"Being Flynn" and nothingness

Okay, the movie's not THAT bad. But it does slice the balls right off of Nick Flynn's excellent book Another Bullshit Night In Suck City, and yes, I know Flynn's an executive producer on this and no, I don't begrudge him a goddamn thing. My review for MSN Movies is here. One thing I didn't get to complain about in my review is how every damn movie depicting a twelve-step program meeting invariably bathes whatever room in question in sickly green flourescent light, right before invariably commencing an entirely perfunctory montage showing that Recovering Addicts Come From All Walks Of Life And Isn't That Wonderful. 

Comments

[Matt]

Slow clap for that "hack license" line. Bravo.

[bill]

"One thing I didn't get to complain about in my review is how every damn movie depicting a twelve-step program meeting invariably bathes whatever room in question in sickly green flourescent light, right before invariably commencing an entirely perfunctory montage showing that Recovering Addicts Come From All Walks Of Life And Isn't That Wonderful."

Not in BREAKING BAD! Which I know isn't a movie, but still!

[LexG]

Some critic at "JoBlo's Movie Emporium" is claiming this is De Niro's *all-time* best performance. Like, of all time. Which I guess means better than Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Once Upon a Time in America, True Confessions, Mean Streets, Deer Hunter, etc etc etc. That's a tall order. Anybody buying this? Confirm or deny?

I will say I think post-'97 De Niro takes WAY too much shit from movie fans; I mean, the guy's pushing 70 and no longer physically looks he's possessed of a coiled, raging physical intensity; I mean, does your own DAD still run around in a Mohawk acting all magnetic and intense and insane at 70 years old? Plenty of his post-Jackie Brown stuff has been just fine-- Ronin, City by the Sea, Good Shepherd, Stone... No one would go along with this, but he even shows signs of alertness in Righteous Kill, though I know that isn't a high mark to shoot for; But the "De Niro doesn't care anymore!" ranting sort of presupposes that he struck gold every time out in his electric years, but that's not true: For every Taxi Driver, there was a Last Tycoon (good movie, but RD is on snooze patrol in it), for every GoodFellas a Stanley & Iris... and two or three Night and the City/Guilty By Suspicion potboilers that he could've done in his sleep. It wasn't Bickle and Cady every time out of the gate even when he was on fire.

[Nort]

Refn's PUSHER III takes a different approach to the recovery meeting, but of course that's a European movie...

[Oliver_C]

LexG defending extreme and erratic variations in one's performance; how apposite.

[Glenn Kenny]

Aw, lay off OC; the points Mr. G makes here are well-taken.Little positive reinforcement might be the order of the day.

I wrote a piece about De Niro a few years back saying that at this stage of his career he doesn't owe the rest of us anything. That goes both ways of course.And while I don't agree with ALL of LG's citations, I do think the Once-Unimpeachable De Niro constrct is just that.

[bosque]

It's not post-'97 it's post-'85, DeNiro stopped caring after King of Comedy.

[Michael Adams]

"DeNiro stopped caring after King of Comedy."

He gives great, subtle performances in Heat and Wag the Dog.

[Michael Dempsey]

De Niro is also fully engaged and riveting in "Ronin".

[warren oates]

What's wrong with De Niro's work in those MEET THE PARENTS or ANALYZE THIS/THAT movies too? They are age appropriate roles, performances that are right for the films and ones that knowingly self-parody the intensity of his earlier career. Sure I wish all great American actors could age the way Newman did, turning in excellent performances in interesting films right up to the end. But the truth is sometimes that actors just like working. And there's not that much truly good work out there in general, let alone meaty roles for older folks who still seek some kind of lead status. Look at Dustin Hoffman, who has had pretty much one great opportunity in the last decade or so in I HEART HUCKABEES and the rest was mostly biding his time and paying the bills. Hopefully, LUCK will be good enough to keep him going for a while.

[That Fuzzy Bastard]

Yeah, I agree that De Niro's comedy roles are underrated (as comedy tends to be). Anyone have thoughts on FLAWLESS?

[Tom Block]

He's also good in "15 Minutes", which isn't the complete bag of shit it looks like. (Which isn't to say it's *totally* santorum-free either.) He plays a homicide cop with a Jack Vincennes-like tabloid-following, a part he could've swamped with "charisma", but instead he plays it in low-key notes.

[Owain Wilson]

I'm a sucker for Falling In Love.