Category: 1990s

Unethical, but talented young lawyer Keanu Reeves is tempted by a devilish Al Pacino into joining his New York law firm. The role doesn’t play to Reeves’s best attributes; he and wife Charlize Theron have some of the silliest, most inconsistent Southern accents on film. Luckily the film doesn’t need them to do much beyond looking dumb and pretty. It is instead all in Pacino’s command and he relishes the role. The film is quite a mess, but it’s still an entertaining, Biblical-themed thriller.    

Based on one of Truman Capote’s semi-autobiographical works, this follows the coming of age experiences of Edward Furlong after he is sent to live with two maiden cousins, Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, following the deaths of his parents. Along for the ride are a whole bevy of eccentric townsfolk including Walter Matthau, Nell Carter, and Roddy McDowall. Not being a huge fan of Capote’s work, I wasn’t enthralled with the film as a whole, though it is somewhat sold on its incredible cast, barring Furlong’s stilted performance. The shoehorning in of Mary Steenburgen as a sexy, travel evangelist with fifteen children is weird as many of her scenes don’t even involve the main characters and isn’t necessary to further the narrative.

Buddies Norm McDonald and Artie Lange start a revenge for hire business to raise money for father Jack Warden’s heart transplant. The whole premise allows the film to mostly be McDonald and Lange playing pranks on people, particularly erstwhile comedy villain Christopher McDonald. The level of humor a viewer will find in the film is almost certainly in direct correlation to how funny they find McDonald in general. I’m definitely in the middle level there and found quite a lot of it amusing. For some reason Norm’s wardrobe consists of exceptionally large flannel shirts and jeans while Lange’s is ever increasing tight shirts. It feels like a bit, but it’s also so subtle that it simultaneously seems accidental.  

FBI agent Dennis Quaid is hot on the trail of the serial killer who kidnapped his son. There’s so much of this story that feels familiar that I can’t be 100% certain I haven’t seen it before, but it could easily be that it’s just that trope filled. Quaid isn’t the most inspiring lead, but luckily there’s plenty of interesting characters, including R. Lee Emery and Ted Levine as small town cops and Danny Glover roadtripping with Jared Leto in a pimped-out Cadillac, that the attention doesn’t have to focus solely on Dennis for long.    

Golf instructor Kevin Costner leads an aimless existence in west Texas until meeting psychologist Rene Russo, the girlfriend of his former college teammate Don Johnson. Even though golf is one of the most boring activities to watch, Costner is always affable in these sports films. The moral of the film is a bit weird as he seems unable to overcome his worst traits to be successful in the sport. Russo is also, admittedly, a horrible therapist and romance between them doesn’t make sense from the beginning. As Costner’s long-suffering friend, Cheech Marin gives the best performance though the film doesn’t respect him for it. 

When their bandmate Thandiwe Newton almost dies of an overdose, Tupac Shakur and Tim Roth’s attempts to enroll in a government sponsored detox program are waylaid by bureaucracy. The buddy comedy aspects of this are great as are the shots of the duo navigating the streets of New York, trying to find the one office that’s actually willing to do something rather than shuffle them to a different department. In a rather small cast, there’s some nice supporting roles here Howard Hesseman and director Vondie Curtis-Hall that offer bits of flavor to the experience.