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Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Absolutely the worst movie.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Soderbergh stars while simultaneously wearing the directorial, authorial and cinematographical hats for this quirky absurdist comedy.The film is features interconnected story lines that involves a self-helf guru T. Azimuth Schwitters, a pest exterminator dallying with bored housewives named Elmo Oxygen, both of which strikingly resembles Soderbergh, who himself plays two different characters, an employee in a company that manages Schwitters's activities, Fletcher Munson, and a doppelganger dentist, Dr. Jeffrey Korchek, both happens to live in the same neighborhood.I got to say that he looks good without a shirt, even if he's bit on the leaner side (No kidding). Makes me wonder why he hadn't been in front of the camera often, he's a fantastic actor who embraced the goofiness and awkwardness of he characters he played (Not sucking up really). The first two acts explores the two Soderbergh personas' point of view and the third is a bit of a puzzle in which some of the scenes that were shown in the previous acts were re-done in a different vantage point. The film feels gritty without being amateurish. The performances from not-so-well-known performers are never second or third-rate. The manner the story unfolds, can be likened to a cerebral jigsaw puzzle which would reward film connoisseurs who doesn't just like their movie-watching experience a passive one. (But of course, one has to read the manual somewhere to figure out or decode what the maestro is trying to relate to the viewer.) My rating: B-plus.

I will echo a comment that someone made about -The Big Lebowski- (my #1 favorite comedy followed by this delightful mess). "Warning: this film transmits on a strictly limited wavelength." If you don't catch this curveball, you're likely to be bored. I won't say that if you don't like it on first viewing, then you're never going to like it. In my case, certain movies get more enjoyable on repeat viewings even after receiving a ho-hum response the first time around. This is one of those movies. With a narrative more fractured than your average David Lynch film, there are connections between one scene and another that jump out and take notice only on repeat viewings, sort of like "portals" from one part of the movie to another. Music that plays, pictures shown on the wall, one-sided phone conversations, that sort of thing. Aside from the already-limited-wavelength humor, these amplify the laugh factor. This is a movie destined for some kind of limited cult-following someday, but keeping to a murmur level when you're standing next to an air conditioner. The Criterion DVD has some good features and outtakes, like the "Maximum Busy Muscle" segment extolling the virtues of all products vinyl.Update Nov. '06. Re-watching this almost on a whim, and it all comes together (such as it is) even more. This is truly hilarious, a comedy masterpiece reveling in all its many absurdities, which come one after the other at a highly accelerated rate. I'm upping my vote from 9 to 10."You will learn something from me here today." --Elmo Oxygen (Noooo!!! Oooogghghgh!!)

I have to agree with some main themes already given here - it's brilliant, it's unconventional, it's not linear, it's hard to follow, its production values and casting are not the highest quality, and it's incredibly funny. This is one of the best movies for catch-phrases I've ever seen - it's got witty dialog, great character names, and it doesn't really matter that the plot doesn't go anywhere important - it's just funny as hell. Anyone who liked Waking Life will like this film, but if you have to have movies develop in meaningful ways, just pass it up and don't feel guilty. If you do rent it, be prepared for oddly named characters, spoofs on Dianetics, conversations in gibberish, and random odd scenes that all conspire to show how meaningless life can become if you let it.I'd really like to know more about how and why Soderbergh made this - it doesn't have any credits or production info on the VHS version, and it is so radically different from anything else he's done. It's hard to believe the same person who did Erin Brokovich and Traffic did this, but I'm eternally grateful - I kind of wish he'd do another one sort of along these lines, just to add more irreverence into filmmaking.

The first time I saw this movie, I wasn't really sure what to think. It is very strange and bizarre and quirky. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you're a Steven Soderbergh fan, I would check it out. Don't let the hard to follow story deter you from finishing this crazy film. And if you rent it, watch it at least twice before returning it, because you will understand it much more the second time through. Schizopolis is full of schizophrenia, so that's what you should expect. I think it's good in it's own way... rather artsy, in a poignant and ambiguous way.