Gun Shy (2000)

Simply A Masterpiece

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I watched this film purely because I'm a Liam Neeson fan and couldn't resist the opportunity to perv on him in a lead role for an hour and a half. I completely expected the film itself to be total dross, the kind of unmemorable, bland "comedy" I associate (fairly or otherwise) with Sandra Bullock.Actually I have to say that Bullock felt a bit wedged in; they needed a love interest for Neeson's character, but she didn't need to be a big name - in fact, I think it might have been better if they'd taken on a relative unknown, as it would have saved this actually-quite-good comedy from being billed as a "Sandra Bullock Romantic Comedy", thereby alienating a large proportion of the people who might otherwise have wanted to watch it.Bullock's character is very bland and does not seem to have required her to wake up at any point during filming - the kind of character film-makers would probably describe as "kooky", but which the rest of us find moderately endearing to start with, edging towards slightly irritating by the end of the film. The only matter of real interest in Bullock's role lay in trying to work out what precisely was supposed to be so "special" about her - her unusual way of meeting Neeson's character could only carry her so far.Neeson, meanwhile, was far more entertaining. I am biased, but I've seen Neeson play some godawful parts (Clash of the Titans springs to mind) and this was a decent effort. A former golden-boy DEA agent who seeks psychiatric help and gets into group therapy because he's suffering from PTSD and "acute intermittent flatulence" had the potential to get pretty gimmicky, but he balances it well and saves Charles from becoming a mere caricature. I actually think Neeson doesn't get enough credit as a comic actor, and he and Oliver Platt (who comes as a bit of a surprise if the last thing you saw him in was "Beethoven") bounce very well off each other.There's a few cheap laughs that feel a bit tacked on, like Columbian badass Fidel turning out to be in a relationship with his lisping, one- balled bodyguard, but fortunately the makers have had the sense not to labour these points and they remain just surprising and mildly amusing minor elements against the backdrop of a good cast and a decent comic premise.Worth seeing, just try to ignore Sandra Bullock as she's nowhere near as central as you'd expect and feels a bit unnecessary. The only comparison that springs to mind in terms of misguided marketing is Blow Dry - an excellent film with a fantastic cast that they tried to market off the back of its two weakest actors and the worst attempt at a Yorkshire accent in history.

'Gunshy' tries to mingle too many things into one and fails. There's the whole 'psychology' aspect, the friends-with-the-gangster theme, the thriller aspect and so on and all try to be part of one story. Blakeney's fails to give it the energy and slickness that it needed. The story drags too much. The romantic track between Judy and Charles is poorly developed. Liam Neeson demonstrates a flair for comedy but it is Oliver Platt and Mary McCormack who steal the show. Their scenes together are some of the best moments of the film. I was also amused by the sequences that involved Charles and his group therapy buddies and the final sequences with the two gay Colombians. Sandra Bullock does not get much scope (ironically, she produced the film). In addition, I loved the soundtrack which is an impressive eclectic mixture.

My wife and I had never heard of this one. We happened to see the summary on the TV "satellite summary screen" and were intrigued. With the cast list containing both Liam Neeson and Sandra Bullock we though we could give it a try.We nearly turned this one off after the first 30 minutes. We commented that it was no wonder we'd never heard of it before. I was personally worried this would be another Bullock movie like Hangmen, a TRULY horrific flick, but that's another story.At the beginning the plot was all over the place. But the acting was good and soon after this we both started liking the characters. By the end we were both happy we stuck it out. The movie isn't about the guns and violence. Very nice for a change.This movie could help folks get a little perspective on their lives.

GUN SHY is a peculiar movie, one that purports to have a significant storyline but one that splinters ideas all over the place, leaving the viewer wondering what all the fuss is about.'Charlie' Mayeaux (Liam Neeson) is a bummed out DEA agent fresh from a bungled case yet given an important assignment to break a Columbian drug cartel represented by Fidel (José Zúñiga) and his boyfriend Estuvio (Michael DeLorenzo). Also caught up in this mélange is the Mafia represented, however reluctantly, by Fulvio Nestra (Oliver Platt), a nerdy but vicious bungler whose temper is uncontrollable, partly due to his insipid belittling wife Gloria (Mary McCormack) whose father demands Fulvio's crime life importance. Charlie is a mess, meets a psychologist who introduces him to group therapy (where Charlie idiotically relates all the DEA secrets openly) and to gastroenterology where nurse Judy (Sandra Bullock) administers a barium enema then other more herbal-sided treatments while she and Charlie become bonded. People are maimed (gunshot castration), killed, made to look foolish, all to the end of supposedly belly laughs on the part of the audience.True, Neeson shows a flair for comedy and Platt manages to convey a breakthrough role for him, but the rest is a jumbled mess. Made in 2000 with the Twin Towers of New York frequently visible during talk against Arabs and the Middle East, it is easy to see why the timing of this 'yet another Mafia vs law' film contributed to its short theater run (how many have even heard of it?). But in the final analysis it probably failed on its own merits - sad for a film filled to the brim with very fine actors. Grady Harp