Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Sean Penn as per usual delivers the goods - he truly has developed into one of the finest actors at work today - oh how I wish he'd do some stage work! I love the play this film is based on, so I know the material well. Anna Paquin and Gary Shandling are also fantastic - they completely nail Rab'es dialogue and complex emotional interiors. Where the film falls apart is in the casting of two crucial roles, Chaz Palminteri as Phil and Kevin Spacey as Mickey. Palminteri doesn't seem a natural with Rabe's dialogue, I am constantly aware that he's "acting"; the same can be said about Spacey, he brings the same schtick that he always drags out, the emotionally cold and creepy guy. Someone like Christopher Walken would have really been fantastic and believable in the part. There are some nice directorial touches of opening the play out and making it more cinematic, but not enough. This is a dialogue heavy piece, which I love, but too often for the medium we have to sit through scenes where we're told about events and not shown them - for instance the vibrator incident, this is mildly interesting hearing about it, but it could have been more revealing and hysterically funny showing us the incident!

This movie falls somewhere between mediocre and near-garbage. Great performances by Sean Penn and Kevin Spacey could not save the terrible writing; the bad writing and poorly conceived story are the biggest problems with this film, which is especially disappointing as it was adapted from a stage play, which is usually a good indication of a gripping dialogue/story/character-driven narrative, a la David Mamet, whose fantastic work this pretentious trash is unsuccessfully trying to imitate. The dialogue is overblown: it feels like it was written by a seventeen-year-old boy trying to "sound smart." It's also extremely repetitive; Sean Penn is given the undesirable task of having a perpetual coke-fueled emotional meltdown, and the problem with this is that it means nothing to the viewer if it's ALWAYS HAPPENING. There is also a groan-inducingly saccharine "tugging-at-your-heartstrings" moment that tries to show how really deep down these guys aren't such assholes, and this moments only further poisons what little sense of genuineness this movie has. This movie thinks it is hipper--and far more intelligent--than it actually is.

This is about 4 Hollywood friends having drugged up conversations about various topics.I watched the first 20 minutes of this film 18 months ago, and I could not bear it so I switched it off. I decided to give it another chance today. Fortunately, I think this film is not as bad as I thought. This film is full of witty dialogs. Sean Penn's character's jealousy is well portrayed. I also like Kevin Spacey's intellectual and cool image. It is an interesting film, but there are some dull moments. It reminds me of the other Kevin Spacey film "The Big Kahuna", which is also dialog heavy. I think "The Big Kahuna" is better though, as it has a central plot.

I didn't know anything about this movie but when I looked at list of cast I realized that I have to watch this movie.And I did.I found it weird but very good.There is lot of conversation between characters and not a single line isn't missed.Very good lines about life,death,love,friendship and sex.Everything is mixed up together and wrapped into very good drama.I don't think that this movie will be on top of everyone list because this isn't type of movie for everyone.But what all people has to agree is that characters are full of life and situations in this movie are normal and realistic.And what I have to say and applause is acting.Acting is brilliant and it comes from every actor in this movie.Sean Penn did great job,this is a perfect role for him and he is very convincing.Kevin Spacey was a bit lost but his talent is so big that he can act every role.Also a good job.I liked Chazz Palminteri,Robin Wright Penn and Anna Paquin but what I really enjoyed is Meg Ryan.She surprised me.She's only few minutes in this movie but she acted that part so good and I hope that we'll see more roles like this for her.Excellent conversation and brilliant acting are top qualities of this movie.