Storytelling (2001)
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 89
Fresh: 47 | Rotten: 42
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 29
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 14
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 8,738
Movie Info
From the controversial director of Happiness comes another dark look at New Jersey, this time broken into two separate stories. The first is a 26-minute segment entitled "Fiction," which highlights the life of Marcus (Leo Fitzpatrick), an aspiring writer who was born with deformities due to cerebral palsy. He unsuccessfully tries to read a new short story to his girlfriend Vi (Selma Blair), and leaves her after the story is similarly dismissed by his fellow students and teacher, Mr. Scott
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Cast
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Selma Blair
Vi -
Leo Fitzpatrick
Marcus -
Aleksa Palladino
Catherine -
Robert Wisdom
Mr. Gary Scott -
Noah Fleiss
Brady Livingston -
Paul Giamatti
Toby Oxman -
John Goodman
Marty Livingston -
Julie Hagerty
Fern Livingston -
Lupe Ontiveros
Consuelo -
Franka Potente
Editor -
Mike Schank
Mike -
Mark Webber
Scooby Livingston -
Mary Lynn Rajskub
Melinda -
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Storytelling Trailer & Photos
All Critics (110) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (42) | DVD (20)
Despite [Solondz's] undeniable talent, however manipulative, his stories are too sour and mean-spirited for my taste.
Top CriticEach story on its own could have been expanded and worked into a compelling single feature, but in its current incarnation, Storytelling never quite gets over its rather lopsided conception.
That Storytelling has value cannot be denied. Not even Solondz's thirst for controversy, sketchy characters and immature provocations can fully succeed at cheapening it.
In his latest effort, Storytelling, Solondz has finally made a movie that isn't just offensive -- it also happens to be good.
Solondz is without doubt an artist of uncompromising vision, but that vision is beginning to feel, if not morally bankrupt, at least terribly monotonous.
While Solondz tries and tries hard, Storytelling fails to provide much more insight than the inside column of a torn book jacket.
Todd Solondz is a white Spike Lee.
Solondz has finally brought his critics into the frame, if only in an attempt to subject them to the same torture as everyone else.
The film is marked by the same darkly humorous sensibility of rest of Solondz's work, excpet that the novelty is gone and the acerbic vision is now contained in a fractured text marred by poor storytelling and shifting tone--it's not easy to shock anymore
In a scabrous follow-up to Happiness, Todd Solondz once again crafts a movie easier to admire than it is to like.
It's never less than interesting, that's for sure, but I didn't like it.
...a sensational self-expose, in which the director presents us with any number of characters that ... reflect and represent various aspects of Todd Solondz
Storytelling is a witty, dark, and strangely satisfying experiment. It's a little bit sad, a little bit sick, and a whole lot honest.
challenging and uncompromised, and Solondz makes his point and punches it home
This one plays as two separate pieces that may have been better if presented as stand-alone films in different formats.
The movie does such an excellent job of critiquing itself at every faltering half-step of its development that criticizing feels more like commiserating.
Solondz is so intent on hammering home his message that he forgets to make it entertaining.
Whether you consider him glib or perverse or really onto something, his m.o. makes for provocative movie storytelling.
It's meant to be bold and shocking...
This painfully arch and incredibly self-absorbed film -- which might best be described as a dark comedy -- displays nearly all of Solondz's worst and laziest filmmaking tendencies in one compact package.
Still pretentious and filled with subtext, but entertaining enough at 'face value' to recommend to anyone looking for something different.
Solondz is a courageous social commentator and a canny provocateur at the same time. He'll never get to Hollywood if he stays on this track, but cinema will be a lot duller if he ever mends his incendiary ways.
I am more offended by his lack of faith in his audience than by anything on display here.
Audience Reviews for Storytelling
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Mr. Gary Scott: I don't know about what happened, because once you start writing, it all becomes fiction.
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Movie: ID: 17279 Title: Storytelling Release Date: 2002-02-08 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Cosas que no se olvidan (ES)
In every sense this is a Todd Solondz film: the long shots and silences, the out-of-place characters, and the cringe comedy. But of all the Solondz films I've seen, I think this is my favorite. The characters are more finely drawn, and even though the themes are opaque, like most of his work, there seems to be more cohesiveness to this effort. I also really enjoyed the performances in the first segment, especially by Selma Blair and Leo Fitzpatrick.
The film's main flaw is the opacity of the themes. Why do these two stories belong together? Is Solondz trying to say something about how thin the line is between fact and fiction? I'm not sure.
Overall, I liked this film even though there are significant aspects that remain unclear.