it would be great to see De Niro bring this much energy to a character again, something really varied and eccentric and lively. I suppose it's just a sign of our culture that once you're famous for something, you have to be that over and over again. But I don't think he's brought anything like this to film since maybe "King of Comedy" or the bit he did in "Brazil". Anyway, I think this is a really incredible, challenging, funny film, a cross between "Rear Window" and something Godard might have done. It's amazing too, considering how big the careers of De Palma and De Niro got and how much attention is paid on places like IFC to the innovations of the "Easy Rider/Raging Bull" era films that this film and "Greetings" are so completely ignored. Watching this you can understand how Paulene Kael was so hot for De Palma. It really has some amazing pieces to it. Also, thinking about the plots and themes of "Taxi Driver" and "King of Comedy", I'm betting this film absolutely blew Scorsese away, really got his head going. You read things like the fact that Redford's working on a sequel to "The Candidate" and all you can think is, man, it would be nice if all these guys would get together and say "let's do something messed up and smart and fast like we used to, remember? Remember that? Back when we had to get our own lunch?"
Review of Hi, Mom!
