ttommy-1

Like many other of the reviewers, this movie brought back tremendous nostalgia, both sad and funny of my high school days in the mid seventies. We drank beer and we got high, none of us had a clue what we wanted to do in life, other than have a good time for right now. The director casted many characters with many overlapping story lines, but somehow you got to know each of them. There was the stoner who you couldn't help but like, even though you worried what would become of him. There was the star jock, who was losing interest in sports as he became more interested in girls and partying. There were the smart kids who knew and articulated what was going on, and you sort of resented them for it.

All in all, I wasn't sure what the point of the movie was. Except that it was just like the seventies. Nobody cared. Get me another beer. Light up another joint. Put in another eight-track. Lets have fun tonight. Yet I couldn't help but feel that I would never, ever want our kids to live the way we did when we were young. It's amazing so many of us made it all the way to 2008.

Not the worst piece of crap I have ever sat through, but darn near close. A bunch of film students at a state college could have produced something of this caliber. First of all, Nazis with British accents? That was the first indication that the director would be asking the viewer to suspend one's disbelief. Then, Anthony Hopkins as Adolph Hitler? Charlie Chaplin could do a better job. Hopkins performance was a parody of Hitler. Was he serious? When the director yelled cut, did the entire cast break out in giggles? At times he portrayed Hitler as a jolly Englishman. When it began to fall apart all around him, he was a ranting lunatic, but not a very believable ranting lunatic. Der Undergang ( The Downfall ) was the most powerful movie I have ever watched. It is a German made movie with an all German cast. The language is in German with English subtitles. It makes you feel you were right there in the bunker in the final days. You felt what those who were actually a part of this history felt. This made for television movie was so inferior that it made me wince at how bad it was.

You have to like Woody Allen's sense of humor in order to enjoy this film. Quirky, neurotic New Yawkers. Fumbling to find sense, meaning in life and love. Good people trying to redeem mistakes and weakness.

But it was a light, uplifting film in its own way. And I was delighted to watch this movie on a leisurely weekday afternoon. Mia Sorvino was terrific and there was so much irony in the story that you never knew what could develop next.

Much has been said about the use of the Greek chorus. Viewers either loved it or thought it was stupid. I found them mildly annoying, wasn't quite sure what they represented or added to the story. It just seemed to be one of those devices Woody Allen is famous for and I let it go at that.