Those of you who are fans of Bukowski's work will recognize various snippets of his short stories which, strung together, comprise this film. Bukowski himself appears as one of the drunks in the bar, "The Golden Horn". He's the tall one with the gray beard. Bukowski was the poet laureate of the down and out in LA and many had great fondness for his work, including Sean Penn. In some ways is was Mickey Rourke's finest work with the possible exception of Body Heat. Bukowski himself was a much nastier drunk and capable of great cruelty. This is aspect of his personality is never brought to light in the movie and Rourke's portrayal of him as a wistful dreamer, while not historically accurate, is certainly much easier to take. Bukowski wrote about the whole experience in the novel Hollywood, which you might consider reading after you see this movie. All in all, it's not a bad way to spend 100 minutes.
