Awesome Movie

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This movie interested me since I first heard of it, which was a Siskel & Ebert review. Until Gerald Bender has to go to the hospital, the movie is really interesting. But after that point, not so much. It was still very watchable, indeed, but somehow the edge wasn't all there. The Stephen Collins character, I think, is what keeps the movie going. But when Diane Lane is now the lead, the movie is a bit slow. As for Skippy (played by James LeGros), this character is too subtle. The reasons for wanting his neighbors' gun are never clear. Is he secretly a murderer? Is he protecting somebody? As to whether this is something you're easily supposed to figure out, I have no idea. And as the movie gets closer to the end, it starts to make a lot less sense. And as for the ending (without spoiling too much), there is a gun involved, but what is the point of this scene? And I don't think the movie ends. It just stops.**1/2 out of ****

I haven't seen this film since it was in the theaters, but I remember at the time thinking it was one of the best films I'd ever seen. I always get a kick out of things filmed in my area, too, and Rt 3 in NJ was involved. Will look for the DVD soon so I can share it with friends. It was never in wide release and it was frustrating at the time that I couldn't find anyone to rave about it with. Now I'm going to see if this filmmaker ever pumped out another one...I spoke about it yesterday with a friend after we went to see "You Kill Me," with Ben Kingsley...it had a similar quirky feel and without knowing anything about it in advance, I surmised that it was directed either by the same person who'd done My New Gun OR Red Rock West. Turns out the latter was true. What 's also amazing is that now that I look fresh at the credits for My New Gun, I'm amazed to see that Philip Seymour Hoffman was in it (I thought my intro to him was Boogie Nights), and Diane Lane.

This movie is quirky and will not appeal to most people. It's does not contain much in the way of action, there are no special FX, and the plot is down to earth. The film is also mistakenly billed as a comedy and this tends to throw people expecting funny hah hah as in Meet the Parents. This is a subtle black comedy. It's more funny in the same vein as After Hours. In fact anyone that liked After Hours a lot will probably like this too.There are 2 central characters in the story. Diane Lane plays Debbie Bender a sexy youngish woman married to a stuffy slightly older doctor. I use the term youngish because her character appears to be in that strange zone that is the twilight of youth. Her husband although only slightly older has fully completed to transition to adulthood, is very materialistic, does not respect or acknowledge his wife's intelligence and views her as some sort of a possession / servant.Jame LeGros plays Skippy a neighbour whos a sort of mid 20s James Dean crossed with Peter Pan type character slightly younger than Debbie... but not much. He's also rebellious - the aging neighbourghood bad boy stuck in a menial job and and still living with his mother obstensibly because he's too broke to get a place of his own but secretly because he has to look after her. Amusingly the Benders both perceive themselves to be much older than Skippy and treat him like the a neighbourhood kid, although deep down you can tell that Debbie perhaps identifies more with Skippy than her husband...There's a hugely surreal aspect to the film although not as blatant as say Twin Peaks, this is presented is a voyueristic way letting you catch various characters with their guard down and seeing how they behave when they think nobody is watching.The best part of the film is the sexual tension between Debbie and Skippy as they become thrown together by their vaguely and intentionally hum-drum adventure.If you like films about the more interesting an amusing parts of real life while exposing some of the quirkier aspects of the human condition and with a crackling of sexual tension then you need to get hold of this.Great soundtrack too!

Overall I felt that this was an extremely well written movie. I had not heard of it the first time it came out, but a friend recommended it to me and I just loved it. I even suggested it to my in-laws who loved it as well, and they don't like anything. I loved the angle the writer used. The plot is not like all the other boring ones seen in the theaters today. You are never quite sure what will happen next, because everything that happened was not expected. The dialoge is smart and quick bringing in a plethora of one liners that provoke laughter. Best part....see Diane Lane at such a young age and still giving a great performance. This is a great date movie too because the sexual tension is done extremely well.