# Go (1999)

### reviewed by
Ross Anthony

    2 out of 3 ain't bad
    Go

    By Ross Anthony

Like "Hillary and Jackie", "Lovers of the Arctic Circle" and even "Pulp Fiction"; "GO" tells the same story from more than one perspective -- three in fact. Each perspective is carefully titled (ie: screen goes black, name of character whose point of view is to be portrayed appears in white). I find this a bit patronizing, I'd rather the filmmakers just thrust us into the next perspective and let us figure it out. I'd appreciate that momentary confusion.

"GO" depicts the fumbling side of the underworld, with believable foul-ups that include graphic un-glorified violence and stumblingly fun dialogue. This being the genre of "Pulp Fiction," and more recently, "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."

In the "GO" story a young teen grocery cashier short on cash plays drug dealer for the night. She and her friends get in way over their heads.

Perspective one: Ronna (Sarah Polley) decides to act as replacement for her drug-dealing friend Simon who has taken off to Las Vegas for the Weekend. I did not like this soulless character. I did not Polley's acting. I did not like this third of the movie, Sam I am.

Perspective two: Simon (Desmond Askew) weasels his buddy Marcus (Taye Diggs) into a violent predicament with two Las Vegas thugs. The interplay between the two is quite entertaining. One of the best clips of dialogue plays in the preview. Marcus cuts off Simon's black-blooded boasting with, "If you were any more white you'd be clear!"

Perspective three: Adam (Scott Wolf) and Zack (Jay Mohr) are con men recruited by an oddball detective to entrap Simon (or in this case -- Ronna).

Though I nearly walked out of this film during the first telling of the story -- the second and third perspectives were extremely entertaining and very cleverly intertwined.

Starring Desmond Askew, Taye Diggs, William Fichtner, J.E. Freeman, Katie Holmes, Jane Krakowski, Breckin Meyer, Jay Mohr, Timothy Olyphant, Sarah Polley and Scott Wolf. Directed by Doug Liman. Written by John August. Produced by Paul Rosenberg and Mickey Liddell and Matt Freeman at Columbia/banner/Saratoga. Rated R.

Grade..........................B+

-- Copyright © 1999 Ross Anthony, currently based in Los Angeles, has scripted and shot documentaries, music videos, and shorts in 35 countries across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. For more reviews visit: http://RossAnthony.com

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews