director
Doug Liman
screenwriter
John August
producers
Matt Freeman
Mickey Liddell
Paul Rosenberg
cinematographer
Doug Liman
music
BT
editor
Stephen Mirrione
cast
Desmond Askew (Simon Baines)
Taye Diggs (Marcus)
William Fichtner (Burke)
J.E. Freeman (Victor Sr.)
Katie Holmes (Claire Montgomery)
Jane Krakowski (Irene)
Breckin Meyer (Tiny)
Jay Mohr (Zack)
Timothy Olyphant (Todd Gaines)
Sarah Polley (Ronna Martin)
Scott Wolf (Adam)
James Duval (Singh)
Katharine Towne (Becky)
mpaa rating: R
running
time: 103m
u.s.
release: 4/9/99
video
availability: VHS -
DVD
official
site
other doug
liman films
reviewed on this website:
- the
bourne identity
- mr.
and mrs. smith
- swingers
|
We've
all had the experience -- whether we admit it or not -- of being
in a place we shouldn't be, with people we'd rather not be with.
Usually the situation is harmless -- a bad party, a sleazy dive
-- but our brains still go into overdrive: What am I doing
here? I don't like these people. I don't even know where we are.
This could get ugly. I wish I were home in bed right now.
And some movies excel at evoking this mood of ominous disorientation
-- the Zed-and-Maynard scene in Pulp
Fiction, the prolonged drug-deal scene in Boogie
Nights, the Pink Room sequence in Twin
Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
Go, the new movie directed by Doug Liman (Swingers),
sustains this mood for pretty much its whole running time. The
title, in fact, suggests both the reckless impulse to get into
dangerous situations and the terrified impulse to get out. Every
time a character has figured out the situation, it shifts or
disintegrates, and Liman and screenwriter John August pile calamity
on top of calamity. Set in L.A., the capitol of drifting randomness,
Go is like watching a daydream morph into a nightmare
and then back again. The movie isn't great; it's less a wild
ride than an antic ride, and it's too derivative of not only
Tarantino but Richard Linklater (the movie unfolds within a 24-hour
period). Still, this fluffy confection is tasty enough.
The movie, like Pulp Fiction, tells three interlocking
stories, all of which begin in the back room of a supermarket.
Disgruntled check-out clerk Ronna (Sarah Polley) needs some quick
cash or she'll be evicted. Ronna's British co-worker Simon (Desmond
Askew) offers his shift to her, so that he can head to Las Vegas
with three buddies. Two actors, Zack (Jay Mohr) and Adam (Scott
Wolf), come to the supermarket looking for Simon, who usually
hooks them up with some ecstasy. Instead they find Ronna, who
sees a chance for even quicker cash and offers to get the drugs
for them. With her friend Claire (Katie Holmes), Ronna enters
the lair of Simon's drug-dealer associate Todd (Timothy Olyphant),
a tattooed slimeball who is nevertheless so open about his amorality
that one character even calls him "the only person I've
met tonight who isn't fake."
That's the basic set-up, and I can't reveal any more; other reviewers
have likewise tiptoed around the plot's twists and turns, which
are the movie's main currency. I can sketch and suggest, though.
The first act is somewhat lackluster, though I began to feel
the film turning around when the cat made its funny appearance.
The second act, involving Simon's misadventures in Las Vegas,
is an escalating comedy of errors in which the fun is in spotting
every oversight and mistake that will pile up and come back to
haunt the characters. There's also a great Kleenex gag and a
nice bit with a shrewd little boy. The third act, with Zack and
Adam visiting a couple with mysterious motives (the hilarious
William Fichtner and Jane Krakowski), is brilliant -- a Pulp
Fiction scenario turned on its head.
Speaking of that movie, Go isn't quite in its league;
it's just outside the ballpark, but at least it's the same sport.
It's in there with Bottle Rocket and Suicide Kings
-- a better-than-average Tarantinoid piece of cotton candy, spiked
with the occasional splatter of blood or hit of coke. Go
lacks the thematic weight of Pulp Fiction (and Tarantino's
other films), which said that actions have consequences and loyalty
is the finest virtue. In Go, actions don't have very big
consequences; people make mistakes, get knocked down and shot,
but keep on going. The movie is fun but essentially meaningless.
I don't mind Tarantinoid knock-offs as long as they have some
spirit and some fresh acting (Polley, Mohr, and Fichtner are
the stand-outs here), but I await the next movie that has the
same originality and impact as Pulp Fiction, but not the
same plot, structure, or dialogue. I await the next Tarantino,
not the next Tarantino clone. |
