Flesh and Bone (1993)

The Worst Film Ever

Don't Believe the Hype

Absolutely the worst movie.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

In the beginning Flesh and Bone plants this seedy, dark murder mystery as its plot-line, or as I like to say, its 'plot-plant', then moves forth to fester as a sweet and lowdown love story which's fine, but the bloodshed in the beginning was so disturbing and so violent, it set the wrong mood for the movie. The 'plot-plant', as I like to say, wasn't given enough sunlight in the first stages of its growth (the opening murder scene) and then the 'plot-plant', as I love saying, was a smidge too watered down for the rest of its life (the rest of the movie). It has a distorted prism. I love Meg Ryan. I love seeing Meg wearing her 'boo-boo' bra so much for the first part of this movie doing her Southern accent. She isn't given her proper light either amongst the mix of all-time great gorgeous movie babes, overshadowed by girls like saay Gwyneth Paltrow, but not here! Ryan shines in Flesh and Bone all the way through. Meg's as beautiful as any lady you can think of, and she's really not a sucky actress. I really love Meg. D. Quaid is outstanding. Meg Ryan's so cute. She doesn't get enough credit for how cute she is. BULLCRAP! Or blue, green, pink, and white chicken crap I should say. Meg is so pretty, okay. She makes this movie for me. This is really good just uneven a bit. D. Quaid is stellar. Meg's super sexy in Flesh and Bone, the whooole time. We see Meg's tits in bed with Dennis, kissing and making love. Thanks Meg. You make me want to watch In The Cut now. Gwyneth lets her tits out too, which makes two all-time, top of the A-list A-lister supercuties, Meg and Gwyneth, topless in the same film, thank you Flesh and Bone and 1993 and our sweet maker. I love it and I love Gwyneth and Meg. J. Caan is great. Flesh and Bone's really soggy. I don't even know what that means but F&B is Gwynny's first big starring role!

"We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell." – Oscar Wilde One of the better "forgotten films" of the 1990s, "Flesh and Bone" was written and directed by Steve Kloves. Due to the film's box-office failure, Kloves abandoned film directing as a career.The plot? Dennis Quaid plays Arlis, a vending machine repairman who strikes up a relationship with Kay (Meg Ryan), a perky but wounded girl. Kay falls in love with Arlis, but because his murderous father slaughtered her family many years ago, Arlis terminates their relationship. He believes himself to be carrying the very same "evil" that flows through his father's veins. Better to remain alone, Arlis thinks. Stick to fixing vending machines, lay low, and don't give evil a chance to work through you. That's his code.Unfortunately Daddy, played by James Caan, comes to town, forcing Arlis to make a choice: embrace evil to vanquish evil, or step aside and let evil prevail.Arlis' pacifism, his repression, his fear of becoming his violent father, is typical of the genre (think Will Munny in "Unforgiven" or Michael Shannon in "Shotgun Stories"). What Kloves does, though, is mirror Arlis' anxieties about his own violent potential to the free-spirited personality of Kay, a woman who slowly draws Arlis out of his shell. Symbolically, she wills Arlis' father out of the past, forcing the son to confront a history which he's spent his life repressing.If the film's demarcations (good, evil, light, dark, father, son) seem simplistic, it's because the film is tapping into a rich culture of Texan noirs, Southern Gothic literature and Westerns, all of which tend to rely on fairly simple archetypes. But this is the film's strength. It's a gloomy fairy tale, with actor James Caan as the manipulative, terrifying, big bad wolf, and Randy and Meg as two hapless kids lost in the enchanted forest.Kloves starts his tale quietly – literally a silent home invasion – and then slowly builds the tension. His shots are straight out of the noir and Wild West textbook, actors striking John Wayne poses, often framed by doorways or dwarfed by empty, Texan vistas. The film's prose is itself wonderfully moody, Kloves' actors perpetually scowling, brooding or delivering menacing dialogue. Aesthetically, the picture recalls the unnerving highways, flatlands and motels of Terrance Malick, Wim Wenders or Cormac McCarthy. Here, the "sins of fathers" always threaten to infect subsequent generations, such that the present is always unsettling, and the future always ripe for derailment.8/10 – See "Shotgun Stories".

This is not a film where everything appears obvious. It is dark and complicated. It is about how the past haunts you and affects your life in the present. It is the stuff that Freud would have fun dealing with.The stars in this film give performances that are among the best in their careers.Dennis Quaid (Frequency, Far From Heaven) is clearly the lead in this picture as the son of a soulless murderer and thief (James Caan). He carries the devil with him through his life and it affects his relationships with women. He runs into an abused housewife (Meg Ryan, in a non-romantic role), and they travel the back-roads of Texas together. Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakesphere in Love) is a thief that plays Caan's companion, even if he is old enough to be her grandfather.This is written and directed by the Oscar nominated (Wonder Boys) writer of all of the Harry Potter movies, Steve Kloves. He does a fabulous job.Definitely a movie to watch when you get a chance.

probably one of the best vehicles for Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. Palthrow and Caan were interesting also.I think Quaid is somehow irritating to watch as an actor. he is not handsome and I suppose appeals to a certain audience but not to me. Ryan was good- and this shows her girl next door sex appeal.Palthrow was very sexy in her bad girl role.Quaid always appears to me as a guy who had bad breath and stinky farts in school. I met him once when he was filming DOA in San Marcos. He is from Houston.His brother is ugly and knows it- Dennis maybe doesn't know it yet?