WATCH YOUR FAVORITE
MOVIES & TV SERIES ONLINE
TRY FREE TRIAL
Home > Drama >

Hysterical Blindness

Watch Hysterical Blindness For Free

Hysterical Blindness

Two friends lament their unhappy single lives while searching for Mr. Right in 1980s New Jersey.

... more
Release : 2002
Rating : 6.5
Studio : Blum Israel Productions, 
Crew : Art Direction,  Art Direction, 
Cast : Uma Thurman Gena Rowlands Juliette Lewis Justin Chambers Ben Gazzara
Genre : Drama Romance TV Movie

Cast List

Related Movies

Blessed
Blessed

Blessed   2009

Release Date: 
2009

Rating: 6.6

genres: 
Drama
The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady

The Portrait of a Lady   1996

Release Date: 
1996

Rating: 6.2

genres: 
Drama  /  Romance
Stars: 
Nicole Kidman  /  John Malkovich  /  Barbara Hershey
The Third Miracle
The Third Miracle

The Third Miracle   1999

Release Date: 
1999

Rating: 6.5

genres: 
Drama
Stars: 
Ed Harris  /  Anne Heche  /  Armin Mueller-Stahl
Little Bi Peep
Little Bi Peep

Little Bi Peep   2013

Release Date: 
2013

Rating: 6.3

genres: 
Drama  /  Comedy  /  Romance
Stars: 
Anna Shields  /  Kevin Craig West
Border Radio
Border Radio

Border Radio   1987

Release Date: 
1987

Rating: 5.3

genres: 
Drama
Stars: 
Chris D.  /  Luanna Anders  /  Chris Shearer

Reviews

VeteranLight
2018/08/30

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

More
ShangLuda
2018/08/30

Admirable film.

More
Verity Robins
2018/08/30

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

More
Hattie
2018/08/30

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

More
triple8
2005/08/20

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT: I knew I'd love Hysterical Blindness and recently had a chance to see it. I liked it even more then expected. A brilliant movie and a job well done from the whole cast.Pretty much everyone knows the plot but....I will say watching this movie, I was struck with how much was gotten so right. I love character studies and love independent films because their often not afraid to take chances as are many, more mainstream movies. They are often more accurate As well.Everyone in this movie exists-somewhere in this world. Movies that capture the humanness of everyday people and environments, deserve kudos because it is not often when that happens. Hysterical Blindness could function as a very long advertisement to someone about the negatives of the bar scene and the movie is almost emotionally brutal in the way it picks up the quiet weariness some of these people feel. The writing is just superb and I really wish This had been a big screen release and am sure a few Oscars would have been picked up along the way.All the performers were outstanding. Uma Thurman was BETTER then in the kill bill movies (yes, it's true) and Gena Rowlands and Juliette Lewis were outstanding. Oh how I adored the gentle dreamer Nick! (played brilliantly by Ben Gazzara). Thurman's playing down of her looks still did not disguise the fact that she is a beautiful woman but that did not, for me, lessen the believability one bit. As many know, the fact that one is extremely Goodlooking does not mean they cannot experience emotional pain in relationships. I found not one false note in this movie and I found Hysterical Blindness to be just incredible.This is probably one of the most honest movies about suburban single life I've ever seen and it actually makes the movie "Singles" look like a light Rom com. I'm always struck by movies that are like a little( or big) slice of life. In that regard, Hysterical Blindness is at the top of the heap. my rating is 9 of 10.

More
joandjosh
2005/05/18

An excellent and accurate portrayal of lower-middle class 20-something barflies in the 80s, desperate for affection and attention, and willing to do anything for it. Uma Thurman and Juliette Lewis are the quintessential trashy girls of the 80s. Uma Thurman plays "Deb", a self-centered secretary who doesn't want anyone to be happy unless she's happy, including her best friend "Beth" (also expertly played by Juliette Lewis) and her mother (Gena Rowlands). Tragically flawed with low self-esteem, she covers it up with fantasies of happily ever after, even fooling herself, while the more level-headed, but also flawed Beth tries to do her best to stay happy with her absent-fathered daughter and inject a little reality into Deb's world. If you were of age in rural or suburban 1980s, you must see this film.

More
foxgirl
2004/03/22

**PLEASE NOTE: Review contains spoilers!**Uma Thurman and Gena Rowlands do an outstanding job in this film. Their performances deserve first mention in any review, but certainly the movie has plenty of other good qualities to recommend it.Set very authentically in the New Jersey of the '80s, it is a short, intimate and rather naked story of women, heartbreak and life... without, thankfully, being a saccharine 'chick flick.' The interplay between the characters is elegant and subtle as the symbolism is brash and heavy-handed, but most of the characters themselves are brash, trashy, vulgar. One can hardly blame the symbolism for matching, and it somehow does seem to perversely fit the setting.This movie pulls no punches. If you are looking for something lighthearted or affirming, this is not the best choice. If, however, you are seeking something that will move you, something that is at once both extremely familiar (for those of us who recall the '80s, or know New Jersey, particularly) and refreshing in its honest vulnerability, you may enjoy this as much as I did. You may find that the death of one character breaks your heart on behalf of another, or that the final bar scene is difficult to watch in its desperation and rejection.In the end, the best way I have to describe this movie is by describing a particular scene, and borrowing its sentiments. Ben Gazzara's character, Nicky, is seeing Debby's (Uma Thurman) mother, Virginia (Gena Rowlands). Debby is protective of her mother, whose husband left her when Debby was thirteen--it's been them against the world ever since, one gets the impression. Debby runs into Nicky in the local bar one afternoon, and is persuaded to sit, have a conversation. Nicky, as a character, is almost too kind and patient, overflowing with good qualities in a movie where every other male character seems an antagonist at best, even the ones who never appear. They have a touching conversation wherein he surprises Debby by making a comment about how 'girls like [her]' have to be careful, regarding partying, the bar scene. She asks him what he means, deciding whether or not to take offense... he explains that she has a special quality, just like her mother, that not too many people will be able to see, or appreciate. She seems disarmed, touched. It's a very sweet prelude to the most tragic moment of the film, when Nicky dies before he can take his beloved 'Gin' (Virginia) away to live with him in Florida, to grow old(er) together with a lemon tree in their front yard.This movie has a special quality, too, and it won't be appreciated by everyone. It was originally an off-Broadway play, and I think that shines through in the brevity of the story arc, the raw intimacy and pain, the concentration on the emotional interplay between the characters. As Nicky goes on to say in the scene I mentioned, you think life can't go on, sometimes, but it always does. It just goes on, and it never stops, and it is both important and difficult to remember that, sometimes. That's what this movie leaves you with, that's this film's version of a happy ending. And it's not happy, not really... but it's real, and there is definitely something to be said for that.

More
roger_hart01
2003/11/09

This adaptation of an off broadway play, about two friends living in New Jersey and looking for love in all the wrong places, features great acting by Juliet Lewis, Geena Rowlands, and Uma Thurman. Thurman, especially, is great and, alone, worth the price of admission (or rental). This is nother coup for HBO in producing meaningful indie films.

More
Watch Instant, Get Started Now Watch Instant, Get Started Now