American Buffalo

Adaption of Mamet play is even better on screen. Dustin Hoffman gives the best performance of his career as the protagonist Teach. Dennis Franz is equally good in his first leading role as Donnie, owner of an antique shop. One hell of a well acted movie with great cast, great script, great direction, great plot, great music, and great location. What else could a intelligent moviegoer ask for?

...so why couldn't they find a more imaginative director? Michael Corrente's direction of this would have seemed static and lethargic even if it had been done on the stage, which it practically was. If you're going to do a filmed staging, do a filmed staging. But if you're going to go through the motions of making a film, try to make it the least bit visually interesting. What does this guy have against moving the camera, for chrissake?? It's a shame, really, as Franz and Hoffman are flawless, and really have a handle on the tough delivery of Mamet dialogue. To see how easy it is to make Mamet-speak sound odd and out of place, check out the performance of Pinky in the recent "Heist". Mamet is as difficult to act as Shakespeare, all submerged rhythms and unusual language. American Buffalo is a powerful work, and the performances reflect the power of the text...but all that power crashes to the ground like a 747 with Corrente's static presentation. I'm giving this a 7/10, simply because the script and performances were SO brilliant. If directing were all I was taking into account, it'd be a 3/10. So disappointing.

Watching this film on screen and on stage (I imagine) wouldn't be a hell of a lot different. It's still a 3-character film that revolves around the same setting--most of the time. But when you see great acting like this, how can you complain?? Dustin Hoffman is great at whatever he does, and he's perfectly believable as the foul-mouthed Teach. He has some of the greatest lines. My favorite is "Guys like that, I'd like to f**k their wives." He is rude and obnoxious with barely a sympathetic quality, but he's the guy you love to hate. I just recently started watching "NYPD Blue" and just from watching a few episodes, I can say that Dennis Franz is one of the best actors I've ever seen. He deserves to be on the big screen a lot more, because he has abilities as an actor that only few TV actors also possess. He delivers every line and every emotion with such power that your eyes are wide open with amazement every minute he's on screen. Even young actor (I assume he's now in his late teens) Sean Nelson is perfectly cast, blowing me away with a performance I'm sure very few young actors can pull off just as effectively. He only has about 20 or 30 minutes of screen time, yet he's the character you most feel sorry for at times, despite the fact that he lives an unclean life, dealing with thugs and earning his money via dishonest methods. You can just sense that he didn't have any parental leadership, and he wasn't sure what path in life to take, so he took the most easy one--and also the most dangerous one. In a way, the two guys are like his surrogate parents.

I've never seen the play, but when I see the name "David Mamet" under the writing credits, I immediately know that I'm gonna hear some priceless dialogue. I don't know how he does it, but he just has a relentlessly quick wit when it comes to creating dialogue. Like a play, this movie is composed of 80 % dialogue, but the dialogue is so great that I don't really care if there's no exciting visuals. And last but no least, I loved the opening and closing theme song. It just has that grungy quality that perfectly fits the tone of "American Buffalo." If you're a fan of superb acting, this will be a real treat! A real treat!

My score: 8 (out of 10)

In a way this is almost like a pornmovie, but instead of sex you have talk. The movie is a 90 minute long filmed conversation. But to me the movie is more entertaining than many actionmovies. It's definitely not for all viewers hence the bad overall ratings, but I can still recommend it. The acting is over the top. Hoffman and Franz is a very funny combination. Seldom have I seen someone make so much out of so little. As oppose to other movies the climax isn't in the ending, every scene is equally important. Not as good as Glengarry glen ross though. GGR was both a character study and a good movie. This is "just" an excellent character study, but with these actors it's enough to make it worth watching.

American Buffalo is definitely a curious little film, basically a play committed to celluloid, with only three actors and almost all taking place in the one location. However due to good direction by Michael Corrente, a great dialogue heavy script by David Mamet (based on his play) and a trio of excellent performances it works, and works more or less perfectly.

Dustin Hoffman here is at his peak as a small time crim, while Dennis Franz is excellent as his pawn shop buddy and Sean Nelson is also more than holds his own and is very good as young wannabe scammer. But basically this is Hoffman's show, and he is quite something to see as the explosively tempered, ranting, whining, complaining 'Teach' firing off a hundred words a minute. In fact his performance alone is worth the price of admission...which is good as the crux of the story, while thankfully well told, is admittedly somewhat slight.

American Buffalo is definitely not for everyone, however for those looking for a great, superbly performed drama and don't mind the fact that it relies more on talk than action need look no further that this great slice of entertainment.

One man's opinion. 8.5/10