Review of Steal This Movie (2000) by Jared C — 22 Jun 2005

[color=white][b][u][size=4][font=Book Antiqua][font=Verdana]Steal This[/font] [/font][font=Verdana]Movie [size=2](2000)[/size][/font][/size][/u] [/b].

[b][i]Steal This Movie[/i] is the biopic of Abbie Hoffman. Yes it's homogenized for the public's consumption, but it is quite an enjoyable film using it's low budget to the max. It is nowhere near as bad as the critics made it out to be. I said to my wife "I wonder why this film didn't get a better response"...and then I remembered when and where I live! With it's title a word play on the title of Hoffman's book [i]Steal This Book[/i], the drama shows what you would expect of this government-hassled, protesting-hippie-freak, Amerikan-Constitution-loving, trouble-making, Pentagon-levitating, street-theater-guerrilla, patriot.

The cast Vincent D'Onofrio (Abbie), Janeane Garofalo (his wife Anita Hoffman) and Jeanne Tripplehorn (his lover Johanna Lawrenson) were all excellent in their roles. This flick is certainly worth a watch on a rainy night and despite all of it's melodramatisation of Abbie's life, one might actually learn a thing or two about Hoffman's deeds and times, particularly those who weren't there during the fairly realistically shown events. (the film often used stock footage intercut with the drama). I did feel not enough screen time was lent to Abbie's relationship with sometime sidekick Jerry Rubin. l find most bio-pics tend to make little of a famous person's almost god-like stature, in Abbie's and this film's case, it works in the audience's favor.

Hoffman was a member of the famous Chicago 7 and at some point went underground. Abbie ended up as a fugitive and using the name Barry Freed became a conservationist for the St. Lawrence Waterways in a committee the size of most local sewing circles and Hoffman's commitment to this growing cause is well covered towards the end of [i]Steal This Movie[/i]. The film shows that Abbie was always in [i]it[/i] for justice for all, and he used his hilarious might for right in almost all situations. His life ended rather tragically; a used media-rag from an earlier hopeful and experimental generation, a tired Hoffman in his 50's was the first person to admit and tell college age kids, it is [i]their [/i]time and [i]their[/i] energy that can change the world now.

I've heard that Abbie was found, a suicide, with a copy of The Declaration of Independence on his chest, lying too still for this often misunderstood and crafty activist/revolutionary. This film tells us Hoffman was a man who helped blacks in southern America escape a type of apartheid, helped stop an unpopular war, helped woman gain more respect and status, helped inform an ecologically challenged nation understand it's weeknesses, and tried his damnedest to make us smile while he and many others tried to inspire and create a better democracy for all. This bio-flick is worth the watch, especially for those who weren't there, and would like some small amount of information about this, sadly, almost forgotten American man.[/b][/color].