Girl, Interrupted 3 Stars (Out of 4) Reviewed by Mac VerStandig critic@moviereviews.org http://www.moviereviews.org
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Girl, Interrupted is, on the surface, every man's dream: a bunch of crazy 20-something girls in a never-ending pajama party. Susanna, the film's protagonist and narrator, questions early on "Have you ever confused a dream with life?" Don't make the error. Despite having an uplifting trailer that seems to hit on every joke that is scattered about the film, Girl, Interrupted is a real downer of a drama that will do little more than confuse any horny male-chauvinists who mistakenly wander into the production.
The establishing shot of the movie is one of prison-like bars that slowly pans to some girls. This sets the tone for a film that takes place in a mental institution where the key character isn't a patient, nurse or doctor but rather the building itself. Susanna (Winona Ryder in a decent but not standout performance) is pressured into checking herself into Claymoore for what she is told will be a short rest. Before long, she is diagnosed as having Borderline Personality Disorder in the pre-Prozac setting and finds herself staying a lot longer than she wishes.
Susanna's roommate is Georgina (Clea Duvall), a sweet, Wizard Of Oz obsessed pathological liar. Although the film doesn't explore her in depth, something that would be well worth the added time, Georgina is one of the most fascinating girls in the female-dominated movie. She is attractive, apparently friendly and seems to be totally innocuous. Yet she is in a mental institution and you find yourself questioning everything she says and, ultimately, wondering of her the same thing you wonder of many characters: is she really nuts?
Lisa (Angelina Jolie, who gives one of the finest female performances of 1999 in her supporting role) has an in-your-face persona dominated by her escapes from the mental institution that one nurse (Whoopi Goldberg, who reprises her standard role as the caring mother figure) describes as "a five star hotel." It is apparent that Lisa is single-dimensionally psychotic, but you get a feeling that there might just be something more to her.
The other patients include a pampered girl who has sex with her father in exchange for rotisserie chicken, a burn victim with a profile ala Mel Gibson in The Man Without a Face and a bunch of overly nice nurses that subsequently lack credibility in fortunately limited roles.
The story, based on Susanna Kaysen's best selling book of the same title, is more similar to The Graduate than other loony-bin films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Susanna is like Benjamin Braddock in that she has no direction as she comes out of school and even has a sexual relationship (off screen) with one of her parents' friends. But unlike Benjamin, Susanna's parents give up on her almost altogether and she isn't nearly as naturally rebellious as Dustin Hoffman's landmark character.
The movie does venture slightly astray from Kaysen's book. For clearly dramatic purposes, Susanna finds herself in a creepy situation that she is only told about in the book. A pet cat that helps to define and humanize some characters is also added. And Susanna's life is only interrupted for one year here, compared to two in the book.
The film takes place in an era of Vietnam drafts, VW busses, RFK, MLK and Woodstock. A grade-A soundtrack is highlighted by pieces representative of the time including Bookends, Downtown, Time Has Come Today and The Weight.
Girl, Interrupted is definitely a film that holds its own. A solid setting, intriguing characters and the aforementioned tunes make the movie well worth while- as long as you can take a PJ party seriously.
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