Review of A Slipping Down Life (1999) by Tyler M — 21 Dec 2007

Just let it slip on by.

Ah, I see you want to know why anyone would want to watch this. Well the answer is, I don't have a clue. I really don't have a clue.

The Story: A shy girl falls for and becomes obsessed with a local rock star in a small town... That's about all there is to it, it's her trying to get his attention and then the two of them trying make a life for themselves. It looks fairly generic, and moves slowly. It's supposed to be a comedy drama, but the comedic parts are few and far between, and the characters often times seem too absurd, but the absurd characters match the absurd storyline. Not that a shy girl can't fall for a rock star, it's just the way the story unfolds that makes it seem outlandish and ridiculous. It's just another case of the could've beens. It could have been so much more, but it's like all its ambitions came to a crashing halt before it even started.

The Cast: Lili Taylor, Guy Pearce... Lili Taylor is Evie Decker, you guessed it, she's the shy girl. As generic as the next one, she lives with her father alone and shares a modest life, as she's stuck in a dead end job, searching for love. Her performance is just bad, I know for a fact that she can act, so it's not that she's a bad actress, it's just that this is one bad performance. When I see a romance movie I want to fall in love the character, but in this case I just fell asleep. Guy Pearce is Drumstrings Casey... Yeah, Drumstrings Casey... I told you this film was absurd and ridiculous... But anyway, he's the generic rock star. Looking a lot like Val Kilmer in The Doors movie, just not acting as well or being as charismatic. Same goes for Pearce, I know for a fact that he's a good actor, I don't know what the problem is here, but he gives an off key performance. Two generics don't make a winning cast. Let's just blame it on bad writing.

One to Five Scale: 2.

Looks bland, sounds bland, feels bland...You know, I think this film is boring...Ha, you thought I was going to say bland. Looks like I got you...The point is this film is full of generic and ridiculous ideas.

Tyler.