Wonderful Movie

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Robert Eroica Dupea (Jack Nicholson) is an oil rig worker who has a carefree attitude to life, his friends, his job and perhaps more importantly his girlfriend Rayette Dipesto (Karen Black). When Robert learns that his father is ill, he decides to head over and see him and at the same time he takes the opportunity to re-evaluate his life and the meaning of it...I watched this film last year, but was half asleep when I watched it and didn't really pay full attention to it. I gave it a shot again tonight in the hope that fatigue the first time around may have caused me to miss something, but nope I was right the first time. Five Easy Pieces sucks big time!!!!I'm at a loss as to where to begin with the many failings of this film; is it the giant tonal clashes from the first half of the film to the second half of the film??? The first half of the film was... well god knows what?? It was filled with some of the wackiest and most randomly nonsensical acts one could imagine - wackiness and nonsense I can handle if they serve any purpose which they don't really in this film. Then in the second half when Robert visits his dad it becomes more of a sombre mood piece and admittedly this is where the film improves marginally.When watching this film I couldn't help but be reminded slightly of the Michael Caine film called Alfie. In both films, we have a carefree and selfish bed-hopping individual whom only cares for number one. The major difference between the two films is that 'Alfie' was well-written, and the character of Alfie was fleshed out and well-developed and despite his wrongdoing it was possible to gain an understanding of his mind-set which was what really won me over with that film. In Five Easy Pieces you get none of that; Robert is an arrogant and selfish prick who despises his family and friends and goes off on psychotic rampages, but why? What causes him to behave like this? Nothing is ever explained. As a result of this, you get an unhinged crazy-assed Jack Nicholson (he puts on a good show I'll give him that), but to me it was a lot of wasted effort as I was never able to make any kind of connection with his character. The only other part of the film that resonated slightly with me lay with Robert's unrequited love with Cathy; this again mirrors what happened in Alfie and in Five Easy Pieces it's the only time that I felt that I was actually seeing the real Robert.I also felt some sympathy for Rayette - the poor girl seemed to have an IQ that was in single figures and was besotted with Robert and was completely blind to the fact that he didn't reciprocate this feeling. Alright she annoyed the hell out of me at times, but I did feel sorry for that girl.I like a good character study when it's done right, but for me this was nothing more than a boring uninvolving mess. If you want to see this sort of thing done right then watch the original Alfie with Michael Caine (for the record I haven't seen the remake with Jude Law, but I'd wager money on it being worse).

The film Five Easy Pieces was a classic film that I thought was pretty enjoyable to watch. I thought the main character in this film was portrayed by a great actor and he really made the film great. While watching this film you can tell that it is a an new Hollywood film. Throughout this film there is the use of vulgarity that would not have been allowed when the Hays code was still a regulation. I thought that the parts of this film that made it new Hollywood were a good part of this film. Another thing I wanted to comment on about this film was the cinematography. I noticed during the whole film that the cinematography was great. I would say that the cinematography in this film is one of the things that made this film come together so great. Overall this was a movie that I enjoyed a lot.

'Five Easy Pieces' is a tough one to review. It all comes down to excellent acting with material that is a little muddled. Nicholson is obviously very good in it as is Karen Black but I just felt the writing wasn't all that strong in how it developed it's characters. We get that Nicholson's character is trying to abandon his privilege because of tremendous guilt and yet his motivations are just too vague and inaccessible to the audience. Nicholson has a beautiful scene with his father who has suffered a stroke but otherwise the character is just too unlikeable especially given how much he abuses his girlfriend Rayette. In films with these subversive rebels we need a strong sense of what they are rebelling against. His home life just doesn't seem to be enough. It has two great performances but it was by and large kind of disappointing.

An effective, emotionally ravaging story concerning a drifter who runs away from his problems and picks up every odd job he can find. Nicholson has that magnetic quality that few actors possess so well, and his strong, utterly superb performance drives this film all the way through. Although it does bog down from time to time, director Bob Rafelson displays his mastery of the art of subtlety, using this for most of the film, before nailing his most important scenes with sudden outbursts from his characters that catch you off guard. Nicholson's character is definitely flawed, and he's a time-bomb ready to explode at any moment, but his mysterious character always keeps you glued to your seat, and the end of the film is just perfect beyond words.