Floundering

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)

This sixties time-warped retro kind of "power to the people" nineties flick is mostly a procession of set pieces, some of which are not bad. The bit at the gun store with Billy Bob Thornton was superb. The crack philosophers scene was also very good. And the way "What's So Funny ‛Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?" was sung so badly was just perfectola. (Actually that's "What's So Bad about Peace, Love and Understanding?" but whatever...)

And the way that big silver fish popped those gold fish...gulp!

I think some of the negative comments about this movie ought to be greeted with a "Whoa, dudes--get a sense of humor." Or, "Don't be offended, man, it's only a movie." Or maybe, "Uh, the soundtrack is awesome, dude." (Oh, god, people really did talk like that!) The dream sequences fooled me at least twice. They were funny. Funniest line: when the trash lady pulls her rifle out of her cart and says "Vive la Revolution!" Second funniest line: "What kind of music do you want to hear?" "The farm report."

Okay, this was no masterpiece, and any episodic movie sans plot is not going to rival The Godfather here at IMDb. And James LeGros ain't no Marlon Brando. And if you've ever been to Venice Beach...well, you know it's a freak show. But I think director and screen writer Peter McCarthy did a nice job of bringing that slacker street scene to life. I think the big mistake was to headline actors like Steve Buscemi, John Cusack, Ethan Hawke, and Billy Bob Thornton when they only had cameos. That should have been made clear up front. And there was more than a touch of the kind of sixties moral pretension that we've all grown a little tired of. But bottom line for me, this was a funny movie.

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

How can good intentions go so awry?

The movie has the right things to say. It attacks greed, racism, corporate indifference, and shallow relationships, and it features cameos by such interesting people as Steve Buscemi. John Cusack, and Billy Bob Thornton.

Unfortunately, it lacks one thing one usually looks for in a comedy, namely humor. It just isn't very funny.

Our hero has a really bad hair day. His girl is with another guy when he shows up early for a date. His brother breaks out of rehab, gets wasted and now thinks our hero is the devil. His bank accounts are possessed by the IRS. His unemployment runs out. His idealistic high school teacher has become a racist greedhead. He is pursued in a drive-by shooting.

He O.D.'s. He is sodomized after he passes out. ....Well, you get the point.

There are two ways to attack a hateful target. One is to use the sharp eye of satire, the other is to say "hey, that stinks". This movie does the latter. It uses the Beavis and Butthead level of analytical depth.

Unfortunately, everyone knows that racism stinks, and they go to movies to be entertained. Viewers may agree with the ideas in this one, and so they may feel good when he strikes back, but not many people will be entertained by it.

Sophomoric.

floundering is a good movie i don't care if it is "indie" or isn't cool enough to be indie. steve buscemi, john cusack or ethan hawke are fine in the movie and serve their purpose well.

~The movie suffers from many of the usual independant film problems: unconvincing sets, bad acting...~ HA do you know why independant movies are like that because they have no big budgets to work with. If you want those problems fixed go rent a james cameron movie and dont waste your time, so people like me who appreciate movies like this can rent it.

As for the character being in every scene, last time i checked the main character is usually in the movie or story quite a bit. how would a main character being in every scene mean death for a movie.

the movie is a few days in the life of a highly stressed neurotic guy who is fed up with the way things are going not a shallow guy. the back of the box usually sums up the movie for you, i suggest you start reading the back of the boxes before you rent anymore.

Peter McCarthy writer/director of 'Floundering' had a hand in both 'Repo Man' and 'Tapeheads' and that may give you a little bit of an idea where this odd little movie is coming from, but not much. It really is very difficult to categorize. It's an almost stream of consciousness Gen X black comedy that often feels and looks like it's semi improvised. Several sequences completely fall flat, but then it'll bounce back with something genuinely original or inspired. James LeGros ('Drugstore Cowboy', 'Living In Oblivion') stars as a sensitive but confused slacker type who wrestles with his social conscience. The movie shows him going through a crisis period where his whole life falls apart. The movie features an impressive supporting cast of name actors (Buscemi, Cusack, Hawke, Billy Bob Thornton), musicians, weirdos and Alex Cox regulars Sy Richardson and Biff Yeager, even Cox himself appears in a brief cameo. The movies jumps between social realism and surrealism, quirky comedy and darker, more depressing material. It can often be quite frustrating to watch but it's still one of the most interesting and unusual indie movies to come out of the 1990s. Recommended for Alex Cox fans in particular, and fans of the offbeat in general.