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| Directed by Roland Joffe; Starring Patricia Arquette, Dermot Mulroney, Ellen DeGeneres, Mary-Louise Parker, Don Johnson, Ray McKinnon, Alex Rocco, Andre Gregory, and John Neville |
Before writing this review, I’ve already found out that I’m in the minority of critics that liked this film. I found it to be fiendishly funny and refreshing. It reminded me of how good Palmetto or Wild Things could have been had the two of them not gotten too meddled in double crossings. I heard Roger Ebert call it direct-to-video fodder, but I could not disagree any more. It is smart, sexy, and funny
The film follows the double and triple crossing that come after the planned death of one of the film’s leads (in respect to those that will actually see this, I’ll refrain from giving away the actor). It stems from scenes of campy joy to violent madness. It even has a soundtrack that includes two thirds of the soundtrack to The Sound of Music (composer John Ottman gets kudos for his score, which at times has hints of the music from TSOM). I also really liked the performances in the film. I actually enjoyed Ellen DeGeneres in a film, which is quite remarkable. The only actor that seems lacking in the film is Don Johnson, who should stick to Nash Bridges and the next Miami Vice reunion. I even liked Dermot Mulroney, for heaven’s sake. The best of the lot would be Patricia Arquette, who gives her best performance yet as the noir femme fatale. The film also looks really good, of course what do you expect from the man that brought us The Killing Fields. In fact my only problem with this film is that it has a thoroughly uninteresting first third. I thought that the film was on its way to a D rating after about thirty minutes. It lags and is uninteresting for that period, but when it comes back, boy does it come back. I’d also like to mention a great cameo by X-Files: Fight the Future and The Adventures of Baron Manchausen star John Neville. There is also a great uncredited cameo from a certain actor-director-writer who had a great film last year. His scenes and the ending are probably the best parts of the film. In the end, Goodbye, Lover should get a higher rating, but of course, to get to the good parts, you must trek through the bad.
