I love PSH, think he's probably the best actor in America today (definitely best young actor) and his performance carries this movie. After about 45 minutes of making the point that he is sniffing gas, I said out loud. "Yeah, I get it...he sniffs gas". That's basically the first half of the movie. Does it take 45 minutes to set up that the sad guy is sniffing gas? Maybe it was the long seductive shot of the gas pump that went too far for me...
I thought of some other recent "addiction is bad" type of movies, like Trainspotting or Requiem for a Dream and while drugs were a major player in those you understood it, but the entire movie wasn't various shots of taking drugs over and over and over and over.
Kathy Bates...I'm sorry Kathy. You too are a fantastic actor, but you had nothing to do. How many shots of you staring into the distance does a movie need? The script didn't allow you to do anything until about the last 15 minutes.
I was annoyed by the disappearance of a few Characters, Maura and the couple from the vacation. What the hell was that scene all about? Go on vacation, he's on vacation, he's back from vacation.
If not for Hoffman and Bates, this movie would probably be a four, but they each add a point.
Finally, there were a bunch of things that caused me to say that seems unlikely. After the RC rally in LA, Denny is towing Wilson's car? What they just stopped at the U-Haul? After the "robbery" it didn't occur to Wilson that they cleaned the house, mopped and vacuumed? It was clear right away who had done it. Maybe, he couldn't figure it out due to his huffing, but when not high he was a pretty bright guy.
I wanted to love this movie, if only for Hoffman, but I couldn't.
I thought of some other recent "addiction is bad" type of movies, like Trainspotting or Requiem for a Dream and while drugs were a major player in those you understood it, but the entire movie wasn't various shots of taking drugs over and over and over and over.
Kathy Bates...I'm sorry Kathy. You too are a fantastic actor, but you had nothing to do. How many shots of you staring into the distance does a movie need? The script didn't allow you to do anything until about the last 15 minutes.
I was annoyed by the disappearance of a few Characters, Maura and the couple from the vacation. What the hell was that scene all about? Go on vacation, he's on vacation, he's back from vacation.
If not for Hoffman and Bates, this movie would probably be a four, but they each add a point.
Finally, there were a bunch of things that caused me to say that seems unlikely. After the RC rally in LA, Denny is towing Wilson's car? What they just stopped at the U-Haul? After the "robbery" it didn't occur to Wilson that they cleaned the house, mopped and vacuumed? It was clear right away who had done it. Maybe, he couldn't figure it out due to his huffing, but when not high he was a pretty bright guy.
I wanted to love this movie, if only for Hoffman, but I couldn't.