horrible! and it went on FOREVER. i don't know what possessed me to see this movie. but it was a very bad idea. some of the racing was all right if you like adrenaline fueled competition. everything else was awful. the random plot twist that really the kid is the king of cali's son and not slick will's was DUMB. and the end was stupid. and kid rock was in it. kid fucking rock. uuuurrrrrrgh.

i like the z on the end. and brenden fehr (was on roswell) and that i saw it in an almost empty theatre with only two other people--both female--and some old dood who walked in about 1.5 hours into it and watched the end. and i was in concord no less. concord.

drivel. occasionally entertaining. but mainly due to the supporting characters. that's really all i have to say about it.

oh wait i did have some more to say. the thing i've been wondering about lately is that if the movie industry goes through cycles that reflect the political and social happenings in the U.S. what does it mean that one of the major outputs lately has been romantic comedies set in new york and the surrounding area? are they trying to inundate us with sappy cheese in order to erase the reality of 9/11 or something? it's just that there's this, maid in manhattan, two weeks notice, the guru-- any more? it's a fascinating contradiction in my opinion and i'm just curious as to whether it's premeditated or not.

jackIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE chAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOween wIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLsoNNNNNN!!!

although the constant historical references could be annoying (charlie chaplin? you don't say! sherlock holmes? fascinating! knighting authur conan doyle and calling him arty? well i'll be!) the fight scenes were sweet! jackie chan i love you! i can't even begin to list all the cool kicking and punching and absurd background music, but some of my faves are: the umbrella fight scene and the umbrella dance to the music from singing in the rain with the cute little poses. and the sword fighting one and the hotel revolving door one. and the dunking owen wilson in the water one. and the chinese actress playing his sister kicked some fine booty too.

mindless (seriously) action movie. fun if you like either of the main two actors. or if your brain is the size of a turkey's. and the evil english guy is hot! (i throw that in there as a girl and as a bone to girls who are dragged to this movie by boys.)

ha ha ha! owen wilson stunt double in the background there. cause he don't do his own apparently.

this movie was kind of not what i was expecting. having seen the trailers, read the book, and been very, very excited i was a little let-down by george clooney's directorial ambitions. he's not a very good editor. basically the thing that was wrong with this movie was the little snippet conversations with the "real" people. totally unecessary. it was obvious that he was trying to provide the movie with validity as the opening little announcement of, "this movie is based on the true journals and tapes and so on of chuck barris" kick-started the whole debacle. but it didn't need to be pummeled like that. the "interview" scenes did nothing to advance the overall production value. they were just wasted space.

on the other hand, sam rockwell was amazing. and good old george's death scene was visually mesmerizing though also slightly mystifying. and completely at odds with how byrd dies in the book. which leads me to the other point. the diversions from barris' own autobiography were astounding. now i know that he wrote more books and that they could have been drawing on other sources of information that i know nothing about but still. STILL. so many things completely different. fucking amazing.

but it's good. it's interesting. i'd really recommend the book too though because it was a fantastic read.

this movie is basically silly fluff. but the flashy costumes are nice. and the singing and dancing. and the pornography film-making. but heather graham cannot act. do not be deceived by her sexy body. she is a horrible actress. HORRIBLE. i cannot stress this enough.

one of the nice transitions in the movie went from when ramu is leaving india and arrives in america. india=color, life, elephants in the street! new york=really, really grey. it was a good juxtaposition. it was really the only interesting facet to the cinematography.

it could have used more singing. it could have used more dancing. but what are you going to do. it was still fun. and funny. even without the dancing indian turkeys.