Full Frontal (2002)
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Theatrical Release: Aug 2, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $2,434,705
Synopsis: Director Steven Soderbergh follows up his highly impressive string of big budget smashes (ERIN BROCKOVICH, TRAFFIC, OCEAN'S ELEVEN) with this self-proclaimed "companion piece" to 1989's hugely influential SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE. Written by New York-based playwright Coleman Hough,... Director Steven Soderbergh follows up his highly impressive string of big budget smashes (ERIN BROCKOVICH, TRAFFIC, OCEAN'S ELEVEN) with this self-proclaimed "companion piece" to 1989's hugely influential SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE. Written by New York-based playwright Coleman Hough, FULL FRONTAL concerns a day in the life of a series of confused, depressed, and neurotic Los Angeles residents. Ed (Enrico Colantoni) is a writer with a script currently in production and a play that is about to open. Ivan's writing partner Carl (David Hyde Pierce) is married to Lee (Catherine Keener), an unhappy Human Resources VP. Lee is having an affair with superstar actor Calvin (Blair Underwood), who is costarring with Francesca (Julia Roberts) in Carl and Ed's film. Lee's sister Linda (Mary McCormack) is a masseuse who is looking forward to an upcoming weekend rendezvous with a stranger she met on the Internet. That man just so happens to be Ed. Using this dizzying framework to explore the dysfunctional characters who inhabit the entertainment industry, FULL FRONTAL also works as a bold technical experiment. Incorporating muddy digital video (to capture "real life") mixed with 35mm film (to capture "the movie within the movie"), Soderbergh shows that even with an Oscar on the shelf, he's still an indie-minded director at heart. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Julia Roberts, Blair Underwood, Catherine Keener, David Duchovny, David Hyde Pierce
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Reviews
It's a doodle movie, a sketchbook. I was held by the tinkering quality of it, though.
Soderbergh's movie likely will appeal more to filmmakers than filmgoers.
As noble as such an experiment might seem, the result, turns out to be a self-indulgent mess of in-jokes and failed satire.
a dizzyingly convoluted exploration of sex, art, identity and reality
The meta-elements never hamper the central appeal of the film, which are the rich and flawed characters who are simply searching for a connection with another human being.
...Soderbergh has essentially gone full circle and made his artiest flick yet. Trouble is, it's just not terribly interesting.
I sort of enjoyed it, but the movie plays amateurish and doesn't tell us anything new.
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