It carefully sets up a powder keg of conflicting relationships and affairs but instead of building the natural tension, it opts for a series of gotcha's.
Goodbye Lover (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:33
Fresh:10
Rotten:23
Average Rating:4.6/10
Consensus: Half-baked plot twists disorient rather than build drama.
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis: Director Roland Joffé's neo-noir stars Patricia Arquette as Sandra Dunmore, a Los Angeles femme fatale who enjoys strolling around town singing tunes from THE SOUND OF MUSIC while coordinating real... Director Roland Joffé's neo-noir stars Patricia Arquette as Sandra Dunmore, a Los Angeles femme fatale who enjoys strolling around town singing tunes from THE SOUND OF MUSIC while coordinating real estate deals and listening to Tony Robbins inspirational tapes. She also takes pleasure in cheating on her husband, Jake (Dermot Mulroney), with his own brother, Ben (Don Johnson). Jake is a brilliant but drunk copywriter at an advertising agency where Ben is a clean-cut, high-powered executive. When a double indemnity insurance policy is taken out for Jake, Sandra begins to concoct a murderous and greedy plot. However, things get out of hand in this bizarre murder mystery, and soon Ben has left his lover for his mousy secretary (Mary-Louise Parker) while a pair of bumbling police officers is hot on Sandra's tail--wisecracking Rita Pompano (Ellen DeGeneres) and her naive, devout Mormon partner, Rollins (Ray McKinnon), are determined to get to the bottom of Sandra's devilish plans. The dry, cynical remarks of DeGeneres sparkle with rauchy wit and deadpan humor while Arquette shines in a kittenish performance that harkens back to the precocious divas of Hollywood's golden era. [More]
Starring: Patricia Arquette, Don Johnson, Dermot Mulroney, Ellen DeGeneres
Starring: Patricia Arquette, Don Johnson, Dermot Mulroney, Ellen DeGeneres, Vincent Gallo, Mary-Louise Parker, David Brisbin
Director: Roland Joffé
Director: Roland Joffé
Screenwriter: Joel Cohen, Ron Peer, Alec Sokolow
Producer: Arnon Milchan
Composer: John Ottman
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Reviews for Goodbye Lover
A deliciously unpredictable thriller with a dark, very offbeat sense of humor.
Goodbye Lover is not so much a story as some kind of a board game, with too many pieces and not enough rules.
If you like your murder tales full of plot twists and turns, and you don't get thrown off by the performances, then this one is as twisty as a snake.
Once the thud of its wooden dialogue has settled into a deadly mechanical clomp -- about 10 minutes into the film -- you wonder why this risible movie didn't go straight to video.
The film rocks with high-caliber performances especially by Ellen DeGeneres!
It's all directed with a eye to coarse, tongue in cheek caricature that's an uncomfortable fit with the material and undermines the lowbrow fun.
The shoddy, decidedly unglamorous photography makes everything look cheap and the principals' complexions veritable roadmaps of creases and wrinkles.
The movie becomes so convoluted in its wry-noir scheme and narrative twisteroos, it turns banal and wearisome.
A poorly-paced bland crime drama that has all the twists and turns of a 'Bewitched' episode.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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