Kicked in the Head

"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+)

If you really want to laugh out loud this is your movie. There is no waiting for lunacy to begin. It is a quick moving, never boring parody.

Michael Rapaport stole the movie. If his fast talking, high energy performance didn't have you laughing he at least had you smiling. The only disappointment was that there were not more scenes with him in them. There should have been more scenes with that rival business.

James Woods in comedy... who knew...so funny.

The gun battles are so well done. The enthusiasm of the shooters makes their lack of aim all that more funny. Anytime you see a gun... pay attention... you won't be disappointed. None of the shooters could hit the floor if they fell...too funny.

Not often that a decently produced film with some veteran actors gets a rating as low as this one. I watched it on Sundance channel with no advance idea of its origin. I am fairly convinced, however, that its flaws relate to the origins of its ingredients.

First, you take some young New Yorkers who may or may not be on speed and get them to write a treatment for a film in small script in an even smaller notebook. Then you have them read it back to themselves after they have come down off their high, reflecting if possible on any chaotic dreams they can remember. Tell them to include all the stock New York characters and clichés in no apparent order, jumping all over the place in time and location.

Next you hire some really great local character actors who are between engagements to play some zany but recognizable types. Add a couple of actresses to play, respectively, a one-note looker and a drippy high school sweetheart type. Then cast one of yourselves in the main protagonist role as an aspiring writer with no real talent either as a writer or actor. A cute dog and maybe even someone's cat could provide added appeal.

Then comes the hard part: getting someone short on IQ but long on money to finance the whole thing and let it go wherever it takes you. Marketing can come later.

This turkey is saved by inspired character acting. I particularly liked Burt Young playing a role he has played many times, and I thought John Ventimiglia was terrific. Pity it had to be in this film.

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.

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.