sgauss

I liked Kevin Smith's previous movies. This is not as strong as the previous four. That said, there were a lot of funny movie references and cameos, and if you like Jay and Silent Bob some pretty good laughs.

After spending a night watching the deleted scenes, I'm convinced Kevin Smith didn't have a clear vision for this movie - witness all the unfunny plot lines he ultimately discarded - and most of the deleted humor didn't make the movie funnier, it just upped the 'potty' factor. One exception was a funny Will Farrell scene parodying "The Fugitive", and there were a couple of others. For the most part though, the deleted scenes make the editing look like genius.

I browsed the comments for this movie before writing this, and was surprised by the number of reviewers who didn't like this movie, especially since I had just watched it twice (mostly)! I'll do something different here.

Things to like:

1. John Cusack. I like his body of work. My favorites range from "Better Off Dead" (another controversial choice?) to Grosse Pointe Blank and Being John Malkovich. 2. Great cameos by Joan Cusack, Tim Robbins, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lili Taylor. Anything that three of those five want to do a cameo in is worth thinking about. The bits for all five were great. 3. Music. I probably teetered on the edges of some of the excesses of music the main characters indulge in. There was a broad selection of music by different eras. Don't expect to hear too many obvious songs though - no Beatles, no "Free Bird". 4. The music geeks. A couple of great supporting characters. If you saw the performance by Jack Black near the end of the movie, it probably raised your rating of this movie by a full point. 5. The ending is emotionally satisfying. 6. Non-linear flow, talking to the camera. Arty, change of pace, can be a lot of fun.

Things to hate: I don't fully agree with all of these, although I see the point of view of those who don't.

1. Rob Gordon. Cusack's character is an immature jerk. I don't consider that a fault of the acting or the writing. 2. The music and the music geeks. A lot of the music is obscure, and our heroes are snobs. 3. The ending is a little pat. 4. Non-linear flow, talking to the camera. Apparently not everyone's cup of tea.

There's a lot of overlap there!

Semi-autobiographical, Cameron Crowe condensed his experiences as a very young Rolling Stone correspondent down into a great script. I was surprised how funny this movie was at times, without losing its sense of reality. Crowe also shows why he's a good, maybe great director, with the performances he got from a cast of (at the time) relative unknowns. Everyone in this movie will go on to good roles. But, it's the music that is the biggest star in this movie, and I think that's what Crowe intended. A great collection of music accompanies the movie, fitting and shaping the mood of different scenes. The last movie I saw that did this so well was "Forrest Gump".

Unfortunately, this movie will all too quickly disappear from the movie theaters, and probably won't get any of the big awards this year either. That's more of a sad commentary about how movies are promoted in the US than anything else, though. But, long after the Oscar winners are forgotten, people who love the music will still love this movie, and seeing this movie will be a rite of passage and revelation for future members of its audience.