[.ca] In The Soup

From Amazon.com:
This is a low-key gem that is at once about the power of dreams, the power of suggestion, and the tyranny of artistic vision (when there really isn't one to fight for). This disarming comedy by director Alexandre Rockwell was a hit at the Sundance Festival but barely registered commercially. Steve Buscemi stars as a hard-luck case: Adolpho, a wanna-be filmmaker with a phone-book-sized screenplay and no money. He lives in a hellish Lower East Side apartment and has a thing for his standoffish neighbor (Jennifer Beals). When he places a want ad to sell his script, he lands Joe (Seymour Cassell), a would-be investor who, it turns out, is really a con artist. Together, they go looking for money to make the movie. A dizzily funny and understated film in which Cassell gives the performance of his career. --Marshall Fine

Great wacky comedy:
With a stellar cast including indie film fave (sorry for the chintzy language!) Steve Buscemi, Seymour Cassell, Stanley Tucci, Will Patton, Carol Kane, and filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, Alexandre Rockwell's In the Soup takes the tried and true tale of a guy wanting to make a film and manages to make this story decidedly fresh and original. Seymour Cassell's Joe is a consummate con man who knows exactly how to squeeze, steal, and/or cajole money out of a whole plethora of situations. Joe the slickster with a sexy Asian girlfriend is a perfect match for Steve Buscemi's close-to-broke Adolfo the intellectual bumbler (who dreams of his neighbor Jennifer Beals' Latina Angela), whose 450 page film script--Unconditional Surrender--sends Joe into a rapture of delight at the prospect of financing a real film. Of course the way Joe raises the dough to make the film is not exactly, shall we say, kosher. The juxtaposition of naivete, dream, imagination, and petty crime, along with Will Patton's menacing hemophiliac brother and Stanley Tucci's French ex-husband should be seen to be believed. This is one film that truly deserves to be on DVD. As of this writing (August 2003), it ain't. A shame. A great picker-uppper, a lot of fun, and an all around hoot. Put In the Soup on your shelf. You won't be sorry.

Great Spirit!!:
I accidentally ran into this movie on Bravo. It greatly potrays the innocence and struggle of a young artist, Adolfo Rollo, who wanted to create something unique-in the realms of Goddard etc. In contrast we find Joe, an old man of experience with a no-nonsense attitude towards life. Joe jumps into Adolfo's movie project- pretending to be interested in producing it- to exploit the young man's desires and half baked plans to his own benefit. This is one of those rare jewels one finds by accident: the original and evocative music sound track by Madden, the original development of the drama, and the obsessions and misinterpretations of innocence add up to movie which is full of spirit and heart.

Best Soup Ever!:
I saw this movie when it came out in theatres when I was ten years old. Even at that age I really enjoyed it but not as much as I appreciate it now. I actually got to meet Seymour Cassel the second time I saw it. He was really great to take his time and talk to the crowd at the theatre. This was a really smart film. A movie about making a movie. I really hope this comes out on DVD. Some other great Seymour Cassel movies are Rushmore and the new release in theatres The Royal Tenenbaums.

Best Soup Ever!:
I saw this movie when it came out in theatres when I was ten years old. Even at that age I really enjoyed it but not as much as I appreciate it now. I actually got to meet Seymore Cassel the second time I saw it. He was really great to take his time and talk to the crowd at the theatre. This was a really smart film. A movie about making a movie. I really hope this comes out on DVD. Some other great Seymore Cassel movies are Rushmore and the new release in theatres The Royal Tenenbaums.

"Clove Oil? What are you, a salad?":
The title to this review is one of my favorite movie lines ever, EVER. This movie came out right before Steve Buscemi had a part in literally every movie that came out for 2 straight years. As cool as he is, I must admit I got a little over-Buscemi'd there for a while. This is one of my favorite roles he's done but the main reason I have always remebered this film is Seymour Cassel. His role as the fatherly, mysterious and awesomely spontaneous gansgter is pure freakin' genious. I've yet to see him in a role I didn't like but this has got to be one of his best. Another classic Seymour Cassel line: "20 minutes, what are they gonna do, read it in brail?" You'll just have to see it but trust me, if you even remotely enjoy films by Hal Hartley, Jim Jarmusch and the like, you will love this film.