Goodbye Lover

Starring:Patricia Arquette, Dermot Mulroney, Mary-Louise Parker, Ellen DeGeneres, Ray McKinnon, Alex Rocco, Don Johnson, Andre Gregory, John Neville, JoNell Kennedy, Akane Nelson, Kevin Cooney, Will Stewart, Nina Siemaszko, David Brisbin, Lisa Eichhorn, George Furth, Barry Newman, Michael Krawic, Max Perlich
Director: Roland Joffé
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

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Overlooked and underrated, Goodbye Lover is a tawdry, tasty film noir with a soft spot for its scheming antiheroine. With her platinum Lulu bob, a killer wardrobe, and a Sound of Music fetish that inspires her to "climb every mountain" of bad-girl ambition, Patricia Arquette is perfectly cast as Sandra, the sweet but lethal wife of Jake (Dermot Mulroney), who works in a top-drawer ad agency with his brother Ben (Don Johnson). Weary stud Ben falls prey to simultaneous affairs with Sandra and his devoted secretary (Mary-Louise Parker), and the cynical Detective Pompano (Ellen DeGeneres) unravels the murder-for-insurance plot while her clueless Mormon partner (Ray McKinnon) tries to keep pace. Combining mordant humor and rampant depravity, this deliciously dark comedy starts fast and never lets up, liberating director Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields) from the sobriety of his previous work. The entire cast is great, but it's DeGeneres who makes this a recommended sleeper. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

GOOD TRASHY FUN!.......2007-06-06

Wow. What a fun, hysterical, crazy, and twisty ride. This film really is below th radar, and it makes no sense why. With this name cast, led by the amazingly talented Arquette, how could you go wrong? I won't even comment on th story, because I want to give nothing away to the mystery and who is double-crossing-who games.
I can say that the music and camera work are great, as well as the costume desing. We get to hang out with some very original characters here, who are very well defined.
So, grab a drink, sit back, and have fun. Arquette's seductively crazed siren will taken you on a fun romp where indeed "image is everything".
Did I mention Arquette plays a real estate agent obssessed with 'The Sound of Music' soundtrack and church? HA!

Gradually Becoming a Cult Movie.......2006-08-19

GOODBYE LOVER slipped by a lot of viewers when it was released in 1998 and it is only now while on DVD that the quality of this little tongue-in-cheek film noir is gaining steady popularity. And that is basically due to a superb cast of fine actors who obviously are enjoying every minute of the project.

Sandra (Patricia Arquette) is a girl of somewhat lethal ambition, married to Jake (Dermot Mulroney) but having an affair with Jake's brother Ben (Don Johnson) who is also having an affair with his secretary Peggy (Mary-Louise Parker). The action quickens when the dark murder-for-insurance angle appears, but this also opens the door for the entrance of detective Pompano (Ellen DeGeneres) and her oingo-boingo partner Rollins (Ray McKinnon) who set about solving the tangled mysteries. The results create a very funny, dark humored movie that sparkles in the hands of all of the actors, especially with DeGeneres and Arquette.

A great movie? No, but one that is a lot of fun as directed with an astute grasp of the medium by Roland Joffé. Grady Harp, August 06

THIS MOVIE KICKS A$$.......2005-08-08

Its to bad Don Johnson's part was so short because he was really good in this movie! Johnson plays Ben Dunmore, head of an ad agency, plays organ at church, and he is also older brother to Jake (Dermot Mulroney). Ben has been having an illicit affair with Jake's wife Saundra, but Jake doesn't know, or does he?
Jake and Saundra, along with Ben's receptionist Peggy, have plotted to kill Ben for his insurance money. But what they didn't plan on was Rita Pompano, the saucy detective that gets wise to Saundra and her plans. Its a very crazy, cunning, and sexual movie. I will say it'll turn you off SOUND OF MUSIC in a heartbeat! That's all you hear is the SOUND OF MUSIC sdtk throughout so it gets old after awhile. But if you've never seen this movie, you've got to rent it. Its definately worth it!

THE ELLEN AND RAY SHOW.......2004-05-14

GOODBYE LOVER is a tasty and original film noir featuring incredibly good performances from its entire cast. Director Roland Joffe (Oscar nominated for THE MISSION and THE KILLING FIELDS) puts his tongue in his cheek and helms a story of battling femme fatales.
Patricia Arquette (brilliant) stars as a ditzy, sexually overactive wife to headstrong advertising executive Dermot Mulroney (also very good). She is also having an affair with Mulroney's brother, played beautifully by an unusually effective Don Johnson. Also involved is Mary Louise Parker as an assistant to both Johnson and Mulroney, who has the hots for ..hmmm...both the brothers? Soon, we know it's BODY HEAT all over when a plot is hatched to bump off Johnson for the four million dollar double indemnity insurance payoff. It's no plot spoiler to reveal Johnson exits the movie early and we see that there is more than meets the eye to the romantic shenanigans of all involved.
Then enters Ellen DeGeneres and Ray McKinnon as the detectives investigating Johnson's apparent accidental death. Generes is awesome; her one liners with McKinnon are priceless, harsh and incredible. Not one of her fans, I find myself in awe of her talent, particularly after this and FINDING NEMO. McKinnon as her Mormon, idealistic, and quite unintelligent partner, is a find! He's perfect as Ellen's foil and he brings a sense of moral uprightness and comic relief to this marvelous movie.
Some great moments: Arquette and Johnson getting it on in the choir loft while the choir sings Handel. Arquette and Johnson are both highly respected members of their church and take up the collection plate. Mulroney goes to hire a killer to off his wife, and we see this man hanging upside down and don't know why! We see "what if" thoughts from both Johnson and Arquette that mirror what they'd like to see. While questioning a cook in a restaurant, DeGeneres (who always seems to be eating), is stealing food while McKinnon questions the cook. At one point in the movie, Ellen asks her partner if he's gay. (How's that for political correctness?). We never learn why she asks that particular question, and in a particularly joyous moment near the end of the film, McKinnon pulls a joke that has you riveted to your seat.
This is a real find...it's worth buying, it's that good!

Oh what a tangled web we weave..........2004-04-04