Lush

I'm not quite sure why I rented the "Lush" DVD. I suppose a big part of it was its New Orleans setting. However, except for a few location shots, including One Shell Square building, the French Quarter, and a St Charles Avenue streetcar, the bulk of the filming was done in Baton Rouge and a couple of golf courses there. It is not possible to write a narrative of "Lush." There's a washed-up pro golfer who drinks too much and lands in a Little Rock jail when he tries to bribe a cop with a $50 bill. There's a New Orleans lawyer who makes feeble attempts at suicide after telling various people that he has a life insurance policy with them as beneficiary. A couple of goofballs who work for him. Two sisters who take turns romancing the golfer after he gets back to New Orleans. The white dog that shows up in various places. In the end the golfer and the younger sister end up together, and he is managing a putt-putt establishment.

The writing and acting are good in spots, but uneven at best. Overall I found it mildly entertaining, but could not recommend it. The DVD is simple, ProLogic sound, no extras. "Lush" is quirky, it has fans, but most would be turned off by it. I see it has one "10" vote on the IMDb, a woman over 45, must be the director's mother! :-)

I need to respond first to the creative lambasting that precedes my comments. Not only are you dead wrong, but it is precisely this kind of facile dismissal that holds back American film. This is an experimental European independent film masked in American gloss, and it is this quality that is both the virtue and the marketing difficulty of the film. Had my fellow reviewers seen a low production value version of the same film, they would have hailed it as the second coming and fiercely emailed their friends about the literary and film references within it. They would have known right away to expect a twisted plot line, fragmented exposition of the characters, and a constantly shifting understanding of the film's sense with each subsequent scene. The film project that a film like this represents is to make work that is both complex and mainstream, rather than to corral the good stuff in the "experimental" corner. But this kind of film project needs an audience willing to constantly update their visual acuity. If you remember, Godard was not always the crowned king he is today. When he was making his 1960's films he was making seemingly casual films out of a very serious understanding of the potential of film and received similarly frustrated responses. The difference, of course, between a filmmaker working in France in the 1960's and one working in America today is that you need much much much more money to get your projects done, so it might take a little longer for the film project to happen, but it will.

great characters, great setting and a very different kind of story-- funny and very tender too. I especially like the scenes with Campbell Scott and Laurel Hollomon from L word. The guy who plays the caddy is very funny, don't know where I hav seen him. Watched this with a friend who is from the south and said this was very close to the real south not the Hollywood version. I like movies that take you someplace new and this does it, makes you feel like you are there and not rushed. Only problem I had was with the dog, why? But overall just a different and interesting story with good actors. This will stay with you long after it's over. Like I said, rent this!

Mark Gibson, who is a master of using mirrors in shots, directs this gem which will probably never get a wide release. Campbell Scott, who was great in Singles and The Spanish Prisoner, really gets to shine here in a unsympathtic role. Jared Harris also has a few good moments, especially when he's drunk. You may recognize Laurel Holloman as Mark Wahlberg's girlfriend in Boogie Nights before he becomes Dirk Diggler. See it if not for some witty lines and good camerawork.

...if you like observing the world of the indolent, directionless elite of inherited wealth and watch them fritter away their aimless lives at the country club causing mischief for entertainment, then you might like this film. I did. Except for one dippy scene on a river with very meaningful SimonandGarfunkelly music, this film engages you in the characters and at the same time makes you glad that you don't REALLY know them. Can't speak about the authenticity of the New Orleans backdrop, but the archetypical characters sure looked familiar and real. Plus, it had a nice ending and everybody got what he wanted pretty much which is what movies are supposed to tell us life can sometimes be like, right?