You want the underbelly of society? Well, "Hurlyburly" is the underbelly of the underbelly. You can’t get much lower than these pathetic people. In fact, one character is told he’s better than his friend because, "Even when you’ve sunk as low as you can go and you’re crawling around on your hands and knees, there he’ll be—looking up at you from where he’s crawling on his belly in the gutter."
Welcome to the Hollywood of "Hurlyburly," a grim, two-hour excursion into Tinseltown where cocaine is inhaled like oxygen and a runaway teenage girl is offered to hormone-driven men as a sexual "care package." There is nothing pretty about this Hollywood. In fact, the only time we’re really reminded that we’re in the land of the Dream Factory comes during a funeral when we see the Paramount Studios water tower and the famous Hollywood sign in the background. Nonetheless, the shallow, drug-stimulated world of the fame-seekers and the young crash-and-burners soaks through every frame of this picture. Imagine an even nastier "Sunset Boulevard" and you’ll be on the right track.
"Hurlyburly" was first produced on stage, where it starred William Hurt, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken and Sigourney Weaver. Here, we get an equally impressive line-up: Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri and Robin Wright Penn are all excellent, and it’s their talent alone which salvages "Hurlyburly." I was especially impressed with Palminteri who does his best work here as a violent, tragic Hollywood wannabe. His portrayal of Phil is both frightening and pathetic. The Penns also add another pair of gutsy portrayals to their growing resume (for an even better movie where they took on similar roles, check out "She’s So Lovely").
As much as I liked the method acting in "Hurlyburly," I couldn’t bear to watch this sad parade of crass, misogynistic characters. Playwright David Rabe, here adapting his work to the screen, looks at the world through a pessimistic squint. This is life in the gutter, get used to it, he seems to say.
Part of problem with the movie is that it is too full of words. Because Rabe’s dialogue is so intense and condensed, "Hurlyburly" is better suited to the more intimate theater setting—in fact, maybe that’s even too expansive. Perhaps "Hurlyburly" would work best as a novel, where the endless stream of words would feel more at home.
Apart from the way characters careen into each other, there’s very little movement in this movie. Instead, it depends on dialogue to carry it through. Rest assured, there’s words a-plenty in these two hours—or, as Sean Penn’s character likes to say, lots of "blah, blah, blah." Rabe’s characters rarely shut-up. Here’s one typical snippet of banter from "Hurlyburly:"
Mickey: I know you think you know what you're saying, but you're not saying it.
Eddie: No, I know what I'm saying. I don't know what I mean, but I know what I'm saying. Is that what you mean?
Mickey: Yeah.
Eddie: Right. But it's not like anybody knows what anything means, right? It's not like anybody knows that. So at least I know I don't know what I mean, which is better than most people. They probably think they know what they mean, not just what they think they mean.
Phew!
By the way, if you look up the word hurlyburly in the dictionary, here’s what you’ll find: "turmoil, uproar, confusion." Exactly.
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