Reviews

I went expecting a mindless bit of fun and found myself cringing for more than two hours. All these nice actors must be appalled to see themselves implicated in this disaster. The script is simply incoherent, with holes you could drive a truck through. From the hideous child love story to the appalling musical numbers to the preposterous plot twist involving the president of the United States, these writers have a great deal to answer for. No form of pandering is too low. Those battling holiday depression, beware: this debacle will leave you contemplating suicide.

Okay, making a film of the Bobbie Gentry song was a dubious idea to begin with; but it's hard to imagine a more boorish attempt. I lost count of the references to the Chattahoochie Bridge ("nothing good ever happened on that bridge") and the repetitions of the name Billy Joe McAllister. Forgivable, perhaps. What's less so is Herman Raucher's painfully expository dialogue ("Bobbie Lee, you know the Rural Electrification Project doesn't provide power to remote areas!"), the cast's excruciating Southern accents (all bad, but not even uniformly so)and the teenagers' Gone With the Wind diction. Though Jethro's intent was apparently serious, this film is high camp and can be enjoyed thus: Treat it as a frat boy drinking game. Watch the film with a bottle of tequila, and take a long swig every time someone says the word "bridge".

See it. Lyrical, beautifully shot, quietly hilarious in spots, this film is seldom screened. Perhaps more than his better-known works, this film showcases Bergman's love of women. Bjork, Dahlbeck and especially Nilsson are adoringly photographed; this is passionate young Bergman. A delight.

As fan of the Nick Hornby novel, I was nervous about seeing High Fidelity adapted to the screen; but the film surpassed my expectations. Although the action was moved to Chicago from Hornby's London and the cast is American, the terrific script retained the unique flavor of Hornby's prose style -- no small accomplishment. John Cusack (who also co-produced)clearly loved and "got" the book. He's the perfect Rob; and the rest of the cast, especially Jack Black as the odious Barry, is uniformly good. I recommend!