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To me, this movie is perfection.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Blistering performances.

If you haven't seen it, see it. In my opinion each of the actors in this movie gave the best performace of their careers. Fraser and Pesci play great against one another. I watch this movie at least once a year. It really is that good.

Sometimes movies have to be viewed in just the right mood to really stick with you. This is one of those titles for me. As a HUGE Goodfellas fan, I saw Pesci as the Harvard bum and had to give it a shot. Good lively soundtrack accents characters you actually care about. From Fraser's perfect puppet wanting to have a heart to Dempsey's whimsical DJ, they're fun people you might have hung out with at college. Pesci in far and away his best performance, adds the lightning to this mix, bouncing back and forth from hateful curmudgeon to bi-polar nut case in equal measure. Very few movies can get me to cry, but this one managed at the end. I recommend it for anyone wanting a good little emotional roller-coaster, taking you from mild despair to raucous laughter.

Question: How do you screw up a movie with a cast of Brendan Fraser, Patrick Dempsey and Moira Kelly? Answer: It ain't easy, but try adding Joe Pesci. I hope no one actually associates the way Pesci (as Simon Wilder) acted in the movie with real homeless people. In the real world, Montgomery Kessler (played by Brendan Fraser) could have had this arrogant little urchin committed. I've been homeless. I know that real homeless people do not act like they are doing a standup comedy act, or preach constantly (unless it is someone who has psychiatric problems and they are off their meds). I don't know.., I just hate Joe Pesci. That squeaky, little voice coupled with the arrogant, Guido demeanor. He's not funny. He's just irritating. I actually felt sorry for Kessler's roommates when this aggressive, little punk actually weaseled his way into their apartment to "take a bath".

Many contrived, corny moments mixed in with smart ideas (see Joe Pesci's speech on the Founding Fathers), humor (see Joe Pesci's bath), and poetry (Walt Whitman's death poem). If you thought "Pursuit of Happiness" was the best movie ever, you'll find this moving. There's nothing new in this movie to be said you can't find in better form elsewhere, which is why I gave it below a 7/10.IMO, as long as you don't take it too seriously and you're with a silly friend or possibly a good plate of food to take the phony-Hollywood-fabrication edge off, it's worth seeing.