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Hurlyburly
It's been on my watchlist for at least a decade, but I found the 1998 drama Hurlyburly a dark and pretentious drama that never really escapes its stage origins despite some directorial flair and a powerhouse ensemble cast.
Playwrwight David Rabe's ferocious look at Hollywood movers and shakers whose lives dangerously collide premiered on Broadway in 1984 and ran for a mere 343 performances, despite an impressive cast of movie stars in the cast, including William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver and sadly, the Broadway stage is where this piece should have stayed.
Eddie (Sean Penn), Mickey (Kevin Spacey), Phil (Chazz Palminteri), and Artie (Garry Shandling) are all Hollywood insiders who apparently are not very good at what they do. We learn that Phil is a struggling actor but it's never really made clear what aspect of show business these other three guys are involved in, though by the way Eddie talks, I suspect that he is probably a writer. As the story unfolds, it appears to be a convoluted triangle when it is revealed that Eddie and Mickey are both involved with a woman named Darlene (Robin Wright), but the story attempts to expand in so many directions it's really hard to keep track of what's going on here and why these people are all SO angry.
A little more backstory on these characters might have made their unhappiness a little more comprehensible. What we get here is bunch of guys sprouting Tennessee Williams-type monologues, utilizing dialogue way above their pay grade and consuming massive amounts of cocaine and marijuana while they're doing it. Most people I know can't put two sentences together when they are wasted as these guys get but these guys never shut up.
And in this new politically correct Hollywood where sexual misconduct is the norm, the treatment of the female characters in this movie is absolutely disgusting. We hear female characters referred to as "it" and watch in horror as one actually gets thrown out of her own car...seriously?
Director Anthony Drazan works very hard at opening up the piece to make it look more like a movie, but the effort is so forced and over the top that the piece even looks more like photographed stage play that seems to go on forever. One thing Drazan did realize with this piece is that it's an actor's dream and so did his cast, who somehow keep all this pretentious and talky nonsense somewhat watchable. Penn is always worth watching and Palminteri has never been better, but when it comes down to it, this movie is much to do about nothing.
It's been on my watchlist for at least a decade, but I found the 1998 drama Hurlyburly a dark and pretentious drama that never really escapes its stage origins despite some directorial flair and a powerhouse ensemble cast.
Playwrwight David Rabe's ferocious look at Hollywood movers and shakers whose lives dangerously collide premiered on Broadway in 1984 and ran for a mere 343 performances, despite an impressive cast of movie stars in the cast, including William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver and sadly, the Broadway stage is where this piece should have stayed.
Eddie (Sean Penn), Mickey (Kevin Spacey), Phil (Chazz Palminteri), and Artie (Garry Shandling) are all Hollywood insiders who apparently are not very good at what they do. We learn that Phil is a struggling actor but it's never really made clear what aspect of show business these other three guys are involved in, though by the way Eddie talks, I suspect that he is probably a writer. As the story unfolds, it appears to be a convoluted triangle when it is revealed that Eddie and Mickey are both involved with a woman named Darlene (Robin Wright), but the story attempts to expand in so many directions it's really hard to keep track of what's going on here and why these people are all SO angry.
A little more backstory on these characters might have made their unhappiness a little more comprehensible. What we get here is bunch of guys sprouting Tennessee Williams-type monologues, utilizing dialogue way above their pay grade and consuming massive amounts of cocaine and marijuana while they're doing it. Most people I know can't put two sentences together when they are wasted as these guys get but these guys never shut up.
And in this new politically correct Hollywood where sexual misconduct is the norm, the treatment of the female characters in this movie is absolutely disgusting. We hear female characters referred to as "it" and watch in horror as one actually gets thrown out of her own car...seriously?
Director Anthony Drazan works very hard at opening up the piece to make it look more like a movie, but the effort is so forced and over the top that the piece even looks more like photographed stage play that seems to go on forever. One thing Drazan did realize with this piece is that it's an actor's dream and so did his cast, who somehow keep all this pretentious and talky nonsense somewhat watchable. Penn is always worth watching and Palminteri has never been better, but when it comes down to it, this movie is much to do about nothing.