News added 03/02/07: BONGWATER is going to be re-released to DVD this April with what appears to be a much COOLER looking cover art!!! (I guess I'm not the only one who hated the first DVD cover art with the girl's butt!!!)
If you never had a chance to get the film on DVD, now you have it!!! Go to Amazon.com for details!!!
I'm really sorry...some of my old files were deleted by mistake so I have to re-do some of my old movie commentary. (I was told recently by someone who may or may not know what they're talking about that my reviews are not really reviews because I'm too biased, so I'm calling it all commentary from now on...) I'm not, nor have I ever claimed to be, a professional critic. I JUST LOVE TO TYPE FOLKS!!! : )
I've been reading BONGWATER the book again the past couple of days. I bought the book from Barnes & Noble clear back in April of '98, way before I was able to see the film. I really LOVE the book. It was written by Michael Hornburg and, like this film, doesn't really have a concrete plot. It's a 90s period piece about slacker life in Portland, Oregon and is more a character study than a plot or action-driven tale. Throughout this review, I will naturally make comparisons between the 2 media, and like I did with HIDEAWAY, I say that I do not prefer one over the other. They are both favorites of mine.
Several years after the DVD came out, I still enjoy this movie. I actually like it BETTER in fact. It's a pretty relaxing 90-some minutes, light-hearted, cute and funny, a real slacker/stoner comedy with a couple of serious faults, but nothing unforgivable. Like the book, it's mostly a study of angst in 20-somethings, and eventually morphs into an extremly non-traditional romance.
Both the book and the film have the main character David. Luke Wilson is his ever-so-mild-mannered self, likeable, lazy, low-key. He is a guy whose day job is selling pot and whose hobby is drawing pictures on slabs of cardboard. He spends his screentime in a blissfully dazed state, his rear-end parked on a ratty old couch and the boob-tube on constantly. Mi casa es su casa, and his buddies Robert and Tony make themselves comfy.
Book David is different, and I never envision Wilson while I read. Moody, mysterious and sometimes darkly bitter, his only transport being a skateboard, he was an aspiring filmmaker before his roommate burned his house down. He feels like a loser and is not a little suicidal.
Wilson's character is pretty content with life as it is, uneventful, quiet, and of course...relaxed. But his relaxed life is suddenly altered when a screaming redhead drags her blonde friend in and accuses him of being a seller of harder substances. Serena (Alicia Witt) calms down as soon as David is able to convince her that PCP, LSD and meth are not his thing. To hear Serena say, "I've been watching this girl do drugs for ten years..." is to conclude that she disapproves of drugs. Or is she a veteran who thinks she knows more than anyone else about how to safely enjoy them??? Immediately, I disliked the character of Serena, and still do, although I have nothing against Witt or her acting. It's just her character is so...I don't know.
Serena moves into David's house, but you don't really see this onscreen. She is just there, and her strong personality takes over the household. She takes note of David's talent for drawing aliens and naked people and pushes him to showcase his talent at her friend Mary's gallery. Miniscule information is provided about Serena's history, except that she saw an alien in Saskatchewan once.
In the novel, there is no Serena. There is Courtney, and of course you've heard that she's based on Courtney Love. A mentally unstable blonde, Courtney is a longtime friend of David's, practically a sister. She writes poetry and dabbles a bit in witchcraft. When David's house is destroyed, she runs away to New York City with an even more maniacal musician named Tommy. When things don't work out with him, Courtney finds herself homeless, living with Bobby (Scott Caan in the film) and her dark, troubled life becomes even more difficult.
Serena, the red-haired beauty, flies off to the Big Apple because of jealousy sparked by the sexually charged relationship between David and Mary (Brittany Murphy gives a giddy, slightly irritating, but nevertheless cute, performance). Seeing as how Mary is just a little rich girl and not a true art patron, Serena, who has proven almost insufferable thus far, floats ever upward on her cloud of self-righteousness by dismissing both Mary as a "poser" and David, telling them both to eff off. She hooks up right away with Tommy (Jamie Kennedy, who is always a delight), not deterred even by his admission to satan worship and heroin abuse. Is Serena a bunch of bullshit or something??? She rags on David for being a "stoner", but she has no qualms about palling around with a crazed junkie??? I think this girl is full of crap, or has mental problems, or both. She's flighty, never comfortable, never satisfied, her mind constantly churning out new ideas about how to better everyone's existence, how to help them be successful. If you look closer into her transparent character, you see someone who is running from something, probably herself. As unlikeable as she is, Serena is a complex and interesting character to me.
She talks her blonde friend Jennifer (Amy Locane) into coming to the East Village to visit. Why Jennifer had the money to just hop a flight always has bugged me. She either has a rich Dad or she works somewhere for some good money. She flies out all that way, only to be greeted by the typical manipulative lying ways of Serena. They dress up in their hottest attire and go to a party, hosted by a rock star (Eric Mabius) who easily persuades the redhead to snort "coke" before raping her. Where is the drug-hating, high on life Serena now??? Like I said, she is full of shit. All that talk about how foolish and naive Jennifer is...please...
This dark scene does not match the light, funny, slacker mood of the rest of the film. In the already darker book, the Courtney character is raped by some drug dealer in his pick-up. Still, Alicia Witt's powerful acting makes the scene very affecting. You realize just how young, lost and sad she is.
Meanwhile, David and Mary, who also do this in the book, drive down into the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area in Southern Oregon to obtain David's semi-annual supply of sellable product. The pot farmer in the book was a solemn, traumatized old school chum named Phil, who grew up with David in Chicago. The movie farmer is Devlin (Jack Black), a lovable Teddy Bear who sings songs and falls for Mary, much to the relief of David, who secretly misses Serena for God only knows what reason. There are also interesting contrasts between the 2 Marys. The book Mary works as a stripper and also designs vintage clothing.
There is a very enjoyable scene where David drops a hit of acid and has a hallucination of his deceased mother (Patricia Wettig) wearing a pink party dress and $2 earrings. They talk and play Word Up! and you get to know David just a little better, even though it's not revealed how Mom died.
Upon his return home, David, unaware that Serena has come back into town with her tail between her legs, has a brief fling with Jennifer. It means nothing to either party, but Serena is again in turmoil. If you read the book, Jennifer is a very different person. A skinny, paranoid brunette who pops pills every time she has a new emotion, she manipulates and seduces David for the worst bundle of selfish reasons imaginable, one being about the character Robert. I actually adore the movie Jennifer. Amy Locane is just so likeable here and I can't explain why, except that she is is a good friend to Serena. She cares enough to put her life on hold and jump on a plane, but she's cool enough to call Serena on her bullshit when she's had enough. She is just a fun party girl who doesn't take life, or herself, too seriously. The book Jennifer is a hideous bitch.
David is reunited Serena (and Courtney) at a party. In the movie, the gathering is an 80s-themed party thrown by the gay couple, Robert (Jeremy Sisto) and Tony (Andy Dick). How can I leave them out of the ganja gang, right??? In the movie, they are a couple of bespeckled stoners who dig Devo. The couple in the book were into wearing glamorous dresses and wigs, stealing Jennifer's lingerie, and throwing endless cocaine and XTC parties at their house. Again, their characters are dark and jaded compared with the lovable, bickering nerds in the film. The Robert in the book is described as "almost ethnic-looking, like an actor in some Italian heavy-breather, with broad shoulders and fierce cheekbones". He's a DJ who works the local parties and halfheartedly tries to dissuade Jennifer from wanting him romantically. He's conceited and flamboyant. Sisto could have nailed this version of Robert, no problemo.
But I think the movie Robert is a hoot. The two bitches (I say this with affection) cannot stomach Serena, and Robert even seems to have an ever so slight crush on the oblivious David. He gives Serena a delightful dressing down at David's art show, saying, "He's just so fucking adorable, and you wanna make him a star." They didn't offer anything further to cement my belief that Robert had a thing for David, except that certain proposal Robert made shortly after the fire. "Robert gives great head!" "Yes, I do!"
You could read the book and watch the film and swear they were two parallel dimensions, one sweet and almost innocent, a giggly glimpse into world of harmless stoners---the other infused with unrelenting realism, seedy sexual scenarios, and a tour through the shadowy world of illegal nightclubs, young rebellion, and internal conflict.
The very differences from book to film lead me to ask why the filmmakers chose to tell the story the way they did rather than adhering to Hornburg's dismal yet compelling style. I sense that a novel of this nature is very hard to sell to a mainstream audience, and perhaps the filmmakers wanted to lighten things up a bit. The consequence is a film that may seem uneven and of course, unfaithful. Also, stoner-comedy, no matter how they try to tame it, is NOT mainstream. A film faithful to the book would not be either, and may or may not have proven to be a cult favorite for lovers of the very risque.
Like I said, I don't hate the movie and prefer the book. I see them as two separate stories, neither better or worse than the other. I'll probably be in the perfect mood for this DVD every other year. I really love all the music they used, the perfect mid-90s slacker soundtrack.
As for the flaws that really bug me...there are two. The first is the DVD art they decided was perfect for this film. A butt. What was the matter with a bong??? Like a picture of Big Red??? The art they used is so bad that I tore it out.
The other thing I didn't care for was the idea that David is going to give up his content life for Serena. He went down and got all that green stuff from Devlin and now he's going to give up selling and smoking??? For her???!!! I believe love can make you do stupid things, but this is ridiculous. It's like all along the filmmakers were going to insert some "drugs are bad for you" message in there, another attempt to possibly make this a mainstream friendly flick??? What happens to the huge bundle of pot??? What about David's friendships with Robert, Tony, and Jennifer??? Robert and Tony took David in after Little Miss Can't Be Wrong let his home burn to the ground. I don't guess Jennifer is going to give up drugs any time soon, and she is the one who got Serena out of NYC and brought her back where it was safe.
The book ends simply with David realizing that he loves Courtney. Nobody stopped doing anything they were doing. No goody-two-shoes crap insulting my adult intelligence.
How long would a relationship last, really, between Serena, the volatile redhead and David, the gentle slacker??? Probably about a month, tops. Or, I deal with the terrible ending by inserting my own theory that Serena decides that a pot dealer is far less repugnant than a lot of the other men who have crossed paths with her. Or maybe she decides to get off her high horse and understand she's been trying to control David because she knows he gives a shit about what she wants. He is that smitten with her. That's acceptable. She'll either change her attitude or remain the same unstable horror of a human being and end up hopping another flight to another city and being swallowed whole. Either way, David can live happily ever after with his real friends and his bongwater.
It's like Robert says, "When are you going to realize who really loves you??? It's not her." Nope, not unless she decides to straighten up her act.
Only a good character study film can make me type this much.
Cast:
Luke Wilson as DAVID
Alicia Witt as SERENA
Amy Locane as JENNIFER
Jack Black as DEVLIN
Andy Dick as TONY
Jeremy Sisto as ROBERT
Brittany Murphy as MARY
Jamie Kennedy as TOMMY
Scott Caan as BOBBY
Eric Mabius as FENTON
and Patricia Wettig as DAVID'S MOM
Directed by Richard Sears
From First Look Pictures
DVD info
Re-issued on DVD March 2007
Special Features: "Scratch N Sniff" packaging (smells like bong water); interactive trivia game
Song: It Keeps You Runnin' by The Doobie Brothers
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