* out of ****
Rip Torn's directorial debut is an extremely unpleasant and disturbing mind-study of a woman who speaks on the phone. I will spoil this film in this comment, and so i think it would only be smart for only people who have seen the film to read this. Other wise, if you don't want to see the film, do but don't care if the plot is ruined for you, or haven't seen it but already know the ending, don't read this comment.
Okay, now that this is out of the way, I'll tell the film. It is basically a film in which Whoopi Goldberg plays a woman with a pet owl who speaks on the phone with different people. it goes on like this for the whole film until the end when a telephone man shows up at her apartment and the audience discovers that the phone is disconnected. the woman then proceeds to murder the telephone man, showing the audience that she is not only neurotic, but a very sick and crazy homicidal woman.
I believe that the film was made to be an interpretation on one event in which we've all had and make it into something not quite worthy of film. Then it falls back on itself by showing that the woman is crazy and that up until the ending, the audience has been misled. The trick is to show a quirky woman who the audience feels a little sorry for before blowing us out with showing us a dark side. Note that we were misled, and not lied to. The people who see this film will most likely feel lied to and will therefore hate the film. the audience who feels that the ending is clever and unexpected will like it for it's clever pacing, although maybe not immediately.
Me, I'm going to have to say no. I only recommend this film to die hard fans of Whoopi Goldberg. This is one of her best performances. i don't feel that the people who see this will likely get the unfunny joke or the twist, or whatever it's supposed to be. It was interesting to watch and Whoopi Goldberg is undeniably charismatic, but I didn't think it was worth seeing. Oh, and one more thing. PLEASE don't go into this thinking that it's a comedy. It is not. It is very disturbing and not at all funny.
rated r for violence.
Rip Torn's directorial debut is an extremely unpleasant and disturbing mind-study of a woman who speaks on the phone. I will spoil this film in this comment, and so i think it would only be smart for only people who have seen the film to read this. Other wise, if you don't want to see the film, do but don't care if the plot is ruined for you, or haven't seen it but already know the ending, don't read this comment.
Okay, now that this is out of the way, I'll tell the film. It is basically a film in which Whoopi Goldberg plays a woman with a pet owl who speaks on the phone with different people. it goes on like this for the whole film until the end when a telephone man shows up at her apartment and the audience discovers that the phone is disconnected. the woman then proceeds to murder the telephone man, showing the audience that she is not only neurotic, but a very sick and crazy homicidal woman.
I believe that the film was made to be an interpretation on one event in which we've all had and make it into something not quite worthy of film. Then it falls back on itself by showing that the woman is crazy and that up until the ending, the audience has been misled. The trick is to show a quirky woman who the audience feels a little sorry for before blowing us out with showing us a dark side. Note that we were misled, and not lied to. The people who see this film will most likely feel lied to and will therefore hate the film. the audience who feels that the ending is clever and unexpected will like it for it's clever pacing, although maybe not immediately.
Me, I'm going to have to say no. I only recommend this film to die hard fans of Whoopi Goldberg. This is one of her best performances. i don't feel that the people who see this will likely get the unfunny joke or the twist, or whatever it's supposed to be. It was interesting to watch and Whoopi Goldberg is undeniably charismatic, but I didn't think it was worth seeing. Oh, and one more thing. PLEASE don't go into this thinking that it's a comedy. It is not. It is very disturbing and not at all funny.
rated r for violence.