Ehirerapp Waste of time

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

thumbworn Possible minimal spoilers.I attempted to watch this based on the 7.5 score it received here on IMDb. I can only guess that the majority of the high ratings are from friends and family of the cast and crew, because this film was so bad I didn't make it through thirty minutes before I shut it off. The direction is terrible; I felt like I was watching the film project of a film student who decided on a whim to become a filmmaker and then failed the class, deservedly. The odd overlays and cuts reek of amateur filmmaking. I didn't like anything about the film from the moment it started, aside from the odd clothing choice of Christina Ricci's character, who was in a dance class wearing what doesn't seem to me like clothing someone would be wearing in dance class, especially someone as busty as Christina. The film should've been over as soon as it started, because she had multiple chances when they first got into the car to just lock Gallo's character out and drive off. The car was already running and he got out of the car twice (I believe, maybe 3 times)before her in the parking lot. It's not like he even had a gun or gave her reason to believe he did. She simply could've locked the door, slid over and drove away. The worst he could've done was punch the car's glass. Then he gets out and goes across the street to void his bladder and she just sits and waits. I could understand if her character was mentally challenged, but what person of average intelligence wouldn't have driven off? Personally, I'd have run him down first. A ten year old child would have the sense to lock the doors and drive away, yet somehow Ricci's character didn't. There wasn't even anything likable about the characters. Gallow's character is so unlikable and unintelligent that I struggled to wait as long as I did to shut the film off. His parents have the personalities of stones. I realize that this is a black comedy, but the few areas I detected as being intended as funny simply were not. What little dialogue there is in the portion I sat through is terrible. I'm angry that I wasted a rental on this. This is only my opinion.

jimbo-53-186511 I'm totally shocked that at the time of writing this review that this film has an average IMDb user rating of 7.3. Huh?? I really can't understand what the majority of people see in this film. Basically, Billy Brown (Gallo) is released from jail for a crime he didn't commit and is intent on getting revenge on the person responsible for putting him in jail. Before he sets out on getting his vengeance, he kidnaps Layla (Ricci) after telling his parents that she is his wife - this is something that he had been lying to them about whilst he was inside. He persuades Layla to go along with his lie and tell them how brilliant he is and how much she loves him etc. After this unnecessary filler, we get a little plot development as Billy makes a call to his prison friend called Goon to try and track down the whereabouts of the person he holds responsible for him being sent to prison. The rest of the film is basically Billy trying to track down the person he holds responsible for him being sent to prison.The main problems with Buffalo 66 (and believe me there are many) is that there are too many things that didn't make any sense or that weren't believable, Like what was the purpose of taking Layla back to his parents house? They didn't stay there, they didn't go there for money. Billy seemed to want them to think he had a wife for some reason. Also Layla had many opportunities to escape from Billy, but chose not to - this is a man that threatened her and was generally nasty to her, but yet she didn't want to leave him. Perhaps this is because she was a bit naive and perhaps she felt she could change him etc, but to me it all seemed a bit phony.The main plot itself was also quite absurd. In a nutshell, Billy bet $10,000 on the Buffalos winning a Superbowl game, but the game is lost due to a missed kick by Scott Woods. Therefore Billy loses the bet, but doesn't have the $10,000 dollars to pay the bookie. So the bookie (played with icy coolness by Mickey Rourke in the 5 minutes or so that he was on screen) tells Billy that the only way he can settle his debt is to testify to a crime that he didn't commit and let the guilty party go free - which he does and gets sentenced to 5 years. He then seeks revenge on Woods for missing the kick and making him lose the bet and for losing 5 years of his life in jail - he also believes that Woods was paid to throw the game. OK - a couple of things; 1) Billy shouldn't have bet $10,000 dollars if he didn't have the money to lose. 2) Why would he only target Woods when Rourke's character was ultimately responsible for sending him to jail? The above reasons make the whole revenge element seem rather flawed.Aside from script issues, the film was also boring and just seemed to drag on and there were many instances where there was just dialogue (most of which was uninteresting) with little to no plot development. The film also lacked any kind of suspense or tension. Also what was the need in Gallo repeating nearly every sentence twice? I realise that this can make characters seem menacing (which it does to an extent), but not in every single sentence - that to me was just overkill.The only positives I can really draw from Buffalo 66 was Gallo's performance (apart from when he was saying his sentences twice). He has a naturally menacing look about him and that helped in making him come across as 'convincing' in his role. Ricci was also good as his 'naive' pretend wife - she was really good at portraying a 'naive' innocent woman who wanted to do all she could to try and appease Billy. The direction and camera work were also pretty good (particularly towards the start of the film).I may have slightly forgiven the dodgy script and mind numbingly boring majority of the film if it would have at least had a good ending, but Gallo doesn't even manage to get that right. I understand the point that Gallo was trying to make about 'choices' but to me Billy's U-turn came out of nowhere and seemingly without any reason - considering how obnoxious he was throughout the entirety of the film.This was an astoundingly bad film which was only saved slightly by the 2 lead performances and fairly good direction, but I still wouldn't waste your time watching it.

tieman64 "Buffalo 66" was the feature length directorial debut of writer-director Vincent Gallo. The film stars Gallo himself as Billy Brown, a young man who has recently been released from prison. In an effort to impress his parents, Brown kidnaps a young woman, played by Christina Ricci, and forces her to pose as his wife.In real life, Gallo has a reputation for being an arrogant, irritating narcissist. Many believe this persona to be a sham, Gallo turning his life into a kind of performance art piece. Whether this is true or not, I don't know. The point, though, is that for much of "Buffalo 66's" running time, Billy is portrayed as a supremely unlikeable jerk. Gradually, though, Gallo begins to reveal where Billy's more abrasive qualities stem from. The film then ends with Billy turning his back on hate, anger, jealousy and blame. Elsewhere it contains brief sequences in which characters dance, sing or watch television, little vignettes which speak to lives of regret. Be they Billy, Billy's parents, or an ageing sportsman called Scott Wood, everyone in the film seems weighed down by past disappointments. Using flashback sequences which frame the past within television boxes (and later, photographs), the film perhaps implicates the Hollywood dream factory itself in setting up and shattering illusions."Buffalo 66" builds to a very touching final act. But it also contains a number of overly quirky moments which clash awkwardly with the film's more realist tone. These include a "bullet time" sequence which pre-date similar sequences in 1999's "The Matrix". The film co-stars Mickey Rourke and Rossana Arquette.8/10 – Worth one viewing.

Andy Steel Clearly made on a budget, there is no fancy CGI, no big car chases and no big fight scenes. It's a piece that relies very much on performance to keep it together and on that front I can't fault it. Both Vincent Gallo and Christina Ricci did a fine job, as did Ben Gazzara and Anjelica Houston. I guess it's one of those films that's more about the inner workings of the mind; you find yourself asking what is the motivation behind Billy's actions and what exactly does Layla see in him? I have to admit at first I really didn't like the character of Billy, but he grew on me as I came to understand him more. It's a film that took some time to get going but I found it a worthy watch eventually.SteelMonster's verdict: RECOMMENDEDMy score: 6.6/10You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.