I Love Your Work

I saw this movie at a screening during the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin.

The editing was cutting-edge, the cast was full of great actors who played their parts expertly, there were some great lines, great cinematography, the sets and scenery were perfect, the cameos were good...but somehow, it still doesn't work. I don't know what happened or where it went wrong, but it will leave you questioning what you just saw and if you missed some critical part of the movie that would make it make sense. But you didn't. Towards the end, it just becomes too convoluted to work. And having had many discussions with other film-goers from the festival, I can tell you with certainty that I was not the only one who felt that way.

My husband and I just watched this movie and we wanted to know if anyone could please explain what the movie meant?!? We kept expecting everything to be clarified at the end, but no such satisfaction was granted to us. I know a lot of you are into film festivals and whatnot, and are used to this kind of movie, but we are just completely lost. Will someone please explain to us what happened? We liked the cast, liked the acting, and appreciated the individuality they all possessed, but the end just did not click for us. We would appreciate any feedback that anyone can give to us, as we are just baffled as to what the point of the movie was. Thank you!

I saw this film at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival.

Giovanni Ribisi is a movie star living what I hope is a caricature of a movie star's life (although in Hollywood, there seems to be no such thing as a caricature). He's becoming paranoid, seeing stalkers everywhere and suspecting his movie-star wife of infidelity (with Elvis Costello, no less). Then he meets a fan who seems so normal, and proceeds to screw up this man's life, all the while descending into some sort of madness, and flashing back to a time in his life when he seemed to have normalcy and real love. This film is a bit of a mess, actually. Lots of flashbacks and movie stars portraying movie stars portraying movie stars. It got a bit too "meta" at times, and the narrative was muddled. There was also an ambiguity about the whole fame thing, which is not very new, and frankly, hard for an audience to sympathize with.

I love movies and hate the movie business. So, apparently, does Adam Goldberg. So how come I didn't like this more?

(7/10)

P.S. Before the screening, I saw Giovanni Ribisi walking down the lineup filming the crowd with his camcorder. In addition to Ribisi and director Adam Goldberg, Franka Potente, Christina Ricci, and Shalom Harlow were also at the screening. Of course, after seeing the caustic way in which fans (and stars) are portrayed in the film, it would be just about impossible to say anything to any of them, even if you could get close.

I wouldn't call "I Love Your Work" terrible, but I would agree that it doesn't really go anywhere. Portraying director Gray Evans (Giovanni Ribisi) descending into madness and desperation, I guess that the movie is supposed to be a look at the unpleasant situations inherent in the Hollywood lifestyle, but the whole thing is too confusing to logically make that point. Ribisi, plus Christina Ricci, Jason Lee, Franka Potente and Vince Vaughn (and even Elvis Costello as himself) do the best that they can, but there's not really enough to work with. For a better look at the vicissitudes of the celebrity life, check out Carl Reiner's "The Comic", starring Dick Van Dyke.

I saw I Love Your Work at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. The film has a great cast and each one does some solid acting. The plot follows an actor who slowly spirals into madness because he cannot deal with his celebrity status. Ribisi and Pontente are especially good as a Hollywood couple, but the film drags on a bit too long and we never get a good understanding of the main characters and the motivation behind their decisions. Judging by the the discussions I heard at the end of the film, I was not the only person who felt this way. Aside from the acting of the two main stars, I Love Your Work is not that noteworthy.