We got up and went
Doug Liman’s exploration into the night life of four separate people, who have everything in the world do with each other, is a tough pill to swallow (no pun intended). When Ronna needs to make cash to pay her rent she turns to her drug-dealing friend’s business to make some quick dough. Simon, her drug dealing friend, is off to Vegas for the weekend with some friends, so it works out. Simon’s drug pusher Todd is about to get swindled by Ronna so that she can save money to pay for her rent. Todd, of course, doesn’t take too well to this idea. All things come to a head in this movie.
In 1999 it was popular to be cool, hip and very much Pulp Fiction. In most respects, Go was riding the wave of Tarantino’s hit by telling three/four different stories and making them collide at some point in the film. It takes a pretty darn talented write to pull off what Tarantino did in Pulp Fiction and John August just didn’t live up to the task. These stories that August put together were uninteresting as the characters weren’t likable at all. On one end you have a dead-beat girl who can’t pay her rent. On another end you have a drug dealer who screws over some Vegas crime bosses. The final piece is a couple of cops who think they’re on a drug bust, but it turns out differently. Basically, you hate everyone in the movie, which is unusual because you would think there is an anti-hero somewhere. That was the first mistake that August made.
The second mistake that August made came in the form that you literally have to go out to left field and back to make these stories work. The trip takes you on a loop of confusion that doesn’t fit like legos. These stories were forced together for no reason; their plot points were shallow. How someone can go to Vegas, screw up and come back with the bad guys perfectly fitting in place with Todd is nearly laughable. Todd’s connection and bad boy attitude with Ronna is hardly believable. First, and not that I’ve had any experience with drug dealers (I was a nerd in school, so really I didn’t), there is no way Todd would deal drugs to first timer Ronna. As all drug movies go, a relationship and trust has to be built and the fact that Simon is ‘out of town’ should peak the suspicion of Todd; just too far fetched for my taste. Second, Ronna’s desperation to make rent wouldn’t spill over to selling complete strangers drugs; there’s not enough desperation there to make it believable. The strangers, who work for the police (sorry to ruin it) wouldn’t confront Ronna in Simon’s place of business. For a police stake out that would be too obvious and too risky. Bring all of these stories together and they fit like the glove fit on O.J. Simpsons’ hand, it simply wouldn’t.
Are there any redeeming factors to this? There were young and upcoming actors who thankfully made it somewhere beyond this film. Katie Holmes being the biggest out of the bunch. Timothy Olyphant went on to do some good films, but Holmes is the winner. There are some funny parts in the film, especially at the end when Holmes is eating breakfast with Olyphant’s character and you can just feel the tension coming from Todd. There are moments of greatness, but they don’t outweigh the bad, regretfully.
While Liman should be praised for Swingers he should be chastised for Go. Too hip for it’s own good, the movie simply fails in its attempt to be ‘cool’. While it does have some comedic moments, it just has some outrageous scenarios that simply don’t pan out.
Don’t be too blu
On the flipside to the story, the movie is gorgeous. It shines in HD and it’s represented well on Blu-ray. The rave scenes, especially, look good in HD. The music, which is another good reason to check this out, sounds extraordinary in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. In those two departments you won’t be disappointed.
As for the features, here’s what you’re getting:
– Commentary by Doug Liman and editor Stephen Mirrione
– Making of Featurette
– 14 Deleted Scenes
– 3 Music Videos
For a movie that is a decade old this isn’t a bad set of features. You get some great insight from Liman and Mirrione and you get a nice making-of featurette. There really isn’t more you could ask for when it comes to a movie like this.