Stephen Zane and Josh Hamilton star in this little-known comedy about life for two 20-somethings working in a mall. They talk, smoke some dope, go to a strip bar, drive their car, talk to girls, talk about girls, eat lunch, sometimes Freak (Stephen Zane) talks about life, sometimes about sex, it doesn't matter, everything he says is freaky. But it's true. And profound.
This is one of those movies El Hombre never heard of, but gave it a shot. It's good, even excellent. You can tell when the acting is good in a movie. The characters seem so real, the action was real, every word, every move. There's no car chases, no explosions, and no sex scenes, it's just about life in Syracuse, New York, where there are lots of strip bars (that's what El Hombre heard anyway) and lots of malls. Oh, I forgot, there are some sex scenes, but they're different. This is a good movie. Stephen Zane is one of the best actors around. El Hombre says: find this one, or maybe catch it on cable. In your video store, it might have been renamed "Blowin' Smoke." That name's less scary than "Freak Talks About Sex." Look for it. You'll thank me.
Saving Silverman
reviewed by Dr. Michelle Morganfeller, practicing psychologist
This is a movie about three losers who band together to play the music of Neil Diamond. Life is good, but Darren Silverman, one of the three, keeps getting shot down when he tries to meet his one-and-only love. Then one night, he sees a beautiful, intelligent woman, also a psychologist, named Judith. He naturally falls in love and they become engaged. Judith helps Darren overcome his co-dependency on his friends and the band, Diamonds in the Rough. That's when his loser friends, J.D. McNugent and Cowboy Wayne decide to kidnap the beautiful Judith and set Darren up with his slutty "one-and-only" high school friend.
From there, the movie sinks into a deep, dark pit of Loserville. It's designed to make successful, sexy women like Judith, who charges $200 for a session, look like bossy you-know-whats, while the slutty ex-nun has Darren fooled into thinking they were made for each other.
Darren, J.D. McNugent and Wayne are latent homosexuals and Judith helps them cope with that fact, but in the end, they are singing with Neil Diamond. Need I say more?
My diagnosis: horrible movie, avoid at all costs. I know El Hombre loves this movie so he'll never post my review. But all I can do is warn you. In fact, I'm setting up a group therapy session for all the seven or eight people who actually liked the movie. El Hombre keeps looking up my skirt, so he won't be there. I'm a professional woman and should be treated as such.