Review of Spun (2000) by Joel J — 19 Nov 2008

I really have mixed emotions about this work. On one hand, I think Jonas Akerland did a remarkable job of bringing the underbelly of the crystal meth culture to life. With great casting, dialogue, and cinematography; [b][i]Spun [/i][/b]is one hell of a journey into the creepy-crawly lifestyle of full on speed addiction. I was also amazed at the cast he was able to put together for this project. Brittany Murphy (8 Mile), John Leguizamo (Carlito's Way, Summer of Sam), and Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore) all put in more than adequate performances. In fact, they are all actually quite good. I will say that the movies only "great" performance comes from Mickey F**kin' Rourke though. Here is another one of Jody's rules of thumb that must be capitalized: MICKEY ROURKE WILL ALWAYS STEAL THE SHOW!! This is an undeniable fact on the face of existence...never doubt it. I truly think that my melancholy feelings about the film are just due to bad writing. Though I guess there are ambiguous directions the movie tries to go in at times, it really doesn't have a plot to speak of...not that I really picked up on. There also are random moments of heartfelt emotion between characters that either aren't relevant or are never addressed again throughout the movie. All in all, I just feel this is a well made film with a sh!tty script.

-6.