Tags
Comedy, Diner, Drama, Ellen Barkin, Kevin Bacon, Mickey Rourke, Movie, Paul Reiser
should we get Reiser in our final group shot? nah...he didn't even have a backstory...
R
Mickey Rourke, Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Kevin Bacon, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser, Tim Daly
Billy: I love you, Barb.
Barb: You’re confusing friendship with a woman and love…it’s not the same.
It’s 1959, and a group of young men (college age, supposedly) spend a lot of time hanging out at a diner discussing relationships and other aspects of life. They’ve been coming to this diner for a long time and know that gradually they will be leaving it behind and entering into adulthood…and responsibility.
I could almost approach this review one character at a time because my enjoyment of the movie usually depended on what character was on screen at the time. I liked Daniel Stern’s performance and his story. Mickey Rourke was playing his usual soft-spoken, too cool for school, yet troubled character. Paul Reiser was just there for comedy relief, which he was usually successful at. Tim Daly was dull, and his story line had no real energy or resolution. Steve Guttenberg can’t be anything but Steve Guttenberg, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Ellen Barkin was fine in her role, but the character wasn’t all that interesting. Lastly, Kevin Bacon’s character was interesting, but I thought his performance was a bit over the top at times. He’s a smart, but unmotivated, guy who is a disappointment to his rich family. He wants something more out of life, but isn’t sure what he wants or how to get it, so he spends most of his time drunk and goofing off.
The movie is quite funny and interesting at times, but also slow and uninvolving at other times. Boogie (Rourke) has a gambling problem, but his problem, and the troubles resulting from it, never felt very authentic to me. Nor did Kevin Bacon’s drunk episodes. It seemed like hollywood drunkenness rather than real life drunkenness.
Overall, there’s some good performances, clever dialogue, and a few interesting moments, but it all gets bogged down with a couple contrived situations, dull moments, and an uneven tone throughout.
The Baltimore Colts original colors were green and grey…
10 – 2 for never really meshing together with a good flow to the story – .8 for a couple not so great performances – .5 for some dull moments = 6.7
The Robot Who Likes Pretty Things 