Wirey Spindell

I disagree with the imdb.com synopsis that this is about a bisexual guy preparing to get married. It's more about all the crap we go through - self-induced and because of our parents - that we have to "get over" when we grow up. Like the Linda McCarriston poem says, "Childhood is the barrel they throw you over the falls in." This movie is much more like a narrative poem. It's about life and the mistakes we make and hurt we inflict and experience over the years, and how in the end, it's all about love (I'm not trying to be hyper-sensitive or schmoopy) and finding and being with one special person.

I was surprised to read the comments of the person who so disliked this film. It really is quite funny. There are definitely a few laugh out lines that my boyfriend and I quote to each other. Some of the situations might be unsettling (bisexuality, drugs, a particularly strange child's view of sexuality) but believable at the same time. It's about communication and miscommunication between men and women.

I've been looking forward to watching "Wirey Spindell" since having happened across Schaffer's "Fall". Unfortunately, I found "WS" to be a wandering, unengaging, boring bunch of claptrap pieced together with, what apparently is Schaeffer's signature, a mix of story, narration, and poetry. The film recounts the sexual and other experiences of a Manhattan man about to be married through self-narrated flashbacks. Like beads on a string, Schaffer apparently has strung together every little sexual life experience, while neglecting to tend to the beauty of the necklace. The result is a disjointed rambling story about a boy growing up which fails to engender empathy and leaves the viewer disconnected, unsatisfied, and with a bad after taste which taints the mechanical feel-good ending. A mediocre indie and a step backward for Schaeffer.

... as a child growing up in the flatlands, I went through a lot of the same things the main character in the movie went through. Oversexual elementary school friends, parents who should never have had children in the first place, getting beat up in school, doing tons of drugs as a release (and to gain popularity)... that is what childhood is like. It was very poignant for me. I think a lot of people on this board who gave this movie negative reviews would have you think that this movie was pure fiction. That the things you saw in this movie could never happen. Kids cursing. Oh my goodness. 10 year olds drinking in front of their parents. Couldn't happen, right? My mom used to *buy* my smokes for me when I was a kid. Anything to keep her son from being belligerent. Anyway, I'm way off topic. I enjoyed the movie very much and like its narrative style. I found the movie very real and believable. It's definitely worth a peek. A little self-indulgent, but give it 20 minutes and you won't tune away.

This is not quite as bad as the critical reviewers are saying. Although I understand why the low ratings. Eric Schaeffer is a perfect example of a talented writer, director, and sometimes actor who is foiled by his own attitude and self-indulgence. His best films are the ones he doesn't star in; otherwise, his best films could have been even better if he did not insist on making it almost solely for his benefit. You can practically make out his voice screaming "me, me, me!" in many of the films he directed, wrote, and needed to be the lead actor in as well. My favorite from him is actually Boy Meets Girl. It is no coincidence that this is one of the few in his filmography where he is not an actor. Before I Go is also very good. Also no Eric Schaeffer, actor, in that one.

Alas, in this semi biographical Wirey Spindell, Eric Schaeffer stars as the womanizing $#@& who takes us down memory lane as he struggles with doubts for his wedding only days away.

It has a few great moments. Many not so great ones. But what even the naysayers cannot truthfully deny is that Eric Schaeffer does have some excellent writing skills, conveyed with engaging dialogue and the occasional witticism.

A pity, still, that he lets it all go to his head.