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Actors: Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri, Anna Paquin
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Hurlyburly |
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David Rabe wrote the screenplay based on his own theater play, and the constricted settings of this film still resemble those of a play. The film offers a grimy portrait of Hollywood players and wanna-bes (mostly the latter), with Penn doing an over-the-top, confused paranoiac stuffed with cocaine, Spacey his coldly sarcastic housemate, and Palminteri an obsessed, short-tempered ex-con who wants to be an actor. The characters flamboyantly support and abuse one another, and except for a brief few scenes in a bar, most of the action takes place in a hilltop ranch house. Anna Paquin has a disturbing role as a teen runaway who nonchalantly trades her body for a place to stay; Robin Wright, Gary Shandling, and Meg Ryan have odd walk-on parts. This character-driven story in which not much happens but a lot of drug use and shouting, is exhilaratingly disturbing.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Hurlyburly |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Comedy, primarily
Yes
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Taboo Sex Story?
Yes
If a parody... of
- californians
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- performer or comedian
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- unemployed
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
- deluded
- emotionally unstable
- wild
Events of movie makes character more...
- irritated
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- California
City?
Yes
City:
- Los Angeles
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- depressed/sad
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
Any profanity?
- A huge amnt of foul language
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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