Floundering

Floundering offers a fresh insight into the problems plagueing youth in the 90's. It revolves around a youth named John who is having extreme difficulty in finding his center. His situation is not improved by his philosophic friends who tell him it will take time, or by his drug-addicted paranoid (he calls John the devil) brother. The cast is sterling and the script is stong. This movie is one to see if things haven't been going your way.

This is a little movie with big things to say. There are some genuinely funny, thought provoking, and disturbing moments in this film. I was surprised to see it rated so low. Certainly not intended to be an academy award candidate nonetheless this film shines in its own way. Floundering takes you on a strange and comical trip that at times poignantly illuminates the absurd realities of modern life. This film takes on many issues through the "floundering" character of Le Gros; recycling, violence,sexuality, drug abuse, wealth disparity, family loss,mental health, and human fraternity to name a few. Look for some great cameos from the likes of Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, and Kim Wayans.

I have watched that movie so many times and it has made me think a lot about my own life. This is the first movie that ever had such an impact on me, I never thaught a movie could be this personal and touching, I guess I thaught only a book could do this. I wanna say thanks to Peter McCarthy for making that film ! and James LeGros for doing such a great job with it.

James LeGros stars as John Boyz in this interesting little indie-flick with some interesting themes, perhaps a little more than it can tackle, but with a great cast of (future) stars. No matter how casual LeGros moves about in his slacker L.A. dreamworld, the film is fast-paced and moves quickly from one scene to another, with hardly any scene lasting more than a couple of minutes. The limited number of votes on the IMDb is surprising, considering the number of stars in this film, including John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Ethan Hawke.

Truly one of the highlights is when Billy Bob Thornton sells James LeGros a gun, son of a gun Thornton! He steals it, definitely.

The philosophy is not very lasting. The conservation with his father talking about sending the army into America's inner cities after the L.A. riots, since they control the country already. 'I think that's called fascism, dad.' And then the topic it's dropped and the film contains some more of these quasi-philosophical intakes, not very strong. And you don't wanna see James Le Gros dancing when he's drunk.

The whole thing is primitively filmed, it almost feels like a home movie, with the low key and somewhat amateurish score, but as a whole a slight but still quite an engrossing film.

Camera Obscura --- 7/10

Floundering is a film I could really relate with when I was fresh out of college, lost and feeling overwhelmed. It is well acted. Direction is passable, though not real important. It's well written if you don't mind breaking the cardinal rule of not having an interior monologue Voiced-over the whole movie by the protagonist. It's THAT kind of movie - where the most interesting action takes place in the characters' head and fantasies. It was also written in Los Angeles immediately following the Riots - which dates the film to anyone who has no memories of the event or climate of the time. (Merryl Fence = Daryl Gates. . . ) This is a character-driven film about a guy in a very confused, bad head-space. And it's good. . .until the end where the Elvis Costello kicks in and the theme of the film is kicked into your teeth with lots of bad singing. For anyone who has been 24 and depressed in the 90's, I'd recommend.