GALLERY
BUY: DVD / poster
RELEASED: 2 August 2002
CAST
Lucy … Erika Alexander
Arty/Ed … Enrico Colantoni
Gus … David Duchovny
Himself … David Fincher
Harvey … Jeff Garlin
Tracy … January Jones
Hitler … Nicky Katt
Lee … Catherine Keener
Linda … Mary McCormack
Fired Employee … Sandra Oh
Carl … David Hyde Pierce
Himself … Brad Pitt
Catherine / Francesca … Julia Roberts
Sam Osbourne … Brad Rowe
Himself … Terence Stamp
Nicholas / Calvin … Blair Underwood
Heather … Tracy Vilar
Jerry … Jerry Weintraub
Brian … Rainn Wilson
SYNOPSIS
Steven Soderbergh’s follow up (sort of) to sex, lies and videotape. The movie was an experiment of sorts; Soderbergh shot it on grainy digital and the actors had to provide their own wardrobe and makeup.
Various characters go about their day in Hollywood before heading to Gus’s (Duchovny in a kimono) fortieth birthday party. That’s pretty much it. Well, Nicky Katt plays Hitler, which is hilarious. No, that isn’t Duchovny’s real penis. And there’s a film within a film within a film. We think.
(Don’t worry if this movie makes no sense to you; apparently, in the production notes, David says: “I didn’t know what to make of the script … it seemed completely incoherent.”)
DAVID’S ROLE
One of his best, really – funny, touching and sort of Woody Allen.
Carl Bright is a journalist for Los Angeles magazine (which always has Brad Pitt on the cover) and co-writer (with Arty) of the movie Rendezvous and the play The Sound and the Fuhrer. He thinks his boss doesn’t like him, and his wife, Lee (Keener), wants to leave him. He makes everyone in the office uncomfortable by talking about prostitutes and porn stars. And he loves his dog.
CRITICAL RESPONSE
“Pierce has one lovely moment when, after discovering his dog has passed out after eating almost a whole batch of hash-laced brownies, he rings the vet to ask for an emergency visit. The scene starts out funny – Soderbergh uses some nice jump-cutting to show the dog in various stages of numbed-out bliss – but Pierce swiftly takes it to another level, his voice cracking as he explains that he simply doesn’t want his dog to die.” – Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
“Pierce taps such a vein of neurotic half-priggery in Carl, a twitcher lost in a laid-back world, that he gets some real wistfulness and sadness.” – Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
“Pierce and Keener … ground their characters in emotion.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“Keener is terrific, as are Pierce and Katt.” – Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle
BEST BITS
- Carl passionately pitching a story about The Sopranos (possibly), only for his boss to walk in halfway through – turns out he was just practising.
- The aforementioned dog/brownies bit. So sad, but hilarious.
- The final, very touching scene with Catherine Keener, where Carl and Lee reconnect after Gus’s death.
BEST LINES
“I see homeless guys with full heads of hair, I think, what the fuck? Kirk Douglas, what the fuck?”
LEE: Did you have any interesting dreams last night?
CARL: Um, no. Back to normal. I had an afro.
DVD EXTRAS
A lot of great stuff on this one. A pretty interesting commentary by Soderbergh and writer Coleman Hough, in which Soderbergh points out all the bits that were improvised (David collapsing in front of the fridge, apparently, and all of the voiceovers). All of the principal actors did in-character interviews, which are included on the DVD. David’s is pretty funny – as Carl he talks about getting beaten up by a teacher as a kid, and sneaking cocaine through airports.
There’s also an interview with Soderbergh, in which he reveals that he cast David Duchovny and David Hyde Pierce because they’d both impressed him while auditioning for the James Spader role in sex, lies and videotape. Plus deleted scenes, a trailer, and a few more featurettes.
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