Fierce, committed and above all, tough — these are the words that collaborators use to describe producer Robin O’Hara, a longtime fixture of the New York independent film scene, who died suddenly last week after complications from cancer treatment.
When O’Hara’s business and life partner Scott Macaulay of Forensic Films posted the sad news on Facebook last Wednesday, hundreds of prominent filmmakers, former crewmembers, and friends from across the independent film world offered an outpouring of condolences, remembrances, and testimonies about O’Hara’s importance in nurturing their art and their careers.
As “Saving Face” director Alice Wu wrote, “She was brilliant and mercurial and hilarious and terrifying. She gave no fucks — unless she did give a fuck — and then she gave everything. Anyone who has been lucky enough to be in her orbit never lets go. She pushed us all … and we became better people.”
Echoing Wu,...
When O’Hara’s business and life partner Scott Macaulay of Forensic Films posted the sad news on Facebook last Wednesday, hundreds of prominent filmmakers, former crewmembers, and friends from across the independent film world offered an outpouring of condolences, remembrances, and testimonies about O’Hara’s importance in nurturing their art and their careers.
As “Saving Face” director Alice Wu wrote, “She was brilliant and mercurial and hilarious and terrifying. She gave no fucks — unless she did give a fuck — and then she gave everything. Anyone who has been lucky enough to be in her orbit never lets go. She pushed us all … and we became better people.”
Echoing Wu,...
- 3/20/2017
- by Anthony Kaufman
- Indiewire
We all know that .red band. means Nsfw, but take note that the F-bombs in this preview are combined with some partial male nudity and a big fake dong, just in case you thought keeping the volume down would keep you safe... For his first film, director Tom Gormican seemingly wanted to see if he could make a movie with only a miniscule amount more masculine charm than Bob Gosse's I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and judging from the above preview, courtesy of Yahoo! Movies, he has done just that. I've spent most of my life avoiding friendships that only boiled down to .bros looking for pussy,. since those guys tend to be the most boring people imaginable. Somehow That Awkward Moment takes its best actor, Michael B. Jordan, and makes him even more boring than co-stars Miles Teller and Zac Effron by having him not talk...
- 10/15/2013
- cinemablend.com
Robin and boyfriend Nicky were engaged on Christmas Day in Brazil — after Nicky’s second attempt at proposing! Read on for all the details about the ‘Mentalist’ star’s crazy engagement.
It might not be the best sign when it takes two tries to get someone to accept your marriage proposal, but Mentalist star Robin Tunney‘s new fiancé shouldn’t hold it against her. It’s not her fault she suddenly fell ill during boyfriend Nicky Marmet‘s first proposal attempt while the couple was vacationing in Brazil over Christmas!
Robin, 40, told Us Weekly, “He’d made an earlier attempt at the beach in Bahia, but I had what I thought was Dengue Fever and I threw up over his shoulder when he was about to take the ring out. Mercifully, I recovered and was healthy enough to accept the second time.”
About the second proposal, which happened on...
It might not be the best sign when it takes two tries to get someone to accept your marriage proposal, but Mentalist star Robin Tunney‘s new fiancé shouldn’t hold it against her. It’s not her fault she suddenly fell ill during boyfriend Nicky Marmet‘s first proposal attempt while the couple was vacationing in Brazil over Christmas!
Robin, 40, told Us Weekly, “He’d made an earlier attempt at the beach in Bahia, but I had what I thought was Dengue Fever and I threw up over his shoulder when he was about to take the ring out. Mercifully, I recovered and was healthy enough to accept the second time.”
About the second proposal, which happened on...
- 2/6/2013
- by Billy Nilles
- HollywoodLife
Robin Tunney is a taken woman!
The Mentalist star recently accepted her boyfriend Nicky Marmet's proposal of marriage, reports Us Weekly, but the occasion was not as romantic as he would have hoped.
Pics: Stars on Set
Apparently Tunney had taken ill during the Rio de Janeiro vacation her beau planned to pop the question. To Marmet's dismay, his soon-to-be bride upchucked all over him before he could get down on one knee.
"I had what I thought was Dengue Fever and I threw up over his shoulder when he was about to take the ring out," Tunney told Us.
Luckily, the second time was a charm for Marmet and the two became engaged on Christmas Day in Brazil.
Video: 'Mentalist' Honors 100th Episode with Flashback
"I was shocked," she added. "I was too ill to notice anything was up in Bahia so he'd caught me completely off guard."
Tunney, 40, has been married...
The Mentalist star recently accepted her boyfriend Nicky Marmet's proposal of marriage, reports Us Weekly, but the occasion was not as romantic as he would have hoped.
Pics: Stars on Set
Apparently Tunney had taken ill during the Rio de Janeiro vacation her beau planned to pop the question. To Marmet's dismay, his soon-to-be bride upchucked all over him before he could get down on one knee.
"I had what I thought was Dengue Fever and I threw up over his shoulder when he was about to take the ring out," Tunney told Us.
Luckily, the second time was a charm for Marmet and the two became engaged on Christmas Day in Brazil.
Video: 'Mentalist' Honors 100th Episode with Flashback
"I was shocked," she added. "I was too ill to notice anything was up in Bahia so he'd caught me completely off guard."
Tunney, 40, has been married...
- 2/6/2013
- Entertainment Tonight
For many people, Tucker Max’s book I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell served as a “do’s and dont’s” when it came to drinking and dating in your mid twenties. The book made the New York Times best seller list in 2006, 2007, and 2008. This past year, a film adaptation of the same name was released, to a mild response from fans.
The film featured Gilmore Girls star Matt Czuchry as Tucker Max, with Jesse Bradford and 7th Heaven’s Geoff Stults along for the ride. It was directed by Niagra, Niagra director Bob Gosse.
With the DVD hitting shelves this week, we felt it was only appropo to bring you come scenes that were just too much to make it into the final cut of the film. Be sure to check them out after the jump, and pick up I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell in stores now.
The film featured Gilmore Girls star Matt Czuchry as Tucker Max, with Jesse Bradford and 7th Heaven’s Geoff Stults along for the ride. It was directed by Niagra, Niagra director Bob Gosse.
With the DVD hitting shelves this week, we felt it was only appropo to bring you come scenes that were just too much to make it into the final cut of the film. Be sure to check them out after the jump, and pick up I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell in stores now.
- 1/27/2010
- by Matt Raub
- The Flickcast
Watch a few brand new red band movie clips from the film “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” by director Bob Gosse (Niagara, Niagara, Julie Johnson), Tucker Max and Nils Parker and starring Jesse Bradford (Bring It On, Romeo + Juliet), Geoff Stults (Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up), Keri Lynn Pratt (Nip/Tuck, Brothers & Sisters) and Marika Dominczyk (40 Year-Old Virgin, Las Vegas). Synopsis: I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell–based on the shocking, ridiculous and hilarious real life adventures of Tucker Max–is the story of an impromptu bachelor party gone horribly awry thanks to a midget, a fat girl, a gaggle of strippers, an overly destructive public intoxication ordinance, [...]...
- 10/6/2009
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
There’s been a nagging trend in comedies since, oh around the time Kevin Smith and Clerks came onto the scene. For good measure, let’s also throw in the Farrelly Brothers and their cultclassic Dumb & Dumber. Maybe not those specific films, but somehwere around that time or a couple years earlier, comedies decided they needed the over-confident idiot character who would always get his chums into trouble. He’s accompanied by stubborn jackass, who doesn’t want to be there as well as bumbling idiot do-gooder, who usually has something hanging in the balance. Either of these characters can be annoying as all sin, just so long as one of them is. The laughs in these films usually consist of pure out shock toilet humor, involving a character doing something completely outrageous and out of the ordinary. Tucker Max seems to have lived some pretty outrageous times in his life,...
- 9/28/2009
- by Philip Barrett
- ReelLoop.com
The adventures of Tucker Max, his sexual escapades and how his selfish antics bring him and his two friends on the craziest bachelor party that goes awry. This is the basis for the novel adaptation of the NY Times bestseller ‘I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell’. Through the swirl of sex, booze and midgets, the film version falls flat on its face.
The film suffers the most with its own plot. Though the antics of Tucker and his friends are humorous to a certain extent, it becomes a tad too shallow and over the top to believe that this had happened for real. The characters’ stereotypes are drawn out so much to an extent that if ever faced with any of them in person you would probably want to run to the other end of the bar.
What should be saluted is Matt Czuchry’s portrayal of the obnoxious...
The film suffers the most with its own plot. Though the antics of Tucker and his friends are humorous to a certain extent, it becomes a tad too shallow and over the top to believe that this had happened for real. The characters’ stereotypes are drawn out so much to an extent that if ever faced with any of them in person you would probably want to run to the other end of the bar.
What should be saluted is Matt Czuchry’s portrayal of the obnoxious...
- 9/27/2009
- by Melissa Molina
- Atomic Popcorn
Seen on: September 19, 2009
The players: Director: Bob Gosse, Writers: Tucker Max, Nils Parker, Cast: Matt Czuchry, Jesse Bradford, Geoff Stults, Keri Lynn Pratt
Facts of interest: Based on Tucker Max's best seller.
The plot: The film follows Tucker Max as he and his buddies visit a strip club to launch a friend's bachelor party.
Our thoughts: Up until now, I have never seen a film in which the protagonist realizes he’s an asshole after uncontrollably shitting his pants in the middle of a hotel lobby. That’s exactly what happens in Bob Gosse’s “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell,” which is based on Tucker Max’s hilarious, yet downright vulgar best seller.
The players: Director: Bob Gosse, Writers: Tucker Max, Nils Parker, Cast: Matt Czuchry, Jesse Bradford, Geoff Stults, Keri Lynn Pratt
Facts of interest: Based on Tucker Max's best seller.
The plot: The film follows Tucker Max as he and his buddies visit a strip club to launch a friend's bachelor party.
Our thoughts: Up until now, I have never seen a film in which the protagonist realizes he’s an asshole after uncontrollably shitting his pants in the middle of a hotel lobby. That’s exactly what happens in Bob Gosse’s “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell,” which is based on Tucker Max’s hilarious, yet downright vulgar best seller.
- 9/27/2009
- by Franck Tabouring
- screeninglog.com
When I put my hand into that of frat-boy messiah Tucker Max, he crushed my phalanges with a firm shake that can only performed by legendary mitts. Those hands have handled more alcoholic beverages and women than my mind can even begin to imagine. And while I do hope he washes his hands regularly, at least I can say I’ve grabbed the paws of a man who has f**ked a little person stripper.
That and other stories are shared in Tucker Max’s first co-written movie, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, a film adaptation of his New York Times Bestseller with the same title. In the movie, law student/college-party-icon is played by Matt Czuchry (you may recognize him from “Gilmore Girls.”)
But as much as Tucker Max may seem to be invincible to his many vices, he still had a lot of learning to do when it came to cinema.
That and other stories are shared in Tucker Max’s first co-written movie, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, a film adaptation of his New York Times Bestseller with the same title. In the movie, law student/college-party-icon is played by Matt Czuchry (you may recognize him from “Gilmore Girls.”)
But as much as Tucker Max may seem to be invincible to his many vices, he still had a lot of learning to do when it came to cinema.
- 9/25/2009
- by Nick Allen
- The Scorecard Review
I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell
Directed by: Bob Gosse
Cast: Matt Czuchry, Geoff Stults, Jesse Bradford
Running Time: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: R
Release Date: September 25, 2009
Plot: A social master (Czuchry) brings his recently cheated-on friend (Bradford) and their soon to be engaged buddy (Stults) on a night of misadventures they might never forget. Based on the book of the same title written by Tucker Max.
Who’s It For? The college crowd who want to re-experience the only book they’ve ever read outside of class.
Expectations: The tales I had previously heard about Tucker Max were impressive only in the way that they constantly seemed to dig deeper and deeper into moral disregard. Going into this film, I had not read the book beforehand.
Scorecard (0-10)
Actors:
Matt Czuchry as Tucker Max: The relatively unknown actor prevails in presenting the character of Tucker Max, regardless of...
Directed by: Bob Gosse
Cast: Matt Czuchry, Geoff Stults, Jesse Bradford
Running Time: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: R
Release Date: September 25, 2009
Plot: A social master (Czuchry) brings his recently cheated-on friend (Bradford) and their soon to be engaged buddy (Stults) on a night of misadventures they might never forget. Based on the book of the same title written by Tucker Max.
Who’s It For? The college crowd who want to re-experience the only book they’ve ever read outside of class.
Expectations: The tales I had previously heard about Tucker Max were impressive only in the way that they constantly seemed to dig deeper and deeper into moral disregard. Going into this film, I had not read the book beforehand.
Scorecard (0-10)
Actors:
Matt Czuchry as Tucker Max: The relatively unknown actor prevails in presenting the character of Tucker Max, regardless of...
- 9/25/2009
- by Nick Allen
- The Scorecard Review
Chicago – In our latest comedy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 35 admit-two passes up for grabs to the Chicago screening of the new film “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” based on a true story and the best-selling book by Tucker Max!
“I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” stars Matt Czuchry (as Tucker Max), Geoff Stults, Jesse Bradford, Keri Lynn Part, Marika Dominczyk and Traci Lords from director Bob Gosse.
To win your free pass to the advance screening of “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” in Chicago courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is answer our question below. That’s it! This screening will be held on Sept. 24, 2009 at 8 p.m. in downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.
“I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” stars Matt Czuchry, Geoff Stults and Jesse Bradford.
“I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” stars Matt Czuchry (as Tucker Max), Geoff Stults, Jesse Bradford, Keri Lynn Part, Marika Dominczyk and Traci Lords from director Bob Gosse.
To win your free pass to the advance screening of “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” in Chicago courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is answer our question below. That’s it! This screening will be held on Sept. 24, 2009 at 8 p.m. in downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.
“I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” stars Matt Czuchry, Geoff Stults and Jesse Bradford.
- 9/16/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Here is the trailer from Freestyle Releasing’s upcoming film “I Hope The Serve Beer In Hell”. Directed by Bob Gosse, the film stars Matt Czuchry, Jesse Bradford, Geoff Stults I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell Hit Theaters September 25, 2009 A guy tries to patch things up with his soon-to-be-married pal after botching things up at his bachelor party. Based on Tucker Max’s best-seller “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell”. (for more info - click here)...
- 8/29/2009
- by The Critic
- SmartCine.com
I have to admit I don't know much about the book I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, except that it's written by a blogger named Tucker Max, who supposedly offers true accounts of his drunken antics and sexual encounters to the delight of douchebags and meatheads the world over. Somehow he managed to talk Richard Kelly into producing a movie based on the book through Darko Entertainment, and now here we are, looking at the first trailer. I was somewhat interested based on the fact that it sounded like an edgy, independent film that would be getting a decent release, but after watching the trailer I'm not convinced that this will be anything other than a generic, mildly shocking sex comedy. I suspect that the appeal of Max's stories come from his writing style and the fact that they at least feel like they could be true. None of...
- 8/5/2009
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
I admit I had a good time reading Tucker Max's filthy and ridiculously vulgar best seller "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell," but to be honest, I wish he would've left it at that without turning it into a movie.
But hey, many cinemagoers out there are in love with ultra-gross comedies full of dirty talk and offensive sex jokes, and for those who don't like to read, they will soon be able to follow some of Tucker's adventures on the big screen.
The book essentially focused on a whole series of stories Tucker experience during the past years. Some are nastier than others, but most of them feature tons alcohol, hot chicks, wild sex acts and fat girls.
A first trailer for the Bob Gosse-directed film has debuted online, and while I did laugh a lot while reading the book, this footage really failed to impress me.
But hey, many cinemagoers out there are in love with ultra-gross comedies full of dirty talk and offensive sex jokes, and for those who don't like to read, they will soon be able to follow some of Tucker's adventures on the big screen.
The book essentially focused on a whole series of stories Tucker experience during the past years. Some are nastier than others, but most of them feature tons alcohol, hot chicks, wild sex acts and fat girls.
A first trailer for the Bob Gosse-directed film has debuted online, and while I did laugh a lot while reading the book, this footage really failed to impress me.
- 8/5/2009
- by Franck Tabouring
- screeninglog.com
This is the first trailer for Bob Gosse's
Total Videos: (9)
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Total Videos: (9)
Total Images: (1)');">I hope They Serve Beer in Hell, a story of a guy tries to patch things up with his soon-to-be-married pal after botching things up at his bachelor party. Based on Tucker Max's best-seller "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell".Watch the trailer after the jump.<center><embed width="460" height="300" src="http://www.filmsnmovies.com/media/flvplayer.swf" flashvars="config=http://www.filmsnmovies.com/media/config.php?vid=8332" bgColor="#Ffffff" quality="high" allowScriptAccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></center>...
- 8/5/2009
- Films N Movies
Jesse Bradford, Geoff Stults and Matt Czuchry have signed on to star in Bob Gosse’s adaptation of Tucker Max’s best-selling memoir “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.”
Max first got to taste fame in 2002 after he launched TuckerMax.com, on which he posted a horde of short stories about his alcohol-laden adventures. He then decided to gather the most memorable ones in a memoir, which hit shelves in 2006 and instantly became a best seller.
The movie follows Max as he decides to take an impromptu trip to celebrate his friend’s bachelor party. Max is co-writing the script with Nils Parker.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Czuchry will star as Tucker Max, while Stults and Bradford will play his best friends. Denise Quinones and Keri Lynn Pratt co-star.
When I first heard about the big-screen adaptation I decided to get a copy of the book, and although...
Max first got to taste fame in 2002 after he launched TuckerMax.com, on which he posted a horde of short stories about his alcohol-laden adventures. He then decided to gather the most memorable ones in a memoir, which hit shelves in 2006 and instantly became a best seller.
The movie follows Max as he decides to take an impromptu trip to celebrate his friend’s bachelor party. Max is co-writing the script with Nils Parker.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Czuchry will star as Tucker Max, while Stults and Bradford will play his best friends. Denise Quinones and Keri Lynn Pratt co-star.
When I first heard about the big-screen adaptation I decided to get a copy of the book, and although...
- 7/9/2008
- by Franck Tabouring
- screeninglog.com
Matt Czuchry, Jesse Bradford and Geoff Stults are raising their steins for "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell," the adaptation of the bawdy best-selling memoir of Tucker Max. Bob Gosse is directing.
Max rose to fame after launching TuckerMax.com in 2002, garnering millions of unique site visitors to read his short stories and a $300,000 advance for his alcohol-fueled memoir for Penguin Books.
The film, written by Max and Nils Parker, follows his trip to a friend's bachelor party, where he ensnares the groom in a lie that threatens the wedding, then abandons him to pursue further carnal knowledge. After being banned from the nuptials, Max attempts to get back into his friend's good graces.
Czuchry will play Tucker Max, marking the actor's first starring role in a feature film. Bradford and Stults will play Max's best friends.
Rounding out the cast are Keri Lynn Pratt (ABC's "Brothers & Sisters") and Denise Quinones ("The Bedford Diaries"). The film begins principal photography July 21 on location in Shreveport, La.
Darko Entertainment's Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick and Ted Hamm along with Max and his partner Parker's Rudius Films. Max Wong and Karen Firestone of Pinkslip Pictures also will produce along with Aaron Ray of the Collective. Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield of the Collective are executive producers.
Darko is financing "Beer in Hell," with the Collective handling the North American rights.
Czuchry ("Gilmore Girls") is repped by Gersh and the Collective.
Uta-repped Bradford recently completed Oliver Stone's "W" and next stars in horror thriller "The Echo." Bradford is also repped by Alchemy Entertainment.
Stults ("October Road") has "The Express" and "She's Out of My League" in the can. He is repped by Uta and the Collective.
Max rose to fame after launching TuckerMax.com in 2002, garnering millions of unique site visitors to read his short stories and a $300,000 advance for his alcohol-fueled memoir for Penguin Books.
The film, written by Max and Nils Parker, follows his trip to a friend's bachelor party, where he ensnares the groom in a lie that threatens the wedding, then abandons him to pursue further carnal knowledge. After being banned from the nuptials, Max attempts to get back into his friend's good graces.
Czuchry will play Tucker Max, marking the actor's first starring role in a feature film. Bradford and Stults will play Max's best friends.
Rounding out the cast are Keri Lynn Pratt (ABC's "Brothers & Sisters") and Denise Quinones ("The Bedford Diaries"). The film begins principal photography July 21 on location in Shreveport, La.
Darko Entertainment's Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick and Ted Hamm along with Max and his partner Parker's Rudius Films. Max Wong and Karen Firestone of Pinkslip Pictures also will produce along with Aaron Ray of the Collective. Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield of the Collective are executive producers.
Darko is financing "Beer in Hell," with the Collective handling the North American rights.
Czuchry ("Gilmore Girls") is repped by Gersh and the Collective.
Uta-repped Bradford recently completed Oliver Stone's "W" and next stars in horror thriller "The Echo." Bradford is also repped by Alchemy Entertainment.
Stults ("October Road") has "The Express" and "She's Out of My League" in the can. He is repped by Uta and the Collective.
- 7/8/2008
- by By Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Tucker Max will adapt his bawdy best-seller "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" into a big-screen comedy with director Bob Gosse.
"Hell", now No. 12 on the New York Times best-seller list after a three-year run, chronicles Max's alcohol-fueled true adventures. The film will follow his trip to a friend's bachelor party, where he ensnares the groom in a lie that threatens the wedding, then abandons him to pursue further carnal knowledge. After being banned from the nuptials, Max attempts to get back into his friend's good graces.
Pinkslip Pictures' Max Wong ("Bring It On") and Karen Firestone will produce with the Collective's Aaron Ray ("Big Momma's House"), Max and co-screenwriter Nils Parker. Gosse previously helmed "Niagara Niagara".
Max rose to fame after launching TuckerMax.com in 2002, garnering millions of unique site visitors to read his short stories and a $300,000 advance for his Penguin Books memoir.
But Max's road to the screen has been a long one. In 2003, he sold a TV pilot based on his site and book to Fox and then NBC, but rights quickly reverted back to him after a regime change.
"Hell", now No. 12 on the New York Times best-seller list after a three-year run, chronicles Max's alcohol-fueled true adventures. The film will follow his trip to a friend's bachelor party, where he ensnares the groom in a lie that threatens the wedding, then abandons him to pursue further carnal knowledge. After being banned from the nuptials, Max attempts to get back into his friend's good graces.
Pinkslip Pictures' Max Wong ("Bring It On") and Karen Firestone will produce with the Collective's Aaron Ray ("Big Momma's House"), Max and co-screenwriter Nils Parker. Gosse previously helmed "Niagara Niagara".
Max rose to fame after launching TuckerMax.com in 2002, garnering millions of unique site visitors to read his short stories and a $300,000 advance for his Penguin Books memoir.
But Max's road to the screen has been a long one. In 2003, he sold a TV pilot based on his site and book to Fox and then NBC, but rights quickly reverted back to him after a regime change.
- 4/16/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Rocky" meets "Rain Man" in female clothing here at the Sundance Film Festival, which although wildly erratic as a movie, might have had some potential as a skit within "The Player". Starring Lili Taylor as a Jersey mom with a blue-collar family who has been suppressing a secret yen for theoretical physics, "Julie Johnson" is a well-intentioned muddle that you have to see to disbelieve. Unfortunately, "Julie"'s every decent theme of equal opportunity for women, which the film so earnestly embraces, is subverted by its soapy, drippy storytelling. So daft is this PC piffle that one can only conclude that it might have been perpetrated by a sinister cabal of reactionary right-wing male chauvinists to discredit feminism. Did we mention that Courtney Love co-stars as Julie's confidante, her go-for-the-physics chum?
Embroidered with the thickest of blue-collar story apparel, "Julie" centers on a beleaguered, overworked Hoboken wife, Julie (Taylor), who trudges through life, essentially, as a beast of burden. Her old-school hubbie, a cop (Noah Emmerich), is two rungs below Archie Bunker and wants his brewskis on the table with supper at the same time every night. He treats her like the hired help, and it's his condescending wrath that makes Julie hide the science magazines she has bought for years at the grocery store (evidently Hoboken has more sophisticated checkout-line reading matter than, say, Westwood). One typical night, between Beer 1 and Beer 2 at the table, Julie drops her freedom-of-expression mandate on hubby: She wants to go back to school to get her GED and then maybe study computers. The kids gulp and hubbie roars, and Julie scampers back to the kitchen.
Julie is plucky, however, and soon announces that she's going to school with or without his permission. Not surprisingly, her hirsute mate objects, and she throws him out, much to the shock of her two teen and preteen kids (Gideon Jacobs and Mischa Barton). Has this physics thing warped her mind, or is it just an excuse to get rid of The Old Man? We're never completely sure, owing to the surface transparency of the writing, but we gather that Julie, unlike Edith Bunker, is just sick and tired of being "stifled," regarded merely as a beer- and sex-dispensing machine.
Even her best friend, Claire, believes Julie's sudden need for high-physics fulfillment is "strange." But presto-chango, Claire too dumps her couch-potato guy and comes to live with Julie. And, viva la liberation, life becomes a pajama party for the Jersey women. Showing the extent of their bonding, Julie also arm-twists Claire into trotting along with her to her evening classes, where fellow high school dropout Claire inures herself by disregarding the lectures on "chaos theory" and other high science. Indeed, Claire is particularly baffled by Julie's craze for knowledge because she remembers her as an indifferent and decidedly noncerebral high school student. Despite Julie's prior nonintellectual life, in which she never demonstrated any special talents, she's suddenly burning up the chalkboard with fancy math, deconstructing algorithms -- or something like that. In her dazzling high-power math performances, she's akin to Rain Man counting matches. Soon, her teacher-mentor (Spalding Gray), a tweedy old male, is talking college to her. How come Julie or no one else detected this "gift" before? Well, it's not so implicitly understood that it's because she has been a victim throughout life, suppressed and oppressed. Now, for the first time, her self-esteem is above ground level. It's in these proud moments, as the young woman beams with accomplishment, that the film rings truest and touches us. We embrace Julie, appreciating that this woman has long been just a service person to everyone else, never complimented or encouraged in anything beyond domestic duties. It's not only her husband who has been her "oppressor," but it's also the whole working-class mind-set of women remaining in their kitchen-ly place. Unfortunately, screenwriters Wendy Hammond and Bob Grosse don't demonstrate the writing skills to blend their more big-bang themes with the everyday world of a Jersey woman. Yelping about "chaos theory" and ramblings about the nature of the universe ring out as alien nonsense in this "I Am Blue-collar Woman" filmic anthem.
Now, just when we're kind of plugged into the escape from the chauvinistic-society themery, the filmmakers heap it on: Julie begins to snuggle up to Claire. Despite some initial reservations from Claire, whose tight, sexy, man-targeting apparel doesn't clue us to any sexual urgings other than the sports-bar male, the two become ardent nuzzlers. Two equations later, they're lovers and having a romp hiding from the kids. Yikes. It's as if the filmmakers didn't have enough story matter or writing skills to complete the liberated-from-drudgery theme, so they orbited out into an alternative sexual universe. At this juncture, my entire row at the Sundance premiere began its descending slump.
Although "Julie" gyrates all over the story universe, it never convinces even on a rudimentary level. Usually, one would have to linger at the Starbucks in Brentwood to pick up a similar slant on blue-collar life such as the one that "Julie" posits. The whole working-class milieu -- not to mention the stereotypical characters, from downtrodden Julie to the across-the-board bozos on the male side -- rings out as a thematic construct rather than real life. Thankfully, Love, as the bimbo-ish waitress and best girlfriend, has enough snap and saucy swagger to get beyond the dimensions of her big-earringed, blowsy-blonde character. Love's performance is about the only thing in this by-the-numbers scrabble that doesn't seem squared to the nth degree from a story equation.
Eventually, "Julie" flutters off into a little-bang puff of drippy visual flourishes and gooey narrative. The half-baked story line is further grounded by director Bob Gosse's gummy aesthetics, most cloyingly the strummy, good-feel musical accompaniment. Visually, it's just as clouded: "Julie" literally ends on a moony shot of the stars just at the point you hope it will begin to reconnect all of its loose ends. Evidently, the filmmakers have their own transcendent version of "chaos theory" as it applies to making sense of everyday life stories.
JULIE JOHNSON
Shooting Gallery
Producers: Ray Angelic, Larry Meistrich
Director: Bob Gosse
Screenwriters: Wendy Hammond, Bob Gosse
Executive producers: Steve Carlis, Donald C. Carter, Keith Abell
Director of photography: David M. Dunlap
Costume designer: Kathryn Nixon
Production designer: Mark Ricker
Executive music producer: Tracy McKnight
Visual effects supervisor: Jonathan Flack
Postproduction supervisor: Chris Kenneally
Supervising sound editor: Jennifer Ralston
Color/Stereo
Julie: Lili Taylor
Claire: : Courtney Love
Mr. Miranda: : Spalding Gray
Rick: : Noah Emmerich
Lisa: Mischa Barton
Frank: Gideon Jacobs
Running time -- 94 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Embroidered with the thickest of blue-collar story apparel, "Julie" centers on a beleaguered, overworked Hoboken wife, Julie (Taylor), who trudges through life, essentially, as a beast of burden. Her old-school hubbie, a cop (Noah Emmerich), is two rungs below Archie Bunker and wants his brewskis on the table with supper at the same time every night. He treats her like the hired help, and it's his condescending wrath that makes Julie hide the science magazines she has bought for years at the grocery store (evidently Hoboken has more sophisticated checkout-line reading matter than, say, Westwood). One typical night, between Beer 1 and Beer 2 at the table, Julie drops her freedom-of-expression mandate on hubby: She wants to go back to school to get her GED and then maybe study computers. The kids gulp and hubbie roars, and Julie scampers back to the kitchen.
Julie is plucky, however, and soon announces that she's going to school with or without his permission. Not surprisingly, her hirsute mate objects, and she throws him out, much to the shock of her two teen and preteen kids (Gideon Jacobs and Mischa Barton). Has this physics thing warped her mind, or is it just an excuse to get rid of The Old Man? We're never completely sure, owing to the surface transparency of the writing, but we gather that Julie, unlike Edith Bunker, is just sick and tired of being "stifled," regarded merely as a beer- and sex-dispensing machine.
Even her best friend, Claire, believes Julie's sudden need for high-physics fulfillment is "strange." But presto-chango, Claire too dumps her couch-potato guy and comes to live with Julie. And, viva la liberation, life becomes a pajama party for the Jersey women. Showing the extent of their bonding, Julie also arm-twists Claire into trotting along with her to her evening classes, where fellow high school dropout Claire inures herself by disregarding the lectures on "chaos theory" and other high science. Indeed, Claire is particularly baffled by Julie's craze for knowledge because she remembers her as an indifferent and decidedly noncerebral high school student. Despite Julie's prior nonintellectual life, in which she never demonstrated any special talents, she's suddenly burning up the chalkboard with fancy math, deconstructing algorithms -- or something like that. In her dazzling high-power math performances, she's akin to Rain Man counting matches. Soon, her teacher-mentor (Spalding Gray), a tweedy old male, is talking college to her. How come Julie or no one else detected this "gift" before? Well, it's not so implicitly understood that it's because she has been a victim throughout life, suppressed and oppressed. Now, for the first time, her self-esteem is above ground level. It's in these proud moments, as the young woman beams with accomplishment, that the film rings truest and touches us. We embrace Julie, appreciating that this woman has long been just a service person to everyone else, never complimented or encouraged in anything beyond domestic duties. It's not only her husband who has been her "oppressor," but it's also the whole working-class mind-set of women remaining in their kitchen-ly place. Unfortunately, screenwriters Wendy Hammond and Bob Grosse don't demonstrate the writing skills to blend their more big-bang themes with the everyday world of a Jersey woman. Yelping about "chaos theory" and ramblings about the nature of the universe ring out as alien nonsense in this "I Am Blue-collar Woman" filmic anthem.
Now, just when we're kind of plugged into the escape from the chauvinistic-society themery, the filmmakers heap it on: Julie begins to snuggle up to Claire. Despite some initial reservations from Claire, whose tight, sexy, man-targeting apparel doesn't clue us to any sexual urgings other than the sports-bar male, the two become ardent nuzzlers. Two equations later, they're lovers and having a romp hiding from the kids. Yikes. It's as if the filmmakers didn't have enough story matter or writing skills to complete the liberated-from-drudgery theme, so they orbited out into an alternative sexual universe. At this juncture, my entire row at the Sundance premiere began its descending slump.
Although "Julie" gyrates all over the story universe, it never convinces even on a rudimentary level. Usually, one would have to linger at the Starbucks in Brentwood to pick up a similar slant on blue-collar life such as the one that "Julie" posits. The whole working-class milieu -- not to mention the stereotypical characters, from downtrodden Julie to the across-the-board bozos on the male side -- rings out as a thematic construct rather than real life. Thankfully, Love, as the bimbo-ish waitress and best girlfriend, has enough snap and saucy swagger to get beyond the dimensions of her big-earringed, blowsy-blonde character. Love's performance is about the only thing in this by-the-numbers scrabble that doesn't seem squared to the nth degree from a story equation.
Eventually, "Julie" flutters off into a little-bang puff of drippy visual flourishes and gooey narrative. The half-baked story line is further grounded by director Bob Gosse's gummy aesthetics, most cloyingly the strummy, good-feel musical accompaniment. Visually, it's just as clouded: "Julie" literally ends on a moony shot of the stars just at the point you hope it will begin to reconnect all of its loose ends. Evidently, the filmmakers have their own transcendent version of "chaos theory" as it applies to making sense of everyday life stories.
JULIE JOHNSON
Shooting Gallery
Producers: Ray Angelic, Larry Meistrich
Director: Bob Gosse
Screenwriters: Wendy Hammond, Bob Gosse
Executive producers: Steve Carlis, Donald C. Carter, Keith Abell
Director of photography: David M. Dunlap
Costume designer: Kathryn Nixon
Production designer: Mark Ricker
Executive music producer: Tracy McKnight
Visual effects supervisor: Jonathan Flack
Postproduction supervisor: Chris Kenneally
Supervising sound editor: Jennifer Ralston
Color/Stereo
Julie: Lili Taylor
Claire: : Courtney Love
Mr. Miranda: : Spalding Gray
Rick: : Noah Emmerich
Lisa: Mischa Barton
Frank: Gideon Jacobs
Running time -- 94 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/29/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Road movies are a time-honored cinematic tradition, but the formula has become so familiar that filmmakers must resort to odder and odder protagonists and quirkier-than-ever scenarios to keep audiences interested.
Bob Gosse's debut feature tells the story of Seth (Henry Thomas) and Marcy (Robin Tunney), a young couple journeying to Toronto in search of an elusive black Barbie doll. He's emotionally withdrawn and repressed, while she, because of Tourette's syndrome, is overflowing with emotion. Not that the film is completely iconoclastic -- in the best Hollywood tradition, they meet cute while simultaneously shop-lifting.
The film, which won Tunney the best actress prize at the Venice International Film Festival, was showcased recently at the Miami Film Festival.
"Niagara Niagara", which tries with increasingly visible desperation to achieve cult status, contains the kind of episodic narrative in which everything and nothing happens. As the pair embark on their road trip, they have a series of confrontations that start out comically but end in tragedy.
The plot, such as it is, revolves not only around the couple's search for the Barbie but also on their attempts to procure drugs needed to correct Marcy's condition. When an argumentative encounter with a bizarre pharmacist (Stephen Lang) goes no-where, they return at night to rob the drugstore; the resulting fiasco forces the pair to go on the lam.
A car accident that badly in-jures Seth results in the pair winding up in the hands of Walter (Michael Parks), a tow-truck driver who offers them a place to hide out. Unfortunately, Marcy's condition results in violently ag-gressive impulses, and Walter gets violently assaulted for his trouble.
Although both leads deliver effective performances, their characters are not really interesting beyond their surface eccentricities, and whatever energy the film has is generated by Marcy's increasingly bizarre Tourette's freakouts. It's easy to see why Tunney impressed the judges at Venice; she delivers Marcy's tics, grimaces and vocal fluctuations with technical skill, and, more importantly, she makes us aware of the character's underlying vulnerability.
Director Gosse is fond of such visual flourishes as cutting away from a flushing toilet to the majesty of Niagara Falls, which serves much the same tired metaphoric function as another set of falls in Wong Kar-Wei's "Happy Together". It may be time for that particular visual symbol to be given a lengthy hiatus from the screen.
NIAGARA NIAGARA
The Shooting Gallery
Director: Bob Gosse
Screenplay: Matthew Weiss
Producer: David L. Bushell
Executive producer: Larry Meistrich
Cinematography: Michael Spiller
Editor: Rachel Warden
Music: Michael Timmins, Jeff Bird
Color/stereo
Cast:
Marcy: Robin Tunney
Seth: Henry Thomas
Walter: Michael Parks
Claude (Pharmacist): Stephen Lang
Seth's Father: John MacKay
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Bob Gosse's debut feature tells the story of Seth (Henry Thomas) and Marcy (Robin Tunney), a young couple journeying to Toronto in search of an elusive black Barbie doll. He's emotionally withdrawn and repressed, while she, because of Tourette's syndrome, is overflowing with emotion. Not that the film is completely iconoclastic -- in the best Hollywood tradition, they meet cute while simultaneously shop-lifting.
The film, which won Tunney the best actress prize at the Venice International Film Festival, was showcased recently at the Miami Film Festival.
"Niagara Niagara", which tries with increasingly visible desperation to achieve cult status, contains the kind of episodic narrative in which everything and nothing happens. As the pair embark on their road trip, they have a series of confrontations that start out comically but end in tragedy.
The plot, such as it is, revolves not only around the couple's search for the Barbie but also on their attempts to procure drugs needed to correct Marcy's condition. When an argumentative encounter with a bizarre pharmacist (Stephen Lang) goes no-where, they return at night to rob the drugstore; the resulting fiasco forces the pair to go on the lam.
A car accident that badly in-jures Seth results in the pair winding up in the hands of Walter (Michael Parks), a tow-truck driver who offers them a place to hide out. Unfortunately, Marcy's condition results in violently ag-gressive impulses, and Walter gets violently assaulted for his trouble.
Although both leads deliver effective performances, their characters are not really interesting beyond their surface eccentricities, and whatever energy the film has is generated by Marcy's increasingly bizarre Tourette's freakouts. It's easy to see why Tunney impressed the judges at Venice; she delivers Marcy's tics, grimaces and vocal fluctuations with technical skill, and, more importantly, she makes us aware of the character's underlying vulnerability.
Director Gosse is fond of such visual flourishes as cutting away from a flushing toilet to the majesty of Niagara Falls, which serves much the same tired metaphoric function as another set of falls in Wong Kar-Wei's "Happy Together". It may be time for that particular visual symbol to be given a lengthy hiatus from the screen.
NIAGARA NIAGARA
The Shooting Gallery
Director: Bob Gosse
Screenplay: Matthew Weiss
Producer: David L. Bushell
Executive producer: Larry Meistrich
Cinematography: Michael Spiller
Editor: Rachel Warden
Music: Michael Timmins, Jeff Bird
Color/stereo
Cast:
Marcy: Robin Tunney
Seth: Henry Thomas
Walter: Michael Parks
Claude (Pharmacist): Stephen Lang
Seth's Father: John MacKay
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/20/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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