Theatrical Release Date:September 13, 1996 Release Date:July 1, 2001 Availability:Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days Shipping:International shipping available Condition:Brand new Item, factory Sealed. Buy direct from the U.S. and save! We only ship airmail to Canada (7-15 days).Caiman, les prix qu'on aime! Tous nos produits sont neufs. Envoi par avion des Etats-Unis
From Amazon.com In his debut effort, director/writer Steven Baigleman put together an interesting premise and collected a talented cast to execute it. Unfortunately, he never sets the tone, so we are caught between a wildly black comedy and an emotionally brutal drama. A firmer footing in either genre would have better defined our reactions to it. Keanu Reeves plays Jjaks, a man so badly trod upon by fate that his very name is the result of a typo. He arrives back at his mother's house in a lower working-class Minnesota neighborhood to witness the marriage of his older brother (Vincent D'Onofrio) to an obviously reluctant bride (Cameron Diaz). By the time Jjaks is on his way, he's stolen a car, a dog, and his brother's wife. You have to give Baigleman credit for serving up intriguing characters. Unfortunately, he spins the story in circles instead of moving it along. Reeves and Diaz attempt to leave Minnesota, but never quite make it. Reeves repeatedly returns to a boyhood home he hates, always stumbling into his brother's angry clutches. What does work are the performances. Diaz is both sad and strong as the tough cookie who happens to be the smartest character in the movie. D'Onofrio's stupid nastiness is offset by his crushing love for her and an uncontrollable jealousy of Jjaks. Most surprising is Reeves, who makes us feel for his angry, unhappy loser by revealing flashes of decency under a toughened exterior. --Rochelle O'Gorman
Twists and TurnsJanuary 7, 2004 nyn It starts off a little slow but about 3/4 of the way through it gets really interesting. Good preformances.. but who taught Cameron Diaz how to drink a beer?
A tale of transformation.December 22, 2003 Joni Kaighobadi(FL USA) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a remarkable movie, not only in it's unusual and very funny way of making the points that it does, but in that it is written from a point of view that is almost never seen from the all-too-privileged aristocracy to which most of the movie industry's writers and directors belong. This movie is almost painfully insightful into the mental state of hopelessness which traps people into sordid lives, particularly those who are raised in that sort of life and have never experienced anything else. The characters Jjaks and Freddie not only manage to envision a way out, together they fight their way to some measure of freedom in the end. They do so using the only tools and behaviors they know, which means that it is all very sordid indeed, but their goals are so much more noble than anything that could be expected from that environment, that it is very close to a miracle that they exist at all. It should be noted that those characters who have chosen to embrace the sordid life instead of resist it are relatively thriving at the beginning of the film (Sam, Ben Costikyan, etc.) Jjaks, who has been to prison before, may once have been like them, but if so, something must have happened to change him (before the story in the movie?). The movie shows Jjaks' transformation, opening his capacity for compassion and love for another, and finally gaining the courage to hope. Keanu Reeves really nails his character admirably, playing someone who feels more than is really safe to feel in his environment, and has developed a deeply engrained habit of hiding his feelings. Look carefully for the use of color to symbolize the different stages in his transformation, and the meaning of the dog too.
Reeves at his bestNovember 7, 2003 Michael Bolts(superior, wiusa) Reeves delivers a great performance as the dude with a typo in his name(weird but cool). He returns home to find his older brother getting married to Cameron Diaz and then he steals her and some other stuff and wants to leave but he cant, whats stopping him. fights clash between him and his brother, seriously played by Vincent D'Onofrio. a good movie with great moments and a good cast including Max Perlich, Dan Aykroyd and Delroy Lindo to name a few. Two Thumbs Up is right.
Good oneSeptember 5, 2003 This is quite nice movie, so I don't get it why it only has 3.5 stars average at this time. I like it and I am going to watch it again.
The funny moments just aren't enoughAugust 14, 2003 Girl Friday APL(In the heart of the USA) This movie opens with a flashback of two young brothers (played as adults by Reeves and D'Onofrio) beating the stuffing out of each other. Take it as a warning; no one-no one-gets out of this movie without suffering at least one major beatdown. Diaz is Freddie, a sewer-mouthed local girl who is forced to marry D'Onofrio to settle a debt. Reeves comes back to town for the wedding and falls for Diaz, and the two decide to hit the road rather than suffer another day in Minnesota. Messy sex and messier violence ensue as D'Onofrio follows them, presumably to reclaim his bride and have several more scuffles with Reeves.
The most that can be said for Diaz's one-note performance (her character's life goal is to be a topless dancer in Vegas) is that she doesn't get in the way of Reeves and D'Onofrio. The latter two work hard to make their respective characters conflicted and deeper than what must have been in the script. Jacks (Reeves) wants to live a clean life after several stints in prison, and he worries about starting up with Diaz because "eventually everything [good] turns [bad]." Meanwhile, Sam, (D'Onofrio) truly hopes that a forced marriage can be strong-armed into a happy home, complete with a suburban house he's purchased by very foolishly skimming cash from his nasty boss. Unfortunately, the few funny scenes and the car-accident curiosity of seeing Courtney Love play a waitress just aren't enough to make this movie worthwhile.
