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Waste of Money.

Touches You

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

It's hard to decide what to say about this one. It isn't totally, one hundred percent bad. Although the movie-in-a-movie is unspeakably bad, meant to be campy, but missing by a mile. I'm pretty sure that this is intentional, however. Danny Aiello is perfectly adequate here, and more or less nails his pathetic character. Dyan Cannon was good in a small role. Clotilde Courau was impressive as the latest twenty-something girlfriend. And Linda Carlson had a brave topless scene that she pulled off very well.So, it's not totally bad, but I don't believe that this one accomplishes its goals. All in all, it's probably worth passing on.

Clearly made by veterans of the business, this is the story of the twilight years in a film-makers life. Well... a successful, famous one, anyway. Numerous luminaries just off the Highest Paid rack appear: Ally Sheedy, Isabella Rossellini, Dudley Moore, and the ever-willing-to-make-a-fool-of-himself Little Richard in a hysterical turn as the President of Cleveland (don't worry, it doesn't make much more sense if you've seen the film).I love Danny Aiello, and it isn't often I get to see him in a lead role, so I was inclined to like this movie from the get-go. Danny's great as an aging director who's reviewing his life, and his work, and finding himself coming up short from his childhood expectations. We follow the two days leading up to the premiere of Harry Stone's new movie, "The Pickle." It doesn't make it any easier to write this review that the films both bear the same name, so for now, I will refer to this movie-within-a-movie Pickle as "The Pickle Within". The Human Pickle comes later."The Pickle Within" is atrocious. On every level. And this is plaguing Harry Stone to no end. He reassesses each of his relationships; with his first wife, played nicely by Dyan Cannon; his current girlfriend, an English-language debut by the stunning Clotilde Courau; his daughter and her husband, both perpetually short of cash after growing accustomed to their father's celebrity lifestyle; even one of his many brief ex-wives Patti, whose Chinese accent is hysterically strong when she talks, but disappears when she sings.The people in Harry's life are truly funny stereotypes, exclusively played by talented people who happen to fall outside Hollywood's A-List (though a few have been there in the past).Ultimately, the path of Harry's life leads him to realize that yes, indeed, he himself is the Pickle (there it is... the Human Pickle), who, with warts, age, sourness, and all, is still a valuable person (cue inspirational music).

This is a great off-the-wall romantic comedy about love, work, pandering to the public taste, and midlife crises. The main character is a talented movie director who decides to make a silly PG-13 movie to get himself out of hock with the IRS. It has an excellent cast, a wide range of humor (from deadpan to slapstick), and fine writing. It's also a wry send-up of the movie industry. The metacommentary includes several excellent cuts between reality and the movie that's being made, and in some places the film departs from strict realism. The result is a multi-dimensional masterpiece of wry midlife humor.

It's very interesting to think of how very much this movie could have achieved and didn't. It was supposed to be a look at humanity versus consumerism and art versus marketability. The Pickle is actually three movies in one- we have the story of the director, the movie he has made, and the movie he wants to make. It's a good idea...but something got lost in the transition from idea to film. The story of the director is pretty depressing and largely painful to watch. Aiello's performance is merely adequate, and the relationships he rediscovers with his family and annoying girlfriend seem preachy and cliched. The movie he is about to release, about a giant pickle from outer space, is meant to be amusing high camp, but it's just plain weird. And the movie he dreams of making, based on his childhood, doesn't seem to have a real purpose. THIS moviegoer certainly wouldn't pick it over the space pickle movie.In a nutshell, I don't think I'd pay money to see this film again, though if you bribed me with some of Little Richard's liver-flavored jelly beans I might give it a shot.