Mulholland Drive Review
by Rose 'Bams' Cooper (bams AT 3blackchicks DOT com)October 22nd, 2001
'3BlackChicks Review...'
MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001)
Rated R; running time 147 minutes
Genre: Mystery/Drama
Seen at: Celebration Cinema (Lansing, Michigan)
Official site: http://www.mulholland-drive.com/
IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0166924
Written by: Joyce Eliason, David Lynch
Directed by: David Lynch
Cast: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Mark Pellegrino, Michael J. Anderson, Dan Hedaya, Angelo Badalamenti, Scott Coffey, Billy Ray Cyrus, Chad Everett, Kate Forster, Melissa George, Monty Montgomery, Brian Beacock, Robert Forster
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2001
Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamsmulholland.html
If you don't walk out of MULHOLLAND DRIVE wondering "WTF? IM,WTFF?", then you're probably already a David Lynch fan. Guess what? I'm not.
The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**)
I knew I was in trouble after I read this movie's screed:
"Along MULHOLLAND DRIVE, nothing is what it seems. In this complex tale of suspense, set in the unreal universe of Los Angeles, writer/director David Lynch explores the city's schizophrenic nature, an uneasy blend of innocence and corruption, love and loneliness, beauty and depravity. Lynch constructs a puzzle, propelling us through a mysterious labyrinth of sensual experiences until we arrive at the intersection where dreams and nightmares meet."
Oh brudder. Where's my shovel?
The Upshot:
I was probably The Only One In America who didn't get a hard-on when David Lynch's TWIN PEAKS was on TV way back when. It was considered the height of Kewlness, I guess, to Get that show. No, I'm not disparaging everyone who watched it; I just thought the show was overrated, as phony as a two-headed nickel, and as interesting as watching paint dry while someone's shoving a stick in your eye and simultaneously threading your brain through your toes. Much like MULHOLLAND DRIVE.
Never have I checked my watch so many times, begging for the hours to please hurry up and pass, as I did during this interminably long, infuriatingly goofy, but boy howdy Stylish! film. I sit here now waiting for the other shoe to drop: lovers of Lynch's seemingly coke-enhanced oeuvre will no doubt try to take me to task for my failure to recognize his Greatness!, and my irritation at his refusal to tell a Straight Story [uh...but, still]. "How dare you pan His Greatness!, when you can give a freekin' pass to the likes of MISSION TO MARS? Heathen! Populist! *Movie* lover!!!" Ahh, bite me. I liked THE RED VIOLIN and MEMENTO just fine, thankyewverramuch.
I'll raise up off Lynch for a moment and admit that I did like the lead actors, even through my growing aggravation at that which they were acting. First-act Rita (Laura Harring) didn't twist my throttle nearly as much as she did when the script was flipped, but her counterpart, Betty (Naomi Watts), worked it very convincingly throughout. There were early hints that somewhere beyond Betty's sweet exterior, was Trouble with a capital T; for portraying this effectively, without a wink to the audience, Harring gets props from me. Props, too, to whomever that was who sang "Crying"; she blew me away with her big, sad voice. As for the males in this film, Justin Theroux's Adam was just this side of "too bizarre", so I didn't mind him overmuch; and Mark Pellegrino as Joe the not-so-good hitman added some much-needed humor to MULHOLLAND DRIVE.
If I could have just held on to Betty's story, with a sprinkling of Rita, I might have made it through this flick. But nooooo, Lynch had to throw other weird sh...tuff into the mix and make watching this movie, close to unbearable for me. Have I told you how much I dislike his Vision?
But now - just like Lynch, woohoo! - I contradict myself. As much as I Hated hated hated hated hated (tm Ebert on NORTH) this film, I have to give it my second-highest rating - as in "see it, if you like avant garde weirdness or train wrecks" - with the following "viewer discretion" caveats:
-If you're into Art Fillums, David Lynch, or surrealism,
you'll love it.
-If you're anxious to see something Different, and don't
mind Weird As Hell, give it a shot.
-If you're anxious to see something Different, but don't want to be jerked around, you'll only tolerate it. Barely.
-If the word "surrealism" gives you a brane ache...you're really in the wrong room. Your show's two doors down, to the right.
Bammer's Bottom Line
David Lynch-worshippers aside, the man needs Help. Badly. QUICKLY.
MULHOLLAND DRIVE (rating: flashing yellowlight):
"Style"? Sure, it's got style up the wazoo. "Substance"? Well, only if you're buying what Lynch is selling. Guess what...
Rose "Bams" Cooper
Webchick and Editor,
3BlackChicks Review
Entertainment Reviews With Flava!
Copyright Rose Cooper, 2001
EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com
http://www.3blackchicks.com/
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
