Hurlyburly more than lives up to the definition. This film more than any I can remember portrays personal and group turmoil and confusion. I can understand how many would not "enjoy" this film. There is so little of a positive nature in it. That said, I do believe it to be a good film in many respects. The film was well written (Dave Rabe, playwright) and directed (Anthony Drazan). Between the two they produced a work with interesting characters and dialogue. If you don't like listening to A LOT of dialogue, you will not like this film. The casting was excellent. I am not a Sean Penn booster, but he was perfect and brilliant in the part of Eddie, the drug sotted lead. Kevin Spacey as the sarcastic, flip Mickey as his roommate was good as well. Chazz Palminteri as the violent, mentally slow Phil and Gary Shandling as the shallow, fast talking Artie round out the male leads. The female roles are all played brilliantly as well. Robin Wright Penn as Darlene, the unpredictable girlfriend of Eddie and Meg Ryan as Susie(?), the "easy" stripper were very good, but the best was Anna Paquin as Donna, the homeless young woman used as a sex object was so much more. Ms. Paquin was great and I look forward to seeing her in the future. It is difficult in the beginning to have any feelings for these characters, but by the end of the movie some empathy if not sympathy developed. The filmmakers do not expect us to like these intelligent talented (with exception of Phil) characters whose lives are mess of their own making, but some understanding not acceptance develops. One criticism might be that it is about ten minutes too long. It began to lose a little steam in the final scenes. This is not the type of film I usually "like", but I must say I did appreciate Hurlyburly. Three stars!!!
Review of Hurlyburly
