylvania couple on which these seemingly impossible characters are based really did go through all of this and were still together last anyone knew. And the hubby really did change his wayward ways after his wife's multiple attempts to murder him. One discrepancy that I did read about, however, was that she really did wind up serving some time. But call that cinematic license.
There is at least an interesting subtext about Old World values and codes, and how they can justify all kinds of "outrageous" behavior (by contemporary US standards), while still seeming to be fundamentally "conservative" in nature. But that's for a doctoral dissertation or something. For our present purposes, let's just say that this oddball dark comedy is one worth seeing.
Hysterical Ensemble
What a beautiful, talented, perfect cast. Everyone plays their part with perfection and from the beginning, it's non-stop laughter! Joan Plowright is at her best - this is a jewel.
Director Nancy Savoca tackles tough material in the battle of the sexes, late-teen division, and makes it bitterly moving. River Phoenix plays one of a group of youngish marines on the verge of shipping out to Southeast Asia in 1963 San Francisco. On their last night in port, they decide to hold a "dogfight": a contest to see who can get the ugliest girl to go out with him. Phoenix winds up with a pudgy waitress (Lili Taylor), who has dreams of being like her hero, Joan Baez. As he draws her out, he finds himself intrigued by the self-contained world she has created for herself and by the time he gets her to the dance he is regretting his decision--but is too macho to pull out. Barely released, the film features touching performances by both the late Phoenix and the always fascinating... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): River Phoenix - Lili Taylor Director(s): Nancy Savoca DVD Release Date: Released the 07 January 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The late, much-missed River Phoenix had his first starring role in A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, one of the more unusual teen comedies of the 1980s. Jimmy (Phoenix) is a lower-class kid whose parents have gotten him into a wealthy school, where he hangs out with kids who can't comprehend not having money. Jimmy puts the moves on almost every girl he meets, including Denise (Ione Skye from Say Anything and Gas Food Lodging), the girlfriend of his best friend Fred (a very young Matthew Perry, who has gone on to huge success on the TV show Friends), even though his own girlfriend, Lisa (Meredith Salenger), is about to move to Hawaii. On the evening of graduation, Jimmy ruins just about every relationship he has and wrecks his dad's car along the way. A... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): River Phoenix - Ann Magnuson Director(s): William Richert DVD Release Date: Released the 26 December 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The movie is a bit of a mess, hard to follow at times, hard to know when to laugh, or if we are laughing, should we be?
Peter Falk stars as a 1950's script writer for a New Orleans radio station's soap operas. Apparently he dislikes Albanians and allows his radio soap operas to take strange detours into jokes at the expense of Albanians.
The movie also has a movie within a movie involving a romance between 36-year old Barbara Hershey and 21-years young Keanu Reeves.
The real star of the movie is the city of New Orleans and the amazing soundtrack of Wynton Marsalis. He really did a hell of a job with his compositions, but hey the guy is from New Orleans -- who better to set loose to write a soundtrack about his home city. More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Barbara Hershey - Keanu Reeves Director(s): Jon Amiel DVD Release Date: Released the 07 January 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
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The same year that River Phoenix made Running on Empty, in which he played the son of '60s radicals on the run from the law and hiding in plain sight, he also made this film, which is even less interesting than the vastly overrated Running. And, in this one, he plays a kid whose parents are, in fact, deep-cover Soviet moles (oops, the Berlin Wall is coming down--bad timing there) who are about to be brought to the surface. But Sonny Boy is being indoctrinated by a kindly FBI agent (Sidney Poitier)--and is torn between battling those dirty Commies and helping them because those dirty Commies are Mom and Dad. As silly as it sounds, building to an ersatz action finale. --Marshall FineMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sidney Poitier - River Phoenix Director(s): Richard Benjamin DVD Release Date: Released the 17 September 2002 Usually ships within 24 hours
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