Sporadic Ramblings

Didn't like it. Everybody else I know thinks it rocks, and I usually love John Cusack in anything. I was talking about it with a friend who pointed out that I don't really like movies about low-life people, which is generally true (e.g. Goodfellas, Scarface), though not always (Godfathers 1 through 3 - yes, I liked 3, and yes, it's not nearly as good as 1 & 2). Maybe that's part of it. When there's a movie about seedy folks, I usually want at least one of them to be trying for redemption, or at least be good at heart, so I have somebody to cheer for.

I think there were other problems for me here too, though. The characters didn't seem real, at all. None of the three main characters rang true for me - they all seemed to do things (big and little) later in the movie that seemed inconsistent with who I'd thought they were from earlier in the movie. They also never really felt like real people. I know they were in a weird situation and lifestyle, but still.

It also felt like the movie was shooting for quirky but missed and hit weird. This is just my own gut-feeling issue, to be sure - I like quirky (High Fidelity, also a Frears-Cusack movie) and I tend to really dislike weird (Mulholland Drive).

Finally, the ending just killed it for me. I'll say no more, but it was a big cop out for me, as this kind of thing almost always is.