Beautiful Joe (2000)

That was an excellent one.

Nice effects though.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I usually don't go for the sappy movies, however, if you find yourself in the mood, this movie is a really good one. billy (joe) is an awesome nice guy and really cute and lovable Scottish accent (his own). sharon (alice) is awesome (with a cute southern accent) as the albatross around her own and her kids' neck but learns her lesson about what's important in the end. joe's long-time family friend turns out to be the hit-man on joe's and alice's tail (hired by the bad bookies). and so the bad guys get it in the end while joe's brain tumor operation goes well, and alice and the kids (whom have fallen for joe as well) are at his bedside to be there for him, as he was for their little family. sappy but cuter than a junebug!

Billy Connolly stars a florist who finds out he has a brain tumor and that his wife wants a divorce all in the same day. Mr. Connolly's bad day is not over because he takes off from work in search of adventure and runs smack into Sharon Stone. Ms. Stone plays a woman with a gambling problem and drags along two kids with her that apparently have no father. The only other movie I have seen Mr. Connolly in was an old Columbo episode where he was caught partially by the evidence of him marking the rum bottle with his thumbnail so he would know when he had enough. You will be marking your DVD with your thumbnail early on on this clunker because about 5 minutes of this stinker is 5 minutes too much. Ms. Stone's accent was almost enough to send my foot through the screen. It was the worst attempt at an accent since-well since Ms. Stone's accent in the remake of "Gloria".Mild SpoilersI think that anyone can figure out where this movie is going (Connolly will bond with the kids and eventually with Sharon Stone) but I did want to mention the silent kid. It reminded me of the old joke where the a kid has never said anything his whole life until he sees a bull charging at his father. He yells a warning out to his father who gets out of the way of the bull. He asks his son why he has never spoken before and his son replies that he never had anything to say before now. The boy in this movie speaks for the very same reason.Last thoughtIf a DVD can have features such as different languages- can't we get one where it can remove a bad accent from the movie and we hear the actress in their normal voice?rating 1 out of 10

"Beautiful Joe" tells of an irrepressible and likeable Irish florist who learns he has a brain tumor and decides to take a last blast road trip before his possibly fatal surgery. He falls in with and falls in love with a gambling woman with a checkered past and some troublesome underworld connections. With all the ear marks of a low budget indie, "BJ" moves from one sentimental moment to another with enough heart to make its journeyman execution easy to overlook. A fun but raggedy little romantic comedy which is as easy to like as it is to criticize. (C+)

Due to a special affection for Scottish comedy legend Billy Connolly, I saw Beautiful Joe. I love low budget film and I love a good heart tugging story. Connolly's Joe is a charming character that one can't help but like from the films opening. A Scot playing an Irishman amused me, particularly that the extent of his Irish accent was to say "Tanks" instead of "Thanks", but Connolly's charm sees this of little annoyance. Sharon Stone, who I normally don't care for, hits all the right notes in a very good performance as the tough as nails barhopping single mother. The two leads play off each other wonderfully without being drawn into the sentimentality of the piece. The two child actors are also first rate, particularly in their scenes with Connolly. Ian Holm, Dan Florek and Gil Bellows provide some lovely touches in their small roles. The problem? The script is quite predictable and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put it together. The unforgivable aspect however, is the constant view of the boom microphone in the shot. This doesn't happen just once, it happens several times and so obtrusively that it detracts from the viewers ability to get stuck into and believe the film (at least with this viewer it did). That aspect tainted the film badly, which is a shame because the work of Connolly and Stone is truly first rate. Visible boom microphone aside, Beautiful Joe is well worth seeing as a nice feel good film with some top notch acting.