Could Synecdoche, New York Be the Worst Movie Ever? Yes!

Synecdoche, New York
Running Time 124 minutes
Written and directed by
Charlie Kaufman
Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Emily Watson, Samantha Morton, Dianne Wiest

The word of the week is contrast. Decorating the top of the cake: a new Clint Eastwood. At the bottom of the cesspool: a Read More

Will Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York Be Too, Too Dark?

We have a fundamental problem with the new trailer for Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York: it makes the movie look about as much fun as a funeral. Good golly this is depressing stuff!

Phillip Seymour Hoffman stars as a 40-year-old theater director who, with his life collapsing around him, decides to stage Read More

It’s Anarchy! Film’s New Hacks

Kneeling at the trough of psycho-gibberish that has come to symbolize contemporary movies, a piece of crap called I § Huckabees sinks to new depths of incoherent pretentiousness. But I will refrain from labeling it “The worst movie I’ve ever seen!” because, like the proverbial boy who cried wolf, I’ve blurted out that cry of Read More

Eternal Sunshine Left My Mind Spotless

Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , from a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, didn’t work for me, despite (or perhaps because of) all the rave reviews it’s received. Since Kate Winslet, who plays hippie-chick Clementine Kruczynski, has always held a special place in my heart-ever since she romped around in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Read More

Take a Bow, George Clooney: Who Knew You Could Direct?

George Clooney’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind , from a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, based on the book by Chuck Barris, plays out as an amusing parody of A Beautiful Mind (2001). But whereas the delusional creatures of Russell Crowe’s schizophrenic John Nash are little short of terrifying in the vivid, lifelike performances of Ed Read More

Mooning Clooney Can’t Save Solaris

As bad movies go, a dismal catastrophe called Solaris can’t go away fast enough to suit me. This fiasco of infuriating pretentiousness and numbing incoherence is the first science-fiction film by the overrated Steven Soderbergh. Let’s hope it’s his last. Solaris , an elliptical tale of ghosts floating around in outer space, was already snored Read More