I didn't want to do this, but Mari begged me. OK Mary, you axed for it!!! I must oblige you only because you're such a great friend, but I'm not going to lie! This movie was a huge disappointment for me!
It is yet another movie that could have been something great, but once again someone must have screwed around with the adaptation of the dark gloomy Gen X novel of Michael Hornburg. This movie is neither dark nor gloomy, but somewhat goofy!
The cast is made of people who were unknown ten years ago when this flick came out (or rather went to DVD direct. I don't even know if it screened at any festivals. Mary doesn't know either.): Jack Black, Luke Wilson, Brittany Murphy, Alicia Witt, Scott Caan, Jeremy Sisto, and Jaime Kennedy are all pretty well known actors now. Something must have appealed to them about this movie! But what?!!!!!
It's a jumbled mess, another failed attempt to adapt a good book to screen. I think Mary is right, too, when she says that someone might have been trying to slip a "pot is bad for you" message at the end of this film, so that it would be approved of by all audiences. Give me a break!
And I'm right with Mary when I say that Serena is a horrible character. What was wrong with Courtney (of the book)?! I like Alicia Witt don't get me wrong, but I just don't get why they changed the story this much. What's the point of even making the movie if they can't stay true to the story it's based upon? In fact, the only scene that came close to capturing the essence of the book was that rape scene that everyone seemed to think didn't belong ha!
The book was dark and morbid and extremely candid about life in the mid 90's in Portland. It is an extremely facinating read, and paints a vivid yet grim portrait of a bunch of very depressed, aimless, disaffected people, most of whom are homeless, living in squats and delapidated housing. They spend their days waiting for night to come, and they attend illegal parties in dimly lit clubs and do every drug you can imagine.
It's not Jeremy Sisto's or Andy Dick's fault, but I think the Tony and Robert couple of the film is a big disappointment too. There must have been something intimidating about staying true to the book characters of everyone, including this gay couple. They weren't nerdy in the book, they were wild partiers. Tony dressed up in drag a lot and Robert wore some really retro clothing, including shark skin suits. It would have been awesome to see Robert as he was in the book, being a tease to Jennifer, working as a DJ in the illegal nightclubs, etc.
The book really isn't about marijuana, so I don't know why Hornburg titled it "Bong Water". It was mainly a dark love story and a portrait of post-grunge twenty-somethings in the Northwest. I think the plot was mainly about how numb Gen Xers really are. They OD on drugs, engage in risky sex, and one of them even gets raped (the only part in the film that seemed faithful to the book, as I said), and yet, they somehow find the strength? to live and face tomorrow.
It was very descriptive of life in Portland, including the drug culture and the geography. It would have been such a great thing to experience Hornburg's world on the big screen. Maybe one day they will make another movie that will be truly faithful to this great little book.
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