Reviews

I had seen this movie on a cable channel many years ago and once on DVD when it first came out. Somehow, something compelled me to rent it again a few years later in order to watch it again.

I only vaguely remembered what the story was about and only vaguely remember ever watching this film before. (Maybe that kind of sums up the film--a vague story fleshed out with some interesting characters.) As I rewatched this film, it was like seeing it again for the first time. If you gave me a million dollars I couldn't have predicted what the next scene would have been or how the film ended. (And I don't suffer from Alzheimer's disease, drink excessively, or do drugs.)

The story contains enough twists to keep it interesting, and quirky, yet endearing characters to keep a viewer compelled to watch it. Still, I can't really put my finger on what the whole things adds up to. I guess it was trying to tell me that even the most love-scarred people can find love in this world. Or maybe it was saying that if you keep looking for love, you'll find it--maybe not in the way, shape, or form you intended it.

Anyway, the story revolves around a man who is released from a mental institution who is on his way to Las Vegas, but ends up in downtown Los Angeles. He interacts with a trio of women (one a "Love-Line" talk show host, another a bar owner, and the last a kept woman) whom he influences and they in turn influence him. Remarkably all the people are connected in ways that the viewer (and sometimes even they) is/are not aware of. (Alan Rudolph who wrote and directed the film and who also worked with Robert Altman on many of his films employs some of the same techniques Altman uses concerning multiple, interconnecting story lines and characters. Then again, maybe it was Altman who was using Rudolph's techniques.))

All the actors do a good job and it's good to see John Larroquette playing a serious role. The only problem I had was with Geneviève Bujold's acting.

SPOILER



(Bujold plays the talk show host (who is incognito) and she moves in with Jennifer's Warren's character. Warren's character calls Bujold's character on the phone for advice about her love life several times in the film they have several conversations throughout the film. Warren is unaware that her roommate and the talk show host are one and the same person. Now, Bujold's accent is VERY distinctive and obviously Warren's character should have put two and two together. Too bad that Bujold is not a good enough actress to be able to handle two different accents in the film.)





END OF SPOILER

Anyway, the many times I have watched this film have always resulted in an enjoyable experience so I rate this film an 7.

The scenery and photography were at times breathtaking in this film. Too bad there's wasn't a film attached to it that was also breathtaking.

I found myself laughing too many times at the many ridiculous turns of events in this bloated Western.

Such as...(SPOILERS AHEAD!)





A forty-something year-old nurse (Annette Bening) who is perhaps the prettiest woman in a town filled with men, and yet she's not married, engaged, or even dating anyone. In fact, the men in the town are so lacking in testosterone that they don't even try to chat her up. Maybe the town is a homosexual haven in the West? Perhaps, she herself is lesbian? Nah, can't be because when a cowboy with very little charisma (Kevin Costner)shows up she suddenly discovers she has a libido and falls in love with him.

Gunfights in which guns always have a never-ending supply of bullets and hit with pinpoint accuracy. (Back in those days most guns were highly inaccurate and unreliable. The same can be said for the men shooting the guns, but you wouldn't know it from this film. You might think that Costner was a sharpshooter who had some kind of S.W.A.T. training.) Of course, when it comes to shooting the main villain (Michael Gambon), no-one can shoot straight. At one point almost the entire town is shooting at him while he's holed up in a little room and yet miraculously he isn't killed. (Perhaps, I was watching a Westernized version of Pulp Fiction where an act of Divine Intervention had taken place!)

A near-dead character named Button (who hours before was in a coma with little chance of ever recovering) somehow gets the strength, determination, and ability to take part in the final shoot-out.

The old coot (Duvall) who turns into Superman. He even gets the upper hand on and successfully beats up a group of young men more than half his age. And when he gets shot in the stomach in the final gunfight, somehow he's able to stop himself from bleeding to death and continue on making speeches and shooting at the bad guys.

I could go on and on (like this film does), but I think I'll take this time and rewatch a true Western directed by John Ford.