Hurlyburly (New Line Platinum Series)

Starring:Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright Penn, Chazz Palminteri, Garry Shandling, Anna Paquin, Meg Ryan, Gianna Ranaudo, David Fabrizio, Kenny Vance, Michaline Babich, Elaine Corral Kendall, Sharon Tay, Frank Somerville, Bob Jimenez, Piers Mackenzie, Penelope Allen, Lisa Ristorucci, Igor Hiller, Curt Skaggs
Director: Anthony Drazan
Studio: New Line Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
You wouldn't want to spend much time with the folks from David Rabe's play Hurlyburly. A sensation when it played on stage (with marquee names Harvey Keitel and William Hurt), Rabe's tale of the cocaine-influenced days of Hollywood in the 1980s is a bitter rambling of what humans do with too much drive, power, and money. Robin Williams's joke about cocaine being God's way of telling you have too much money certainly comes into play here. A few days in the life of casting agent Eddie (Sean Penn) and his friends (separated by a year) take place in Eddie's posh L.A. bungalow. Here he and his roomie Mickey (Kevin Spacey) talk nonstop about sex and power, syntax and meaning. Into this wash comes a charitable bigwig (Gary Shandling), a street kid (Anna Paquin), and Eddie's rudderless friend, the violent Phil (Chazz Palminteri). If there is a central story to be found, it's Eddie's drive to fall in love with Darlene (Robin Wright Penn), who finds this world exciting--or at least intoxicating.

Amazon.com

You wouldn't want to spend much time with the folks from David Rabe's play Hurlyburly. A sensation when it played on stage (with marquee names Harvey Keitel and William Hurt), Rabe's tale of the cocaine-influenced days of Hollywood in the 1980s is a bitter rambling of what humans do with too much drive, power, and money. Robin Williams's joke about cocaine being God's way of telling you have too much money certainly comes into play here. A few days in the life of casting agent Eddie (Sean Penn) and his friends (separated by a year) take place in Eddie's posh L.A. bungalow. Here he and his roomie Mickey (Kevin Spacey) talk nonstop about sex and power, syntax and meaning. Into this wash comes a charitable bigwig (Gary Shandling), a street kid (Anna Paquin), and Eddie's rudderless friend, the violent Phil (Chazz Palminteri). If there is a central story to be found, it's Eddie's drive to fall in love with Darlene (Robin Wright Penn), who finds this world exciting--or at least intoxicating.

Customer Reviews:

Movie For Analytical People with OCD/Addiction/Narcissism Issues .......2007-04-13

I guess I can understand why people don't like this movie. It can seen as pointless and depressing. However, obviously, I have a different opinion. This is actually one of my favorite movies. I've studied addiction psychology (in class and in life), and I am going for a double major in psychology and philosophy. A lot of people think philosophy is pointless and boring, but someone like myself finds it to be a fabulous subject into which one can invest oneself. So, that having been said, I think people don't like this movie, at least in part, because they don't like philosophy, or they don't relate to addiction problems, or they don't relate to the desire that so many people have of "making it" in Hollywood.
Hurlyburly has an extremely witty script, and the performances are well delivered.
I think that this very dry humor may turn a lot of people off. But if you like philosophy and dry humor, and you don't mind a few three or four-syllable words scattered around in a script, and if you can find the silver lining in a film that, without analysis, had the ability to take you down in the dumps, then I recommend this movie to you. (Where ever you are, you are probably my soul mate).

Nose Dive to Oblivion.......2006-11-14

When David Rabe's play "Hurlyburly" opened on Broadway in August 1984, it was directed by Mike Nichols. It ran for 343 performances -- a long Broadway run -- and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. William Hurt was nominated for Best Actor in his role as Eddie. Judith Ivey who recently appeared in the Clint Eastwood film "Flags of our Fathers" won the Tony as Featured Actress in a play. The rest of the cast included Harvey Keitel as Phil, Cynthia Nixon as Donna, Ron Silver as Mickey, Jerry Stiller as Artie and Sigorney Weaver as Darlene. It's easy to see why a producer would want to bring this to the screen.

With lead actors Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey & Anna Paquin, there are four Oscars to make this an award-winning cast. Perhaps there is a great difference from a Mike Nichols production that would bring out the ironies and balance it with comedy to this film Director Anthony Drazen who won the filmmaker's trophy @ Sundance for "Dramatic Zebrahead." Whatever the reason, the film quickly become tedious and the down-spirals into a valueless void.

It is hard to deny that Sean Penn is one of the most brilliant screen actors working today. He won the Best Actor Award for this picture @ the Venice Film Festival. As Eddie, he snorts cocaine like a chain smoker, snarls, cries & puts his hand in his pants. Watching the actor bounce between highs and lows must be a qualitatively quite difference performance that William Hurt's on Broadway. Penn is worth watching. He's brilliant and makes the film worth a second star.

Kevin Spacey as the manipulative Mickey is hardly endearing. Yes, compared the other guys he seems relatively together. But his separation from his wife and family are hardly touched upon in the screenplay. It leaves Spacey with a mono-level performance that, while interesting, does not move us because he doesn't change.

Chazz Palminteri as the gorilla-minded Neanderthal Phil that can't control himself around women is utterly obnoxious. It's unclear why Eddie keeps him around. Perhaps to feel that he's better than someone else, as the dialogue indicates. But we don't really get that emotional need. Thus when Phil drives off Mulholland, we're really just glad to be rid of him.

I agree that the women are the most likeable. However, we fail to understand why they hang around these guys. Robin Wright Penn's Darlene seems too bright & together to connect with Eddie. As the waif Donna, Anna Paquin almost made me forget her Rogue character from the X-Men movies. She is so vulnerable that I felt sorry for her. As Bonnie, Meg Ryan takes the role that won Ivey the Tony, but we fail to understand why she is loose. She doesn't seem like a girl who'd have such low standards. The fact that she walks out on Eddie seems to confirm this.

Screenwriter David Rabe had worked with Penn in two other films, "State of Grace" & "Casualties of War." While Penn comes off the best, the overall effect of the story is that these are successful people who live in the Hollywood hills, but who have no moral compass and are profoundly unhappy. It was a chore to make myself sit through the entire film. I could only do it late at night after my wife had gone to bed, because she wanted nothing to do with it after the first 10 minutes. So while this project may have been wonderful on Broadway, the film version nose-dived into oblivion. Taxi!

A Swill Time Was Had By All.......2006-10-28

David Rabe, author of the play upon which this temple of twaddle was built, cannot blame the film's sins on others, he also did the screen adaptation. Considering the exemplary cast, he and director Anthony Drazen must assume the magnitude of guilt in its entirety.

Plays that adapt well to film have compelling characters, shifting relationships, well-hewn plots that offer surprises, and sparkling dialogue. Good actors love them because they provide opportunities to hone their craft. In Hurlyburly, excellent actors play despicable, uninteresting roles and try to breathe life into tortured, endless dialogue that is vacuous, pretentious, and - dumb.

The film rests on Sean Penn, and he is definitely capable of great performances. (It's rumored he devoted weeks to snorting coke, smoking weed, and consorting with call girls to prepare for the role.) Penn certainly gives it his all, but the part is just so stupid that the effort is wasted.

Eddie, Penn, appears to be going through some sort of existential crisis which necessitates bonding with Phil, Chazz Palminteri. Phil, who is going to night school in hopes of evolving a thumb, really embodies all the men of this movie - soulless, brutish, and without any redeeming human qualities at all.

In addition to being thoroughly misanthropic, Hurlyburly has a strong misogynistic streak. These are the kind of men who obsess about finding women and as soon as they do, beat them - emotionally, psychologically, or physically. It is therefore ironic that the women of this movie come off best. Meg Ryan, a stripper, brings clear rationality and a sense of values, a street waif played beautifully by Anna Paquin brings serene wisdom, and Darlene, Robin Wright Penn, brings an ability to understand her own emotional limitations lacking in all the men.

These performances do not even begin to redeem Hurlyburly, which is far worse than bad; this is a film to be vigorously avoided.

Striking and mesmerizing !.......2006-09-30

Among the impressive amount of good scripts written by Mamet there is a handful of them that remain above the mainstream average, such as House of games, The things change, The Spanish prisoner, Homicide, Oleanna, Heist but certainly none has been so devastating, brutal and existentialist like this one.

The lack of redemption, the ethical deficit, the absolute certainness nobody is absolutely innocent, invites us to think about Arhur Miller, Samuel Beckett and Luigi Pirandello, obstinate personages trapped inside the tragic atmosphere, without control of their actions, make of this nothing easy to follow movie an absolute must for any hard movie `s fan who really wants to explore veiled territories of the human soul.

The cast is simply magisterial. To my mind, this was the first great leap of Sean Penn that made me to take into account since then. But the only fact you might enjoy of Penn and Spacey with more than a decade of their respective personal rites is by itself a reasn more than alluring to watch this singular and somber movie.

Eloquent.......2006-09-04

The characters are all very eloquent and prone to spouting interesting philisophical insights. A very literate and deep movie that stands out in a sea of banal Hollywood trash appealing to the lowest common denomenator. If you're tired of car chases and shallow dialogue give this movie a try.

Charlie Rose with Garry Shandling (November 16, 1998)

Average customer rating:

Great but horribly overpriced

Charlie Rose with Garry Shandling (November 16, 1998)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

Garry Shandling, famous comedian, discusses The Larry Sanders Show, his new film Hurlyburly, and his new book Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host, The Autobiography of Larry Sanders. He does the interview in a humorous style that is similar to his stand-up comedy.

Customer Reviews:

Great but horribly overpriced.......2006-10-16

Charlie Rose's conversation with actor/writer Garry Shandling, coming off the last episode of his well-regarded "Larry Sanders Show", has Garry come off as flustered but still gracious, funny but still serious, and overall a person worth getting to know. In the interview, Charles states his goal as making the subjects of his interviews seem interesting, and in addressing his body of work that, which, along with "Larry Sanders", included (at the time of this interview), his 70s sitcom writing on "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "Sanford & Son", his (not really mentioned in the interview) Showtime series "It's Garry Shandling's Show", his acting in the then-recent film "Hurlyburly", and his book, "Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host", written in the character of Larry Sanders, the plugging thereof being the reason that he is on the program. Rose also adeptly covers events from Shandling's personal life, such as the car crash in the 70s he was a party to and a lawsuit against his manager.

The physical DVD of this program is overpriced. Fortunately, Google Video sells a download of the program for $.99, cheaper than even iTunes.

Charlie Rose with Henry Kissinger; David Rabe & Ethan Hawke (April 14, 2005)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Henry Kissinger; David Rabe & Ethan Hawke (April 14, 2005)

Manufacturer: "Charlie Rose, Inc."
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger talks about current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and our standing in the world. Also, a conversation about Hurlyburly with the playwright David Rabe and actor Ethan Hawke.

Charlie Rose with Thomas Friedman; Sean Penn, Anthony Drazan & David Rabe (January 20, 1999)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Thomas Friedman; Sean Penn, Anthony Drazan & David Rabe (January 20, 1999)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

Thomas Friedman talks about his upcoming book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, the current situation in Iraq and the unpredictability of Saddam Hussein, and a variety of other issues including Nigeria, Kosovo, and Michael Jordan. Then, Sean Penn, David Rabe and Anthony Drazan discuss their new film Hurlyburly, the challenges of adapting a play to the screen, and the contentious relationships between human beings.

Charlie Rose with Jacob Weisberg & Lawrence Tribe; Robin Wright Penn (February 12, 1999)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Jacob Weisberg & Lawrence Tribe; Robin Wright Penn (February 12, 1999)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

Jacob Weisberg and Lawrence Tribe discuss the Clinton impeachment trial, the Constitution, the similarities to and differences from the Nixon impeachment, and the potential consequences for the Clintons, the Democrats, and the Republicans. Then, Robin Wright Penn talks about her movies Hurlyburly and Message in a Bottle, her unique approach to acting, her marriage to Sean Penn, and her choice of projects.

Average customer rating:

Hurlyburly [Region 2]
Starring: Sean Penn , Kevin Spacey , Robin Wright Penn , Chazz Palminteri , and Garry Shandling
Director: Anthony Drazan
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00004YN5I

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