Change Your Image
harvurd_
Reviews
Love Liza (2002)
Sniffing Gas Has Never Been So Funny
Did you see "Love Liza" or "Happiness" or "Punch-Drunk Love" (funny, I just realized that Hoffman is in all these) in a theater and did you feel like you had to hold back laughter as it might be construed as inappropriate? What I like so darn much about smart movies like Love Liza is that I can't really describe what it is exactly I find so out-loud funny. And interesting, and moving, etc. But FUNNY.
Hoffman is some kind of caricature of abuse that only a real junkie would find insulting. This movie is so outrageously unreal. "Okay, Phil. When we start rolling, wait three beats and really sniff that rag. And don't forget you're driving here, so don't focus too much off the road. Make-up! Make Hoffman sweatier-looking." Wild. Could this character suffer any more? It's like hitting--over and over--one of those inflated, bottom-heavy punching things with a silly face and moustache and feeling good about it. Why not? Seeing this character get tortured by a script and a director is somehow funny because, like the punching thing with face and moustache, no real feelings are being put upon. It's an exercise. And who better than Phil Hoffman to do this work?
Not a date movie, not one to see with the guys, Love Liza just is. It is what it is. Word.
8 Mile (2002)
Being the New Kid, Affiliations, and Spaghetti Sauce
8 Mile is the sleazy, urban remake of The Karate Kid. Eminem plays the Daniel character, the "new" kid who has been poking around where the more popular kids hang. He's got talent, but can he show this talent to the other kids (rappers)? There's the girlfriend who has affiliations with both Daniel, I mean Eminem, and the bad kids. I use the word "affiliations" VERY loosely here (pun unintended). There's the struggling mom who loves her kid but cannot provide the crucial life lessons Daniel/Eminem needs, so we have Miyagi (Phifer), the wise teacher/counselor/companion. But there's no Karate in 8 Mile. Just rap. So "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," right? Not so. There are some hurtful things being said here. Hurtful rap. And to add insult to injury--or rather injury to insult--there are young guys with guns out waiting in the street outside the "Hall of Rap" who seem quite willing to pop caps into people. Johnny and his Cobra gang from the Karate film seem like real pansies next to these hooligans. At least Eminem didn't get spaghetti sauce all over a perfectly good outfit at the club, though! Talk about hurt. So in the sequel to 8 Mile, Eminem will get the you-know-what kicked out of him by Johnny and his Cobra cronies (many now with illegitimate kids, beer bellies, and memories of "the old days"). A flop, you say? Guaranteed.