Fast Sofa

I admit the first 30 - 40 minutes wasn't that great but it somewhat kept my interest. I'm not a big fan of Jake Busey but I thought he was OK in this at times. Crispin Glover stole the show, he always plays the odd character so well. All the other actors were tolerable but Glover was definitely the only one that shined. Jennifer Tilly was totally annoying. This is definitely not a movie for everyone, it's definitely an acquired taste. I found out about this movie about 6 or 7 months ago, I wonder if it ever got released on DVD in major stores. I purchased the DVD online and it took me awhile to find it. This movie I definitely wouldn't rate it a 9 or 10 but it's worth checking out especially if you're a Crispin Glover fan.

I rented this movie with high expectations. i was disapointed... It's not that it is a terrible movie, it just wasn't what i was expecting. I love the actors in this film, Natasha Lyonne, and Bijou Phillips but they weren't in the film enough to save it. The main character in this film is a loser, with a girlfriend that loves him, played by Lyonne. She's awesome in this film, the scenes that she's actually in. and of course Bijou is amazing. Not a great film but at times entertaining.

So you're couchin' out one night at the ol' crib, semi-inebriated and seekin' some kick-ass passive entertainment of the televised variety and ya notice this film on your tv listings cable crawl, and so you check it out because it says Jake Busey, Crispin Glover, Jennifer Tilly and Eric Roberts are in it. How bad can THAT be, right?

Two hours later you're cross-eyed and tentatively aroused but more than that, thoroughly confused with what you've just witnessed. What stands out most in your mind is the kinked-out-to-the-nines bondage scenes, of course, with Eric Roberts sticking his gun in Jake Busey's mouth while Tilly (as his wife, a strangely UN-sexy porn star) straddles him and Roberts warns him menacingly not to - ahem - enjoy it, shall we say - or he'll blow his brains out. Fun stuff, boys and girls. And then we have Crispin as a traumatized bird freak who accidentally killed a hawk when he was a child and he's still a virgin with an excellent vocabulary who invites himself along on Busey's deranged road trip to hell. It doesn't end too happily and it doesn't make much sense getting there, but, hey, the closing credits are dangerously creative, and Busey is still alive at the conclusion (at least I THINK he was), so all's well that ends well.

This film is a sort of torture, but with just rewards. If you can make it through the first 27 minutes and 36 seconds, you are rewarded with the always-delightful Crispin Glover, playing a red-headed wandering-eyed bird-loving robbery victim. His greatness just barely balances out the awfulness of his partner-in-crime, Jake Busey's drug-wielding porn-addict with about all the acting skill of a porn star himself. Watching him hit on various women throughout the film is both embarrassing AND sleazy at the same time! Luckily Adam Goldberg, Jennifer Tilly, and Natasha Lyonne are all also present, still enjoyable actors despite their miniscule mediocre roles in the film. This movie is worth it if you are a diehard fan of Crispin Glover(fast fowarding through most of the other parts is a must, though), or a fan of ridiculous pornography that pretends to be a real film I suppose.

When I was kid growing up in Scotland, there used to be a really cool cult film show called MOVIEDROME. It was hosted by Alex Cox (director of Repo Man) and each week he would pick a film, talk about it very honestly (often pointing out shortfalls and foibles of the production) and then show it. This was before DVD of course, so it was a great opportunity to see some pretty weird and wonderful films, things like RIVERS EDGE, NEAR DARK, and something with Dennis hopper escorting a dead body across the united states on a train(don't remember what this was called).

This is exactly the kind of film that would have been on moviedrome, great and improbable casting (Crispin Glover and Eric Roberts together at last!), unachieved potential etc. Busey really impresses as Rick, he really takes his character on a journey, and towards the end he really starts to impress. I think the pairing of Busey with Indie film legend Crispin Glover, helped Busey achieve this performance. Whether because of the good on screen chemistry they obviously have or because Glover sets the bar pretty high acting wise.

Other plus points include the credible and snappy dialogue, and a great cameo by Eric Roberts as Jennifer Tilly's husband/manager/pimp. On the downside, we have a pretty uninspired performance from Tilly, and a meandering plot that doesn't seem to get its act together until the last 20 minutes or so. There also parts by played by Goldberg and Lyon (is that right?, the girlfriend) that are so underwritten that they could almost have been left out they do that little to forward the action. The terrible split screen sequences are extremely half-arsed and should have been left on the cutting room.

All in all very interesting failure. BBC bring back moviedrome and might even pay my license fee this year.