Frequently funny but ultimately quite disturbing, this is a film that you're never sure what the motives are. Certainly the 70's atmosphere is amusing, showing Southern California beach life at at its freakiest, a civilization that for better or worse is gone with the wind. Bud Cort brings to life a character that gets scarier as the film goes on, and not one that should be either laughed at or with, or given any sympathy. He looks like Bobcat Gothwaite which is scary enough, and fortunately doesn't sound like him. But he has all the scary elements of someone who should be in an institution with his stalking of Kim Adams (Linda), and I'm surprised that Linda's boyfriend (Brian Thompson) or best friend (Pamella D'Pella) didn't beat him up.
Then there's James Brolin in the odd role of Cort's best friend, a hippy way past the age of retirement who enables Cort's behavior, even putting up girlfriend Carol Kane to try to seduce him to get his mind off of Adams. Street poet Cort first sees her at the beach, then finds her at a volunteer social services agency, and increasingly gets more obsessed with her. This isn't a parody of other stalking films, but Cort is after a while just beyond creepy to her. Cameos by Gena Rowlands, Martin Mull, Rhea Pearlman and Woody Harrelson don't really add all that much. This is the type of film that will send the viewer to confession after laughing, or at least a hot shower to rid themselves of the filth they just watched. If the film is really guilty of anything, it's making the viewer feel amused by the first half in hopes of numbing their body to the themes of the second half.
Then there's James Brolin in the odd role of Cort's best friend, a hippy way past the age of retirement who enables Cort's behavior, even putting up girlfriend Carol Kane to try to seduce him to get his mind off of Adams. Street poet Cort first sees her at the beach, then finds her at a volunteer social services agency, and increasingly gets more obsessed with her. This isn't a parody of other stalking films, but Cort is after a while just beyond creepy to her. Cameos by Gena Rowlands, Martin Mull, Rhea Pearlman and Woody Harrelson don't really add all that much. This is the type of film that will send the viewer to confession after laughing, or at least a hot shower to rid themselves of the filth they just watched. If the film is really guilty of anything, it's making the viewer feel amused by the first half in hopes of numbing their body to the themes of the second half.