Homer and Eddie

This is easily the "craziest" Road Movie ever made - and one of the best. It's funny, tragic, dramatic and intelligent. Konchalovsky's composition is without any flaws - you'll find no plot holes or boring sequences destroying the flow of the story. The soundtrack supports the atmosphere of the movie perfectly. James Belushi stars as Homer, a retarded man, who goes on a long journey to see his dying father. Right at the start he's being robbed of all his cash and has to sleep in a car cemetery. There he meets the criminal Eddie, played by Whoopi Goldberg, who's slowly dying of a brain tumor. This tumor is the reason for several violent outbreaks. Eddie escorts Homer and arranges the first sexual contact for him - with a monstrous prostitute. This results in one of the most charming and funny "sex scenes" I've ever seen, beaten only by the priceless dancing scenes with Homer and Eddie at the pier. I've never seen one of the two acting better. But don't miss the guest appearances of Anne Ramsey, Karen Black and Jesus! And be warned: even though this film is full of funny, charming and lovable scenes it has also its violent parts.

If you liked "Harold & Maude" and "Gilbert Grape" this is a film for you!

This is not a film with a script that Konchalovsky wrote--it is by an unknown Patrick Cirillo. (For the uninitiated, Konchalovsky's scripts include the early works of Tarkovsky, his classmate in film school.) There are a few distinct Konchalovsky sequences--the appearance of Jesus-like characters carrying a wooden cross on the empty streets of California viewed twice by the Whoopi Goldberg character of Eddie. This is the best performance of Ms Goldberg that I have seen to date. Two, the original music is by Eduard Artemyev, the composer of Tarkovsky's classic films "Solaris" and "Stalker" and a host of Konchalovsky's own works. The Hungarian maestro Lojas Koltai is the cinematographer--famous for his contribution to the works of the Italian director Tornatore and the Hungarian Istvan Szabo. For cineastes, there is a cameo by Karen Black as a madam of a US brothel. More importantly, the film is a sad tale of how the rich and poor alike in the US, disown their own family members with disabilities. That is a touch of the real Konchalovsky.

OK, first thing: this movie is NOT a comedy, not by a long shot. It has funny parts, but it is not a comedy.

This is the best piece of acting you'll ever see from James Belushi and also one of Whoopi Goldberg's finest, unarguably.

The movie is touching, funny, sad, violent and breathtaking. So for anyone who hasn't seen it, see it!

Let's start with the ugly just to get it out of the way. I think this movie would have been considered a cult classic on par with Harold and Maude if someone besides Belushi had played Homer. At times he seemed to fall out of character at others it just looked like he was an actor playing a retarded person and very rarely he seemed in character. It wasn't a role that could be pulled off by over-acting or playing bigger than life. This was a great role played by the wrong actor. Now the bad, the continuity and sound track distracted from the story, How would people recognize Homer if he had been gone since childhood and his parents had denied him? The times you were expected to suspend belief to forward the story or develop characters were too glaring and the music was out of sync with the moods.

But yet I gave it a 5 out of 10 because of the good. Whoopi who is not my favorite actress did everything with her character that Belushi could not do with his, and the story as a whole and what it was trying to convey about the cast-aways of society kept me watching to see the inevitable ending.

Finally had enough time to finish this again this morning, and wow- was it ever ultimately one of the most touching movies I've ever seen!! Filled with messages of acceptance, mercy, hope, and faith.

This is a love-story between two very different people with very different issues who approach each-other, warts and all. And their realness is what makes their friendship so true. This was filled with talk of God, and it really hit home for me. I think God must have said bravo to this story of love in spite of evils that we do to ourselves and to each-other. The character of Eddie had many Godwinks, and Homer had the pure heart of a child that led her to start taking them to heart.

This is also a story of redemption, showing that good can win out in the end, even for those who have done such bad.

This movie makes me see things in a brighter light. I loved it. Not perfect, but almost! Whoopi Goldberg movies of the 1980s and 1990s just rule- full-stop! But "The Color Purple" (1985) didn't even touch my heart and make me bawl like this one- and this is a comedy!

Shout out to the adorable Jim Balushi who is irrespirable cute and sweet as Homer! Ya just gotta love him!

Laughter and tears are paired perfectly in this buddy road-trip movie that's like "Bonnie & Clyde" meets "Forest Gump"!

And the soundtrack is excellent! Wow, wow, wow! Nary a false not is hit. Tender when needed, upbeat when needed- so smooth!

1980s and 19980s Hollywood really knew what they were doing, as movies of the era just flow like honey, and are hardly ever boring, ideally paced, etc. We just don't see this kind of warmth and flow in movies anymore and haven't since. Maybe the 1980s through 1990s WAS the peak of cinema!

Such a freaking good movie!!!