Advice From a Caterpillar (1999)
When it comes to romance, Missy's attitude has always been whatever. After all, her artistic career is flourishing...her spacious New York City loft is fabulous...and her relationship with a married man is totally uncomplicated-what more could a modern girl want? But then Missy meets Brat, who's sweet, genuine and shares her fondness for 70's sitcoms. Unfortunately, he's also dating her pal Spaz. When Missy and Brat unexpectedly fall for each other, will she lose her identity...and her best friend? No matter how far you run, true love always finds you.
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Wonderful Movie
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Successful New York artist encounters a bunch of weird guys (do artists know anybody else) and wants to maintain her independence by having sex without falling in love. Sound familiar? You bet, it is just about every episode of "Sex and the City", without the female support group, the guys pick up the ball.Although rather mundane, the character interactions manage to bring a smile to my face, like an episode of "Friends".Definitely worth a rental, if you want a "Chick Flick" without a whole hell of a lot of chicks to muck it up.
As soon as Cynthia Nixon's character spies the naked Brat (Timothy Oliphant) sleeping in her gay friend's bed and her eyes betray her interest, we know that they will be together by the end of the film. That's the way movie cliches work. Missy (Nixon) a pop-fad artist, who has an amazing success showing home movies of her childhood with narration, is having an affair with a married man whose character is given in the credits as "Suit" (Jon Tenny). If there is humour in this film, I missed it. Obviously the final confrontation scene in the diner with a commenting chorus of patrons is meant to be a hoot. But it's too far-fetched and contrived even for this film. And one can't really have a "Romance" if one doesn't care about the characters involved in said romance. But I think there is a greater problem with this film. Let me explain. If films continued to depict Afro-Americans as toadying Uncle Toms, I am certain that here would be vehement cries of anger and protest. Yet this film dares to portray a gay man as the swishy, queenly creature that bigoted Americans think all gays are. Worse than that, it tells us that any bi-sexual man can be "cured" by the love of a good woman. Yet even accepting this preposterous and insulting thesis, it is inconceivable that Timothy Oliphant's character would have Andy Dick's homely, effeminate character as a regular sex-partner and/or fall in love with the irritating creature played by Cynthia Nixon. This film not only angered me. It was an insult to my intelligence.
Why? Why did they make this movie? If Timothy Olyphant wasn't shirtless in it several times, there would be ABSOLUTELY no reason to watch this movie, ever. Um...Plot? Nope. Well-defined characters? nope. The only time I laughed was when my boyfriend made fun of the whole she-bang. P.S. Andy Dick? Nope.
This film concerns purportedly non-establishment types (aesthetically and sexually) who apparently cannot resist basic romantic needs. Although some excellent players take part, including Jon Tenney, Timothy Olyphant, and Cynthia Nixon, they are grounded by a puerile script which relies nearly totally upon clever dialogue; which isn't. Nixon's role possesses the best lines, but she often homes in on them too quickly, a timing flaw which must be saddled upon the director. The grotesque climax utilizes every available cliche, spent or not, and fittingly ends this drab attempt at comedy.