Well Deserved Praise

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

First of all, I have a great appreciation for this film, even though I don't entirely understand it. It has a very unsatisfying ending, however.I can't explain everything, but I'll broach a few of the overall themes I do think I have a handle of ...Beth was abused and neglected; if you watch for it, there are clues to this throughout the movie. In the end, Ogden imagines Beth as the happy daughter of his parents ... he sees that things could have been different for her, that her world and circumstances brought out the worst in her. He tries to bring out the best of people and of himself.The film contrasts love and hate, different ways of looking at and interacting with the world and the people in it. I don't think the message is that we should be like Ogden of the present, or that we should not follow his example, either. I think it's just acknowledging a reality of the world ... that you can't help everyone, and that you will suffer for trying. Ogden knows this. He warns Roadcap, "Yank the thorn out of the critter's foot, doesn't mean he's not gonna eat you." Later, when freeing the parrot, you can see he's afraid of getting pecked by his bird beneficiary. Later yet, Ogden explains that a dog craps on a rug because it's a dog and can't help it, not because of any malice. Ogden understands the risks, the nature of people. He doesn't feel that everyone should take those risks, but he feels that he must "to make (him) feel better about (himself)".Ogden had more hate in his past and made mistakes. He took his anger out on someone who probably didn't deserve it. Rose may have been his savior. Ogden wants to help Beth in the same way that Rose helped him. Ogden sees some of himself in Beth. He acknowledges that he was once "the new kid" too, a point Beth seemed to use as an excuse for her meanness.Bonus: There seems to be an Easter egg in the scene with the Nazi flag hanging above the porch ... in the background there's someone dressed in a purple dinosaur suit. This might be a reference to Trevor Morgan's role in "Barney's Great Adventure".

Awesome movie! On the surface it stands up as an engaging film about good and bad. It has a deeper meaning for cerebral viewers that I will not spoil. The male lead is cast well as a strong, and altruistic man with a world view I will try to duplicate for the rest of my life. The female lead Elizabeth Rice is troubled & sabotages the relationship & her life in a s/m type manner. Her topless sex scene reveals a good long look at heavenly anatomical perfection. The movie on the surface offers two approaches to life & informs younger viewers how to manage life's obstacles. Again, this is symbolic of a deeper meaning which is not necessary to thoroughly enjoy the film. It is eclectic which I almost always appreciate, & I urge people to watch this movie for Ms. Rice's dramatic performance of her career & the relentless optimism of the male lead. Buttwhistle is every bit as good as the title is unique & creative. I rate it 7/10 stars and give it the rare rating of a film I will always remember & one that impacts my life from this day forward. Enjoy. I sure did! Knox D. Alford, III

I watched this movie twice. First watch left me cold. Second watch I felt I developed some insight to Ogden because everything important in this story revolves around him. So here's my take on Director Fairchild's movie.Ogden is living his daily life with a more positive attitude than he had when his best friend Rose was alive. Enter Beth, she is bitchy, rude, demanding, insulting, and domineering. Beth is a projection of Ogden's thoughts on how he treated Rose. (I say this because there is a scene in the story where Beth jumps on Ogden's back screaming "Let me go!") Beth is an element of Ogden's personality that he is examining thinking it had something to do with Rose's suicide. Thus when he saves Beth from falling to her death it is actually Ogden realizing he hasn't been so nice to Rose and he wants to consider the consequences of his bad attitude. Rose occasionally shows up giving Ogden advice and insight. Here he is remembering the best of Rose. As most of us do when someone loved dies.At the story's end Beth is released and is no longer a part of Ogden. Ogden then sees a girl that looks like his idea of Beth but she is just a stranger on the street. Ogden has grown emotionally - his life continues.

As a reviewer, I try to judge films by young filmmakers a bit differently than I'd judge a big-time Hollywood project. This is because I don't want to discourage these newbies and I am sure it's very, very hard work to make a movie. However, I am really stumped with Buttwhistle, as I cannot come up with much that I liked about the film— and I really wanted to like the film. With a title like this, I was hoping it would be strange. It was, but not in an enjoyable or funny way.The movie DID start off amazingly well—with an opening scene with a telemarketer that made me laugh. And, the opening credits were amazing— some of the best and most inventive I've ever seen. The credits are apparently done by someone or some business called 'Ring of Fire'—and I definitely want to see more of their work. But it was all downhill after that and had little to do with the movie that followed.Ogden is an eternal optimist when it comes to people. He seems to like everyone—even people who are not very likable. He's also incredibly kind. But, when he saves a young girl who appears to be ready to kill herself, he befriends Beth. This is understandable. But what isn't understandable is what follows. Beth is a thoroughly hateful and horrible person and anyone with a brain larger than a pigeon's would avoid her like the plague. Apparently Ogden has a brain smaller than a pigeon because he hangs around this awful person throughout the movie. Even when he discovers that she's destroying his things and hurting people, he inexplicably maintains his great mood and relationship with her. It continues like this and the film is very frustrating because there just doesn't seem to be any point to this…it's just vicious and practically plot-less.Apart from having a confusing and irrational theme, the film irritated me to no end because it was obvious that the screenwriter was writing inside jokes to make himself laugh*. In fact, the entire film seemed like a giant inside joke with no concern whatsoever for the audience's enjoyment. Additionally, I found the film raunchy and filled with a lot of material inappropriate for teens—yet this seems to be the intended audience for the film. Rarely have I been left this confused and unsatisfied by a film. Choppy edits and underdeveloped characters and a meandering plot didn't help.*Here are a few of the inside jokes: 1. A neighbor is named Angus Blancmange. This is taken from a Monty Python episode about an alien invasion. I knew this and the writer knew this…but who else would?! 2. Ogden also goes by two names he's made up—Buttwhistle and the sound made by blowing an air horn. When folks call him, they blow the horn. This gets old very, very quickly. 3. The head explosion. Neat but irrelevant—even though there were references on the news concerning this later in the film. 4. CONSTANT hipster talk. Please, enough already. No one REALLY talks that way…and if they do, I hate them—and most would as well. 5. Impossible to believe or like characters abound. Again, shouldn't there be an attempt to get the audience to like someone?!