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| Directed by Doug Liman; Starring Desmond Askew, Taye Diggs, William Fichtner, J.E. Freemen, Katie Holmes, Jane Krakowski, Breckin Meyer, Jay Mohr, Tom Olyphant, Sarah Polley, Scott Wolf, James Duval, Nathan Bexton, Jay Paulson, and Jimmy Shubert |
Three years ago Doug Liman and John Favreau made a small independent film called Swingers that would make stars of Favreau (Deep Impact), Heather Graham (Boogie Nights), and Vince Vaughn (Psycho and Clay Pigeons, what a career!). In fact the only person who got the lesser part of the deal was Liman, who directed and did the cinematography for it. I guess it has taken him a while to get over that because he is just now coming out with his follow up, without the help of Favreau. Go is not only an enjoyable film, but it is a great step up from the somewhat overrated Swingers (I think I’m just a little unhappy that more people saw it and Vegas Vacation than those that saw Hard Eight).
I am sure that I’m not the first or the last to compare this film to Pulp Fiction. The thing is that unlike most Tarantino wannabes, this film is fun to watch. Its parallels to Pulp Fiction are simply in the plodding of the film: it has interchanging time as characters converge then go away from each other before meeting all over again, in some cases in comical ways. The film mainly relies on three stories, but the third serves as a type of surprise, so I’ll leave that one to find out for yourself. The first story is about Sarah Polley (in my opinion the best Canadian actress out there; see Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, and Joe’s So Mean To Josephine) who makes a deal to sell some drugs to keep her rent paid. This involves a meeting of her friend (the highly attractive Holmes) and the drug dealer Polley must buy from (Olyphant, “Mickey, the freaky Tarantino film student” from Scream 2). This part of the story is where the film makes its main mistakes, it has us watch a character on a drug trip. I saw Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I think I’ve had enough of trips on film for now on. The second story follows the escapades of one of Polley’s co-workers (Askew) on a trip to Las Vegas with a bunch of friends (thank heavens Liman did not do like Very Bad Things did, which starred Favreau). The film does not go for the usual loss of money in Vegas, but instead goes for a maddening of a bouncer (teaching me never to make a bouncer mad). The third story then follows, but as I said before I’ll let you see that part freshly. I will admit that it was the best part of the movie though.
The young cast is terrific as both Holmes and Polley nearly steal the screen from everyone else. I also enjoyed the Wolf, Mohr, and Fichtner scenes. Even Diggs is good, a big surprise from this How Stella Got Her Groove Back co-star. While no masterpiece, Go at least serves as the best comedy I’ve seen so far this year (a big step considering my adoration for Blast from the Past).
