Absolutely Fantastic

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I'm generally not a fan of Robert Downey Senior's movies. His characters tend to be cartoons and his episodic style means that we seem to be watching a series of "Saturday Night" comedy sketches. "Hugo Pool" has enough great actors in it that all the usual faults are turned into virtues. It also has a sweetness and heart that I haven't seen in any other Downey film.The film is dedicated to Downey's wife and co-writer Laura Ernst. She died of the same terrible disease that the character played by Patrick Dempsey has. It is amazing how Downey shows the disease, but never lets us get sentimental over it or be afraid of it. It is just one more comic element in the film. I hope Laura coped with it as well as Patrick Dempsey's character does.The stand out performance here is by Malcolm McDowell. His portrayal of an old drug addict trying to kick the "Ding, Dang, Du" is charming and funny and sad all at once. The only unfortunate thing is that he's only on screen for about 20 minutes.I think the harsher criticisms of this film are by people who expected a more realistic, integrated film. If you willing to give Downey his quirky style, this film is sweet and delightful.

This is a little babe of a movie, the kind that comes on at 1 am and you can't turn it off. Very inventive casting. McDowell and Penn are delightful as are Moriority and Milano. Then, you also have Downey, Jr, Dempsey, and Lewis (AND Chuck Barris). A zany cast of "characters"! I was impressed with how handily Milano carried herself and led this cast.

There are a number of memorable acting turns, some more than obvious self-reflective references to addictions (of all types), and a too-pat hand of predictability to move this film beyond a 6 for me. The performances almost rise above the plot restrictions (or lack of restrictions)....an interesting contrast is Robert Altman's "Cookie's Fortune" which I saw two days later which used the characters' idiosyncrasies to move a plot.

The movie remined me of a group that got together one weekend and decided to make a spoof movie. The acting was so bad that I doubted if there was any scene retakes. The cast was OK but acted as though they had just read their lines 5 minutes before and wanted to call it a day as soon as possible. The only way it could have been worse was to be in B&W. Even as a silent film it would have been an improvement.