CRITICS ON KEVIN

KICKED IN THE HEAD reviews:

"Not all independent flicks are golden, as Kicked in the Head's unwatchable results readily prove. Kicked's alleged comedy, which borrows its title from the Dean Martin oldie "Ain't It a Kick in the Head," stems from the identity crisis of Redmond (Kevin Corrigan), a 20ish Manhattanite who's "on a voyage of self-discovery" after he gets evicted from his apartment... the script by actor Corrigan and director Matthew Harrison aspires to a meaningful sense of anarchy that ultimately becomes more aimless and unlikely with each silly scene. And Corrigan's Alan Arkin-ish schlemiel lacks the quirky substance to pull viewers in to empathize with Redmond's plight. It's instructive that Harrison frequently cuts to old newsreel footage of the 1937 Hindenburg aircraft disaster to correlate with Redmond's psychological state, because when an independent film like Kicked in the Head literally goes down in flames, the wreckage can be spectacular to behold"- Syracuse New Times

"Kicked in the Head is not worth a moment of your time... (it is) a gruellingly unfunny 89 minutes spent following an annoying, unsympathetic young man named Redmond (Kevin Corrigan) on a "spiritual quest" through the Lower East Side, which apparently consists of 1) using plenty of beer and cocaine, 2) writing plenty of bad poetry and 3) spending plenty of time with people who are even more annoying and unsympathetic than himself. When a cast this talented stumbles through a script this disastrous, you can only assume that the title of Kicked in the Head refers to what happened to every one of them before signing on-" Scott Renshaw

"In its own roundabout way, Kicked in the Head purports to ask some of the big questions, such as "What is truth?" and "What is the point of life?" But the questions the filmmakers should have been asking themselves are "Why do we have such a lame guy as our main character?" and "Why did we make a movie about such a lame character?"... none of the hijinks that ensue are remotely funny, and the whole thing has a hasty, improvised feel, as if Corrigan and director Matthew Harrison (who also co-scripted) devised plot and scene "roughs" and then let the actors make things up as they went. What also hurts is that Corrigan — who has been very good in other independent films, including Walking and Talking — fails to make us care about either his character's search for truth, or his character"- Deseret News

"The laughs are pretty scarce in Kicked in the Head which is less a coherent narrative than a series of bits--The script is lacking, and although there are some funny lines, Harrison lets them get away by errors in pacing -- It's a likable cast, but...no one seems particularly engaged; Corrigan, for one, often seems primed to burst out in laughter. They all seem to be having a good time romping about Lower Manhattan.But they should have thought to bring us along-"Hollywood Online

"Kevin Corrigan thinks he is uncommonly clever. In Kicked in the Head, a film he wrote and stars in, he draws a parallel between the stagnant life of a aimless Gen X street hustler and the crash of the Hindenberg...As hard as he tries, Corrigan's story completely fails to demonstrate why Redmond's life is like the Hindenberg. The movie, however, is like the Hindenberg. It goes down in flames so fast that in minutes all that's left is a burning outline...Why did Corrigan think people will want to go see a movie about a 20-something slacker so pathetically lost in his own meaninglessness that his life pivots advice from drunks and coke addicts? Probably because he's a 20-something slacker so pathetically lost in his own meaninglessness that he takes advice from drunks and coke addicts-"Movieolla

"'Terrible!' That's what one frustrated preview-goer shouted at the screen as the end credits for Matthew Harrison's Kicked in the Head began to roll. Question is whether that one-word critique might be going too far...Not if you came to this film expecting anything more than Generation X clichés. You know the drill. Un-hunky young man with bad haircut (Kevin Corrigan) eschews work and undergoes spiritual crisis: 'I'm going through a self-destructive period.' Decides to write masterwork on meaning of life: 'I'm writing a ... what do you call it? ...book.' Enter true-blue former girlfriend (Lili Taylor), psychotic pal from the old neighborhood (Michael Rapaport), eccentric scam-artist uncle (James Woods) and postmodern femme fatale (Linda Fiorentino). What fun!... Problem is, that description suggests way more potential than the film is remotely capable of delivering on...So, what's not terrible? Corrigan is good (given the big nothing he was handed to work with), ditto Rapaport (who shares blame for the script and maybe credit for the film's 3 1/2 funny minutes)...When are people under 30 going to get credited with a little intelligence or an attention span longer than the average American bowel movement? Not in this terrible picture"- Jerry Herron

"An across-the-board absence of sympathetic or even interesting characters makes Matthew Harrison's Kicked in the Head feel more like -- well, more like a kick in the head than an entertaining movie. The New York-lensed maverick picture is too relentless to be called dull, but its frenzied pace and its waste of an impressive cast cause Kicked to fall short in all departments. Kevin Corrigan plays Redmond, a nightmare-plagued nobody whose existence is made up entirely of idle moments and manic misbehavior...Corrigan and director Harrison are the writers of this muddle, which seems tailored to indulge Corrigan's knack for making grotesque faces and overreacting. Jim Carrey would look restrained by comparison"- ChatTimes Good Times

"Kevin Corrigan doesn't act so much as he seems to stumble from scene to scene, like a guy who doesn't follow a script as much as his own internal stage directions. He's got skin so pale it's almost translucent, and he wears the face of someone who's always this far from being so stoned he can't speak. His mug is an enormous fill-in-the-blank, and he expresses himself not with his eyes, but with his eyelids; they're always half-shut, as though he's about to nod off in mid-sentence--only he doesn't have the energy to do even that. Fact is, Corrigan always looks a little kicked in the head, no matter what movie he's in...The film itself is on a journey, too--only it seeks a plot, a reason for its own existence. It has no beginning or end; it merely starts and stops, as though filming began on a lark and ended when the money ran out...Director/co-writer Matthew Harrison has fashioned a movie in which so much of so little goes on, you're left wondering what happened to the last ninety minutes. Yet Kicked in the Head is charming, perhaps because it seems to genuinely care about people so utterly unlikable. Either that, or it's the work of con men"- Robert Wilonsky

"The problem with the movie is its utter and total lack of plot. The cinematography and the editing suck as well, but it's the story that steals the show by ruining the film entirely"- Intermission: Film

"This probably could have used a kick in the other end...Corrigan and the rest of the cast hold their own... (but)unfortunately, the movie is cluttered with Corrigan's jejune journal entries, pointless Tarantino-esque banter about Planet of the Apes movies and stylized shootouts where nobody ever gets hit. Maybe it's a metaphor for a movie that wildly misses the mark"- Moviefinder.com

"Twentysomethings and folks who once were twentysomethings will find something to relate to in Kicked in the Head. It's called disaster... About the only mishap that doesn't befall Redmond is a kick in the head. This independent film from Matthew Harrison (Rhythm Thief), who also co-wrote it with Corrigan, is definitely a whacked-out comedy that should appeal to audiences with like-minded whacked-out sensibilities-"Your Group Online

"Kicked in the Head, a droll, Gen X comedy, wades through the fuzzy, unfocused terrain of a young man's identity crisis without any particular route or destination...'I'm on a voyage of self-discovery,' drones Redmond, the poor, lost little protagonist (Kevin Corrigan, who also co-wrote)--a sort of distant cousin of the poor, lost Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate. Redmond, however, has not graduated, and he doesn't live at home; he just sort of floats through a strange, disjointed city "looking for truth," bumping up against an assortment of eccentrics who may or may not help him in his quest. This is the kind of semi-surreal movie where characters get fortune cookies that say, 'Your attendant godling has lost her way,' and minor characters shoot each other up in "beer wars" while lounge music plays on the soundtrack. It's all pleasantly cute and mildly amusing, and then, in the middle of it all, it just ends"- Tuscon Weekly

"Although it has some funny scenes that stand well enough alone, this meandering, self-consciously offbeat independent comedy never amounts to much. Indie-film stalwart Kevin Corrigan (the lovelorn video guy from Walking And Talking) plays a twentysomething New Yorker who is "searching for the truth" and thinks he's found it in the arms of a cynical flight attendant (Linda Fiorentino). Meanwhile, the movie (co-written by Corrigan and director Matthew Harrison) struggles in search of a coherent story, but succeeds only in tossing together a loose assembly of amusing characters who never spring fully to life. Because this is a quirky New York story, it's easy to see how Martin Scorsese would take active interest as the film's executive producer, but Corrigan and Harrison's script feels like a first draft that should've been further refined and focused"- Jeff Shannon

"Kicked in the Head is what happens when indie cinema becomes synonymous with low-risk deal-making, whereby a big-shot exec-producer (in this case, Martin Scorsese) assembles an affordable clique of nouveau brat packers, leaving each to his own "Method" shtick...as in the Scorsese-led Search and Destroy, this screwball-improv approach makes the very least of some very talented actors"-MetroActive Movies

SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS reviews:

Greg King

"Slums of Beverly Hills is one big grin, an awkwardly funny tale that proves that no matter how low you rate on the social scale, you can always depend on family...Even though she's attracted to him, Vivian keeps the pseudo-hunk drug dealer across the street at a distance...Kevin Corrigan has some outstanding moments as Eliot, the drug dealer (it's the business he dropped out of high school to pursue) across the street with a fixation on Charles Manson. Corrigan plays dense well real-"Light View Film Review

"Tart, smart, but cut with an unapologetic dose of sweetness, Slums of Beverly Hills is an engaging cranberry-juice cocktail of coming-of-age laughs and low-calorie pathos from first-time feature director Tamara Jenkins...Before long, Vivian is exploring her own incipient sexuality – courtesy of Rita's hand-held vibrator and the charming but spooky boy next door, Eliot (Kevin Corrigan)....The rest of the cast is equally strong: all are amusingly understated and believable-"The Washington Post

"Slums of Beverly Hills (is) a lively and colorful comedy set in 1976 that follows one of the more endearingly dysfunctional families of recent movies...indie favorite Kevin Corrigan is reliably quirky and funny (and surprisingly likable) as Vivian's unlikely love interest, a slow-witted pot dealer with a Charles Manson fixation-"Mark Burger

"An amiable, heartfelt coming-of-age comedy about a poor family's efforts to stay in the Beverly Hills city limits (for the schools) and the effect that the 15-year-old daughter's suddenly blossoming chest has on her and the others' lifestyle...Kevin Corrigan, as the Manson-obsessed neighbor being considered by Vivian as a first lover, is (also) very good..."Newsday.com

"If she proves nothing else with her spotty, lively debut film, writer-director Tamara Jenkins is something of a sorceress with actors, a director who can inspire even the deadest head with human life. In her hands, even Kevin Corrigan, the smudgy geek who has dragged down so many independent films with his young-Richard-Benjamin-on-crack act, comes off as spry and likable — even a tad intelligent"- The Oregonian

"With such heavy use of shorthand like sex toys, chest obsession and a played-out soundtrack, the only aspect of Vivian we actually do see developing is her breasts. (Don't get too excited — they're prosthetic.) And setting this movie in the '70s actually works against it...To her credit, though, the writer-director does have a nice ear for the way people actually speak, and she treats the awkward exchanges between Vivian and her dubious love interest (indie stalwart Kevin Corrigan) with an admirable lack of sentiment-"Sidewalk San Francisco

BANDWAGON reviews:

Greg King

"If you combine This Is Spinal Tap with Slacker, you'd be close to the heart of John Schultz's Bandwagon. It's the road to almost-stardom...Kevin Corrigan plays the guitarist from inner space...Ultimately, artistic integrity is the theme, and while that's all very well and good in its own right, the film decides against pursuing a more interesting topic — what if one man's artistic "genius" was nothing more than an elaborate and completely naive apparatus for bedding a fantasy girlfriend? Sounds crude, I admit, but on a dramatic level, I'd take it over integrity any day"- Cinemania Online

"Part Spinal Tap, part Bottle Rocket, the film has some glowing moments of hilarious dialogue between the contrasting band members -- a dime-store philosopher, a violent loose cannon, a moody artist and an insular malcontent -- as the van closes in on them. It's a predictable story, but humorous details mixed with underlying hopelessness make it worthwhile. Well, that, and some great slacker performances, even if audiences are bored of them by now"- Graham Verdon

"A mix of familiar faces (Kevin Corrigan from last year's Living in Oblivion and Steve Parlavecchio from Amongst Friends) and refreshing new talent round out an energetic ensemble cast. Bandwagon is a good-time venture into young artistic expression"- Sundance Festival

ILLTOWN reviews:

"Featuring strong performances from Rapaport and Corrigan as the enterprising leads, Illtown has a dreamy, druggie atmosphere that flows from the heroin use of several characters"-E! Online

"Guns and drugs and obscenities and Michael Rapaport and Lili Taylor: if you feel as though you've seen this all before, you have, a numbing sea of it, in fact. But illtown, the new film by Nick Gomez (Laws of Gravity), takes all of this stuff and, refreshingly, ratchets it down. A moody, low-key tale about the unraveling of a petty little Miami drug empire, it proceeds along with impressive restraint and tact before devolving into the shrilly hysterical mess that you would expect from its pedigree... the actors (especially Rapaport and Kevin Corrigan) are encouraged to act sober, serious and even (heaven help us!) smart. Eventually, it all goes to pot in a series of ridiculous forced climaxes, but by then you've resolved not to write Gomez off in the future... Corrigan's speech about his long-ago marriage is gripping... (you'll) itch for Gomez to grow up, get his head out of the gutter, and stop making movies about sordid little tragedies. He's got the chops for better"- Oregon Live

WALKING & TALKING reviews:

Greg King

Online Movie Club

STEAL THIS MOVIE reviews:

"Janeane Garofalo is a star, Kevin Corrigan is a hottie and Vincent D'Onofrio is a big bag of sexy in Steal This Movie, a biopic about 60's activist Abbie Hoffman ... Corrigan has long been a darling of the indie scene. With his unconventional good looks and his clever charm, Corrigan does a lot for the underwritten role of Jerry Rubin"- Amy Diaz

"Graced with fine supporting performances -- especially by Kevin Corrigan as Jerry Rubin -- and excellent editing that melds the narrative drama with documentary footage"- Post-Gazette.com

"The movie works just fine as an evocation of an era, and especially as a group portrait of the 'Chicago Seven', who literally turned into court jesters after the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention ... especially well-cast are Kevin Corrigan as Jerry Rubin, Troy Garity as Tom Hayden, and Vincent D'Onofrio as the restless, prodding, persecuted Hoffman" - John Hart

San Francisco Chronicle