Kicked in the Head

Despite a great soundtrack and the presence of the ever amazing Rappaport and Woods, this is another one of those moronic comedies where New York throws itself at the hero in an effort by the writer and/or director to show what a zany place it is. Yeah there's some other stuff in the movie that sucks too, but that's what's important. The trend for New York independent filmmakers seems to be "I don't need to be talented, I have NEW YORK!" Okay, to be fair, the movie has its moments. The flashback bit about why the one guy is called Wacky Jack was pretty amusing. The script isn't a story or a plot, it's a bunch of not-good scenes tied to each other by featuring the same character.

One of the worst things is that there's no motive behind what the characters do. Uncle Sam has the kid deliver the drugs, why? If its so important why didn't Sam do it himself? Then the lead character lies his ass off in scene after scene with absolutely nothing to gain from lying. The guy falls in love with a flight attendant with neither of them having any reason to fall in love. The characters are a bunch of pawns for the writer to move around to see if he can get anything zany to happen.

If you're easily amused or like watching bad indie movies because they make you feel smarter than watching bad mainstream movies, watch this. If you want to see what a GOOD light hearted crime movie looks like, watch Takeshi Kitano's "Brother". "Kicked In The Head" is the perfect example of why so many people hate offbeat indie movies: A LOT OF THEM SUCK. And a note to the director: Don't be afraid to excite, amuse, enlighten or entertain the audience now and then. Being boring doesn't make you a better filmmaker than the ones who can interest me.

"Kicked in the Head" is all about the Corrigan character, a twenty something man on a quest to find himself, and his involvements with a handful of quirky characters. This thin and ambiguous story, which was written by Corrigan, has a make-it-up-as-you-go feel and a screenplay which smells like an uninspired low budget indie. In spite of that and some annoying Hindenburg scene interjections, the film has an off beat, quirky kind of charm which may appeal, in some small way, to people with a similar sense of humor. Not for everyone, not for most, but maybe fun for some. (D+)

The dialog in the movie is clever, with amusing use of fast talking and repetition. Some of the "philosophical" speeches were good too, particularly one where the main character (Redmond) was warned about stewardesses' body rhythms. The violent scenes seemed to be parodies of action movies; lots of shots fired without hitting anyone. There were a few visually amusing images worked in too.

The plot was mostly aimless. Redmond had no job or apartment, but a girl was interested in him anyway. He had few goals other than working on his book and getting noticed by a flight attendant who interested him. Along the way, Sam got him mixed up with some criminals. Redmond's uncle, Sam, observed that Redmond was in a self-destructive period in his life.

So while the plot was pretty weak, the dialog was pretty funny.

First off for anyone who is a Kevin Korrigan Fan should know that Kevin co-wrote this movie with Matthew Harrison. They had been friends and he had called on Kevin to ask if kevin liked what he had got for a script about a poor bloke who had all of these mishaps. Kevin and him got the idea to use kevin's own misfortunes as the basis for the plot. Of course they had to fill it in with things that actually were not true to make things fall into place. Second- all-star cast. It won't get any better than Michael Rapaport as 'stretch', Lili taylor as 'happy', James Woods as his 'uncle sam' and Linda Florintino as the unlucky 'angel'. Just listening to Rapaport is a blast. He's the master of overlapping dialog and using his thick accent to give any scene a gritty urban feel. If you really think about it all of the characters have a very gritty urban sense to them. It's like you just know that these characters (must) actually exist in like N.Y or N.J or someplace (the only word that I can think of that really works here, that I'm really over using is)GRITTY, like thick in culture, or blue collar, backstreet, tough neighborhoods. I LOVE THAT!!!! Fast talking, overlapping dialog is the best. Another great movie with Kevin Korrigan is 'Walking in Talking' It also has another star who is amazingly humorous...Catherine Keener. If you want to see another awesome movie with Michael Rapaport at his (almost best, second to 'kicked in the head) performance, check out 'beautiful Girls'. They are the best, you should check them out! Enjoy.

I stumbled across this movie on satellite cable last one night. I was mesmerized - it was SO funny, so well written, and so underplayed. This little independent film has a lot going for it. Michael Rappaport has one of his best roles, James Woods plays a weasel like only he can... this movie is "Pulp Fiction" meets "Slacker" but a lot funnier... Guns, drugs, a lost dog, stolen cars, and LOTS of beer. Check this one out - if you like whimsical "small" films then this one is one for you.