Go (1999)
Director: Doug Liman Cast: Desmond Askew, Taye Diggs, William Fichtner, J.E. Freeman, Katie Holmes, Jane Krakowski, Breckin Meyer, Jay Mohr, Sarah Polley Screenplay: John August Producers: Matt Freeman, Mickey LIddell, Paul Rosenberg Runtime: 103 min. US Distribution: TriStar Rated R: drug content, sex, language, violence
Copyright 1998 Nathaniel R. Atcheson
If there was ever a film that lived up to its title, then Go is that film. For one hour and forty minutes, the audience is subjected to a story that never stops, a movie that never even comes close to slowing down. It's not that the film is relentless or action-packed; it's just a perpetual motion machine, fuelled by skillful direction from Doug Liman (Swingers) and by a poundingly-appropriate soundtrack. I didn't find myself emotionally involved in anything that happens in Go, but I became curiously entranced with the picture by the end. It works on a visceral level, but not on many others.
It also has no obvious narrative, though there are several small stories that Liman and screenwriter John August skillfully intertwine. The first revolves around Ronna (Sarah Polley), a grocery store clerk by day. At work, she's approached by Adam and Zack (Scott Wolf and Jay Mohr), a couple of guys looking for Ecstasy. She goes out with her two friends, Claire (Katie Holmes) and Mannie (Nathan Bexton) to find some drugs, thinking that on the way she can make a few bucks to pay for her rent. Another plot involves Simon (Desmond Askew), a Brit who works with Ronna at the store. He goes off to Vegas with his friends (Taye Diggs, Breckin Meyer, and James Duval), and they end up getting into trouble with a strip-joint owner (Jimmy Schubert) and is father (J.E. Freeman). There is also a segment dedicated to Adam and Zack, but that one has the most surprises and shouldn't be described here.
Go is a film propelled entirely by style and acting, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Liman, as I said, is very good at what he does (I liked this picture more than the overrated Swingers). There's a certain eclectic quality about the scenes in Go, one of unpredictability mixed with an acute sense of adventure. August's smartly-crafted (Tarantino-style) script helps underline this tone; the story overflows with pop-culture references and ultracool dialogue, and so most viewers under the age of thirty-five are likely to find Go a fast-paced blast. It also helps that most of the performances are so strong and memorable; Sarah Polley (The Sweet Hereafter) stands out among the crowd, never failing to give her lines a punch of pointed cynicism. William Fichtner (Armageddon, Contact) is brilliant as a cop of a peculiar temperament, one who is "open to new things." Breckin Meyer has an incredibly funny role as a white guy who wishes he were black. I was impressed with both Jay Mohr and Scott Wolf for their subtlety. And Desmond Askew is a likable kind of flawed hero, and constantly finds himself in unexplainable situations (one of which involves two naked women and a conflagration in a hotel room).
There are numerous scenes that don't work at all. I didn't like the one that involves a certain young woman getting nailed by a yellow Miata; it's played for laughs, though it's not the slightest bit funny. This is later followed up by a scene in which the drivers of the Miata attempt to dispose of the body, and it's generally unpleasant. There are also some points during which the characters are forced to be incredibly stupid; when Simon and Marcus steal a Ferrari, I was rolling my eyes and wondering what possessed them to do such a thing. The real problem is that Liman presents the material with such hip sarcasm that I found it impossible to invest any kind of true feeling for the characters. But these aren't fatal flaws; Go is still an amazingly entertaining film, one that is clearly in tune to the way people like this think and talk. And there's certainly no way it can bore you; one thing you can count on is a whole lot of going.
Psychosis Rating: 7/10
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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