Kind of astonishing that Day Lewis (far from being a prolific actor) appeared in both this and THE AGE OF INNOCENCE in ’93, a double dip every bit as accomplished as more heralded double-dips by Spielberg and Holly Hunter in the same year. What makes this such an interesting turn is I think the performance is kind of lousy in the early going, with the then 36-year-old struggling with playing a 21-year-old, hippy fuck-up (he’s too smart an actor to…

Pleasantly surprised that this plays in large part like the Hot Topic version of THE MASK with Hardy giving an honest to goodness comedic performance in the vein of Martin Short in INNERSPACE or Steve Martin in ALL OF ME. He really is meant to be viewed as strictly a hapless vessel (“you’re my ride”) which admittedly denies the character a fair amount of agency but also makes him extraordinarily relatable under the circumstances as he spends the second half…

When I was a little kid, growing up solidly middle class, I had a lot of toys. But my parents, mindful of the expanding clutter that comes from the accumulation of “stuff,” presented me with an ultimatum: if I went long enough without playing with my toys then I’d have to get rid of them before I could get any new ones. They didn’t care what I did with them: throw them out, sell them at a yard sale, give…