Girl, Interrupted
| Cast | ||
| Winona Ryder | .... | Susanna |
| Angelina Jolie | .... | Lisa |
| Clea DuVall | .... | Georgina |
| Brittany Murphy | .... | Daisy |
| Elizabeth Moss (I) | .... | Polly |
| Jared Leto | .... | Tobias Jacobs |
| Jeffrey Tambor | .... | Dr. Potts |
| Vanessa Redgrave | .... | Dr. Wick |
| Whoopi Goldberg | .... | Valerie |
I remember seeing Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice
and saying to myself that she looks sick and needs some help. I did the same thing after
Edward Scissorhands. Well in her latest movie she gets some necessary help in a proper institution. Ryder plays a girl out of high school who is put in
a mental institution during the late 60's for possibly attempting to kill herself. Of course she meets people and becomes friendly with them.
Let me tell you what I hate the most in movies. These are
some of my rules, if a film uses a plot that has been done a few too many times, or just once to an
excellence then I get angry. A film should not be made unless that film can beat the
best in its category. I especially don't appreciate when a film uses a type of scene that has
been done to an excellence and just throws it in.
Girl, Interrupted could be the worst offender of this rule I have ever seen. It attempts, in a so bad it's scary kind of way, to
be a
female version of one of the greatest films ever. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest. When you see Girl you can notice who the character in in this film is supposed to be the copy of from Cuckoo's Nest. That's if you've seen the great Cuckoo's Nest. One example would be Angelina Jolie being the female
R.P. McMurphy. I am also truly tired of these damn terrible mental
hospital scenes in movies. Most of this movie takes place in the mental hospital which can give you a hint on how much I liked this movie. Let me check my brain. Lately I've seen
terrible mental hospital scenes in the absolutely terrible Patch Adams and in the equally terrible in a much different way,
Instinct. Just as a side note, Instinct was a terrible copy of the great
Silence of the Lambs.
Angelina Jolie acting a little Cuckooish.
Girl, Interrupted has some good
performances, that I will concede. Angelina Jolie even throws in an Oscar
caliber performance as the wild child of the mental hospital. Ryder plays the
lead character. I found her bleakness very intuitive and on the mark. Whoopi
Goldberg plays the head nurse of the ward and as usual is just average. The rest
of the actors in the movie are either bad or in smaller, supporting wasted
roles. Clea Duvall plays Ryder's roommate and is just always around. Ryder's
boyfriend who is drafted into the military is played by Jared Leto. Ryder and
Jolie are definitively the main characters. They have a sufficient amount of chemistry.
I wish Girl, Interrupted would have been interrupted by a wildfire that
spread to every copy of the film ever produced so I could get a very necessary refund.
The movie, which is set in the early 70's just seems to run on and on. It isn't
long, it's just very boring. The hospital scenes are repetitive, naive, and a
waste. There's a lot of good talent in a useless project.
Please as a favor to me, take heed of my warning, skip this movie. For
those guys who really want to see this movie, let me tell you the inside info... no nudity. At least there is no female
nudity, one man does flash the audience (a fad that has been very apparent in
recent films like Any Given Sunday and others). It's just women panting, crying, and living out their dreams. Their dreams suck. Go see a better movie out there. Support the brilliant
Magnolia this holiday season or go see American Beauty if you haven't already.
Rating: 1.5 Stars out of 4 / C / 32 out of 100
Reviewed by Joe Soria
Running Time: 129 Minutes
Rated R for drugs, sexuality, and language.
Songs by The Mamas & The Papas, Jefferson Airplane and Wilco. Top notch
Rock and Folk music all tied together in a neat bundle.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
since Saturday Jan. 15, 2000