“Sometimes we love people so much that we have to be numb to it. Because if we actually felt how much we love them, it would kill us. That doesn’t make you a bad person. It just means your heart’s too big.”

I have the Donofrio book queued up to read really soon, like in the next couple of weeks, but I really couldn’t resist watching the movie yet again once it entered my mind this afternoon.

In answer to the question, “Why do boys suck?” I once said, “Because people expect it of them,” and it was like a revelation to me, it just popped out of my mouth without any real thought behind it but I knew immediately that it was true; and this movie kind of touches on that. Like, right at the moment of birth, we see Beverley’s horror at being given a boy – she was meant to have a girl, who would be just like her! But as Steve Zahn says, it’s a boy, and it’ll be just like him!

This movie just explains so many things, I find – I think in short it could be described as, “the cycle of shit” in life; even the marriage proposal here, “so romantic”, contains the ’s’ word, lol. Yet in Beverley’s son Jason, we see how even despite how the world can grind so many of us down and lead people to all manner of quick-fixes that make matters worse, morality and intelligence tend to thrive. The last time we see the “young” Jason it’s following the last straw for Beverley when he turns her in to her cop father for drying weed in the house. She tells her son that he’s ruined their lives, but he fires it right back at her, “That’s not what you’re supposed to tell people when they tell you the truth.” The mother-son back and forth here is as pointed yet at times hilarious as Edina and Saffy in Absolutely Fabulous (a random comparison, maybe: I’ve just finishing watching that show from start to finish, it’s on my mind), him so often telling her how she should be acting, perhaps hitting its pinnacle when he falls into a hot tub, and in the middle of pulling him out, she chastises herself and drops him back, then declares herself a bad mother, to which his response is a simple, “yeh …”.

I think what perhaps made this repeat viewing resonate with me more than any other times I’ve watched it relates to that quote that jumped out at me the very first time I saw it, “I’m 22 years old …” (the rest is below) – suddenly, I’m actually almost 30 lol. The use of the song “All I Have to Do is Dream” by the Everley Brothers, sung by James Woods and Mika Boorem (“Dad, you can’t negotiate my boobs!”) as the young Beverley early in the movie and then at the end (which I’d forgotten entirely) with Drew, suddenly made sense to me: “Only trouble is, gee whiz, I’m dreamin’ my life away …” This is a movie I’d recommend to anybody to watch from the moment they’re ready to see it (and that could be anywhere between the ages of 8 and 28 so, who knows when that is?) but that reveals itself more to you as you grow. I’m still in awe of its little pockets of realism, I find more every time I watch. I’m pretty sure it’s Drew Barrymore’s best movie to date, though that’s by no means the only reason to watch it.

July 28th, 2005:

Nothing to add to the old review (below). I think this movie’s a masterpiece. It’s even more realistic than I remember it. And I remembered how badly Steve Zahn’s character degenerates at the end, but I’d forgotten how far gone he kind of already is at the start. It’s really one of the saddest characters I’ve ever seen. I’ll definitely read the Donofrio book one day.

20th February 2004:

“I’m 22 years old – that’s almost 30, and I still haven’t accepted that this is my life. And I just wish that I could be dumb. And then I wouldn’t know better and I could be happy and stop hoping. And I’m telling you this like you’re interested in my boring life.”

This movie was a surprise. I expected to like it purely for the presence of Drew Barrymore but she amazed me. She plays between ages of 15 and mid-thirties perfectly. The movie towards the end reminded me of Ted Demme’s Blow – the way Steve Zahn’s character has totally degenerated towards the end, but is still able to express love to the son he can’t even recognise. The way real life is portrayed in this movie is shockingly true. Just a simple thing such as Drew Barrymore’s character working in a fast food joint – the way she’s joking to some people off camera and she turns for the customer window and sees some old school enemies who always “knew” she’d end up in a place like this, the way her expression just totally upturns and you know, this is the worst moment of her life.

Great performances from James Woods, Brittany Murphy (who has one of the films funniest scenes – “My daughter’s a tramp! My daughter’s a tramp!” – alongside Barrymore trying to fall down the stairs to the song “The End of the World” which accompanied Murphy’s suicide in Girl, Interrupted), and Sara Gilbert who we don’t see enough of these days as the one character who seemingly “gets it right”. Just for its portrayal of life itself, if a little depressing if it catches you in the wrong mood, this movie deserves major kudos.

I could’ve probably guessed how much I’d like this – in fact, I guess I did, in its relative absence from my Oscar predix Actually, were it not for my admittedly unfortunate habit for drawing parallels between movies and spotting even before it started that this is basically Erin Brockovich meets The Insider, both of which I’d rather see a second time (even Julia Roberts just beats out Clooney in my interests; though probably only in that movie) I might’ve really enjoyed this more than expected. I can take or leave George Clooney in just about anything, I don’t really see the big worship of his acting except that he’s a looker (in my opinion he’s much more interesting behind the camera) but (though they’re a little underused, I fear too little for any awards recognition) Tilda Swinton, Sidney Pollack and Tom Wilkinson more than held my focus in their supporting roles. The use of overlapping sound from scene to scene really keeps things moving forward making 2 hours seem like a lot less, and information is fed in such a way that the best is saved for last but it’s far from dull early on. I think the big Oscar buzz, especially over Clooney, is coming from the final shot, which I’ll admit, like the thing in Atonement, like a lot of the fleeting moments of wonder in the mostly overrated crop of this years’ Oscar hopefuls, certainly left me thinking I’d seen something better too. I don’t think I’ll be coming back to double check, though.

I’m not sure I got as much out of this as some, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t more gripped from start to finish than I was during pretty much any given movie of the past year (okay, maybe 30 Days just pips it). The chase here is extraordinarily visceral, delivering bucketloads of the kind of jumpy shock most movies can lay claim to just a handful of with just about every gunshot and jolt having an impact. I hope that if this movie does get the Oscar nominations everyone’s buzzing about, it’s included in the sound categories too.

I guess I’ve got to be honest and say if there’s a reason I’m left a little empty by the movie, it’s ‘cos it lacks two things which, it you look at my faves, are kind of important to me: heart and music. So it’s not the movie’s fault at all as these two absences are highly deliberate. But it’s very rare a movie without one or both those things can do a thing for me – whereas this one did plenty – so don’t be discouraged by my 4-star rating. Though this movie comes close to that box of movies last year that were technically perfect but delivered nothing “beyond” for me, it never quite gets in.

Javier Bardem is one of the creepiest killers ever to walk the screen and his modus operandi is truly the stuff of nightmares (it’s when you see him open doors with it that makes it even worse). There’s plenty here to bring me back for a second viewing, when I’m sure it might grow on me just as Fargo (which I didn’t get at all on the first view) did. Right now, I do think calling it the Coens’ “best ever!” is a bit of a stretch – I mean, come on, they had about a decade long string of instant modern classics up to Fargo – but it is eons above Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty.

This really fell for me into the same place as 3:10 to Yuma. Combine 3:10 with Zodiac, in fact, and you get almost exactly how this one made me feel. It’s perfectly well put together, but it’s procedural to the point of distraction and completely, unnecessarily, overlong.

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe are mostly fine, but at times they allow the most annoying aspects of their respective personas to slip in in the most annoying ways imaginable – and Crowe’s accent is appalling. They’re both really phoning it in in my opinion compared with past glories.

It has some effective jolts, but honestly, the list of movies I’d recommend over this is endless. But to continue the connection to my Yuma review – I’m again left sorely longing for a Leone movie, Once Upon a Time in America, which covered everything a gangster movie needs to cover, and at nearly 4 hours isn’t remotely unnecessary. The similar story of Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables of course comes to mind too. Failing that, Blow comes to mind. And if you just want another 2007 movie that did the 70s period thing as if not more flawlessly, like I say, look no further than the meticulous David Fincher’s Zodiac ... which I want to see a second time even more after this.

I loved this movie when I first saw it. I could see why people were criticising its similarity to movies like Goodfellas and Boogie Nights etc, but there were still plenty of moments where the movie came into its own. I still pretty much feel this way about it, it’s one of those movies that easily makes up for any failings it might have with a handful of simply beautiful scenes or sequences. I love how the look of the film, the colour and everything, develops over the course of the movie.

Johnny Depp is good … not one of his best performances but it’s a pretty difficult character – how likable can you make this guy? Penelope Cruz was more annoying to me on this viewing than I ever remembered. Ray Liotta and Rachel Griffiths are the standouts here. My first impression of Ray Liotta’s appearance in the movie when I first saw it was, “could they force comparisons to Goodfellas any more?” lol, but he’s really pretty fantastic, especially in the character’s later years. Griffiths is most amazing in the scene following Depp’s arrest in their home. Even though what she’s done is unbelievable, I can’t help feeling so sorry for her.

It’s the last half hour that wrecks me and brings the movie up a lot, as Jung goes past the point of no return and beyond. There’s so many images in this section of the movie that kill me – his daughter’s piercing, shaming gaze as he’s arrested once more; her sitting alone with her pink suitcase waiting to go to California; her line in the visiting room, “I thought you couldn’t live without your heart,”; and the final scene when she ‘visits’ him grown up, that reverse angle on their hug is so sad.

I just realised I could sit around quoting this movie forever. As I said, it has it’s little problems, but for me they’re far outweighed. It’s just a beautiful movie with an amazing philosophy in Jung’s voiceover narration – unbelievably sad, but with glimmers of joy. It’s sad that this turned out to be Ted Demme’s last movie, but it’s certainly his best.

Wow. I just caught this on TV again with about five minutes’ notice and I feel like this movie has grown up with me. I now feel like I can put it up there with my favourite Scorsese movies: for the record, The Age of Innocence, Kundun and Taxi Driver. If you look at those titles you’ll notice they have one thing in common, great musical scores, and Elmer Bernstein’s work here leaves no hiding place for every shade of pain and beauty.

But there’s something here, I think, for everyone: whether you’re into comedy, sadness, story, acting, trippiness or good old-fashioned E.R. mayhem, it’s all here. I still remember the buzz I got when I first saw it on the big screen, right from the opening ambulance shot, how I laughed at the reckless use of ambulances, how I froze at the haunting images of the girl from Nicholas Cage’s past, how I cried at the death, how I sat, lost at the ending fade to white, and none of this has faded in the last five years, no matter how many times I’ve seen it. There’s so much to behold, so many images – Cage pulling the dead out of the ground; “Red Red Wine” playing over the drug-dealer hanging scewered off an apartment block; the three companions Cage has to work with, like the three ghosts in “A Christmas Carol”; the eyes of the old man pleading for release from life. This movie kills me in so many ways, yet it’s so full of life.