Go (1999)

reviewed by
Susan Granger


http://www.speakers-podium.com/susangranger.

Susan Granger's review of "GO" (Columbia Pictures)

Obviously inspired by the Coen Brothers, along with Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," Doug Liman's "Go" is a dark, reckless comedy/drama about some impulsive Los Angeles slackers whose lives collide after a botched drug deal. The action takes place during a period of 24 hours in the lives of three groups of people, and first-time screenwriter John August's plot involves everything from a bizarre Christmas Eve dinner to a trip to Las Vegas, with scenes of drug deals, lap dancing, mate swapping, and tantric sex. And the story is told from three points of view. The ensemble cast includes Sarah Polley ("The Sweet Hereafter") as a cool yet feisty, over-worked supermarket clerk facing eviction; Katie Holmes (TV's "Dawson's Creek"), who is trying to score some rent money; Jay Mohr ("Jerry Maguire") and Scott Wolf (TV's "Party of Five"), playing soap opera actors who get caught up in the middle of a sting operation. There are many different characters and, somehow, during the three half-hour segments, their wobbly paths dovetail, an obvious homage to the strange coincidences of life. Best known for his cult hit "Swingers" (1996), Doug Liman also directed a low-budget comedy, "Getting In" (1993), starring Calista Flockhart and Matthew Perry before they landed TV roles; Jennifer Aniston was also supposed to be in that film but the studio insisted on Kristy Swanson, who had just starred in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." With "Go," Limon again demonstrates his cinematic eye for casting, as he also doubles as cinematographer, keeping up a fast momentum. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Go" is a nasty, vulgar, crude, off-beat 6, obviously targeted at an 18-35 year-old audience who will also appreciate the loud, ultra-hip soundtrack. It's been dubbed "a teen 'Pulp Fiction.'"


The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews