Reader's discretion advised: This post will contain some bad language. Just a heads up.
The movie Go came out in 1999 and it attempts to tell what happens after a drug deal from three different characters' points of view. It follows Ronna Martin (played by Sarah Polley) who is a down on her luck cashier at a grocery store, who needs money to avoid eviction. She attempts to buy and re-sell drugs from the drug dealer Todd Gaines (Timothy Olyphant). It also follows Simon (Desmond Askew) andhis escapades with his friends in Las Vegas. Finally, the story focuses on Adam (Scott Wolf) and Zack (Jay Mohr) two gay actors who are atttempting to avoid getting in trouble with the law by helping to participate in a drug sting with Burke (William Fichtner).
"Wow, I didn't know we'd become such good friends, because if we had, you'd know that I give head before I give favors and I don't even give my best friends head so your chances of getting a favor are pretty fucking slim. " -Todd Gaines
I have 10 categories for how I rank movies and the total score is equal to the final score I give the movie. Feel free to disagree with me, if you want. I'm not exactly an expert on films but I certainly know what I like.
Story: It's at the very least a creative way to tell the story of the aftermath of a drug deal. It was interesting that it followed three different stories to figure out what was actually happening in the movie. Each of the three stories were entertaining and infromative to the rest of the movie. The best one, at least in my opinion, was the story focusing on Simon and his friends. Grade: 9/10.
Characters: Most of the characters were fully developed, I would hope so with the three different stories focusing on the main characters. The characters that I didn't particularly enjoy were Simon's friend Singh (who wasn't integral to the rest of the story), Victor Jr., Victor Sr., and Claire Montgomery (played by Katie Holmes). The reason for my distaste for Claire was simply because she morphs from one type of person at the near beginning of the movie (afraid and distrustful of Todd) to the exact opposite at the end. It seems likely that if you are going to be distrustful of a drug dealer at one point, you will remain distrustful until the drug dealer does something to gain your trust, which to be honest, we don't see. Grade: 7.5/10
Directing: Like I said at the beginning of this, I'm not an expert at film or filmmaking. So, I might not be the best person at judging for this particular category. However, I think that you should be able to tell a difference between good directing and bad directing. It's the in-between that'll probably cause me the most grief. However, the director in this movie does a great job in telling the three different stories. There's not that much discontinuity between the different stories so it actually feels like they are telling the same basic story. My favorite part for choice of directing was the music in the chase scene between Simon and his friends and the two Victors. Grade: 8/10.
Suspension of disbelief: I should be able to suspend my disbelief for the entire movie without running into a situation where I say, "there's no damn way this could happen in real life." There's not that many times where I think that throughout the movie, except at the very end. Once you see the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about. Although the commitment to have Jay Mohr throw the tape recorder so girlish was just fantastic. Grade: 9.5/10
Acting: Sarah Polley was pretty good as Ronna (some people think she's better than that). William Fichtner was fantastic as the police officer who is obsessed with an Amway-esque products. Timothy Olyphant was great as a drug dealer. Katie Holmes was good despite the character's complete change. Nathan Bexton was great as strung out on drugs Mannie. Jay Mohr was the same as he is in every movie. Grade: 8/10. Only because I thought Polley could have been better, as well as Jay Mohr. When two of your could be played by better actors, then there is a slight problem.
Dialogue: The dialogue was occasionally funny and witty. Some of the dialogue was integral to the rest of the story and some of it was just there to be there. My favorite scene for dialogue was with Mannie and the cat. There wasn't anything that was glaringly awful. The scene about Confederated Products is fantastic, as well. Grade: 9/10.
Genre specific attributes: The movie was supposed to be a comedic crime movie in the same vein of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch. Both of which succeed at a level Go cannot approach. Grade: 7/10.
Timing: A movie should have a certain pace to it so that you never feel like the movie is dragging. That is one of Go's best features. There's not a point in the movie where you really think that the movie is draggging except near the very end. Just when you get tired of one character, they move to a different one. Grade: 9/10.
Pseudo-philosophical question and answer: What exactly is the theme of Go? If pressed, I would say that the theme of Go is what Claire states at the beginning of the movie about the best part of Christmas is the fact that there is a giant surprise even if you are pretty sure what's going to happen or know what's inside, when you finally open it, it's always a surprise. An even bigger answer to the theme question is what Jay Mohr states near the end. It's an attempt to find out what the right thing is to do, even if it's just an approximation or if it is the half-assed thrown together kind of way. It also addresses the justification people might have to try and convince themselves that the wrong things that people do aren't really that bad. Interesting theme, I guess. The movie also attempts to answer the question of what exactly is justice? Grade: 8/10.
Re-watchability: This is where I decide if I can watch the movie again. Since, I have watched this movie a couple of times, now, I would say that yes I would be able to watch it again. There's not that many glaring holes in the movie that bother me, no (overly)annoying characters, and bad dialogue. There is enough funny lines, a certain sense of unpredictiability, as well an overall sense that you might need to watch it again to get everything out of the movie. But it's not a movie I would immediately want to watch again or that I would feel like I would definitely need to. Grade: 8/10.
The movie ends with a pretty high score of 83/100. This is pretty in-line with what IMDB has it ranked as (7.3). Mine's higher probably because I like this specific genre of movies.
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