Buffalo '66 is the kind of movie that thinks a character spending twenty minuets looking for a place to go the bathroom is funny. I found the movie only slightly more entertaining than having an experince like that in real life.
The movie stars director Vincent Gallo as Billy, a complete loser, who falls in love with Layla (Christina Ricci) a woman who is completely insane. Billy has just been released from prison after he lost $10,000 gambling on the Super Bowl, which was lost at the last minute when Chris Wood (who I learn from Wikipedia is based on real football player Chris Norwood) blew a free through and lost the game. Wanting to impress his parents, he kidnaps Layla and forces her to act like his wife (have the laughs started yet?). He then decides to kill Chris Wood, who now own a strip club, because the sportsman ruined his life.
Billy is own of the most unlikable movie protagonists ever. One of the hallmarks of a great director is how they are able to make you like charcters that you would loathe in real life. Kubrick made me like Alex DeLarge, the hoodlum and serial rapist from A Clockwork Orange. I didn't like Billy one iota. In fact, I didn't like anyone in this movie- Billy's parents are neglectful and ignoratant, his one friend is a weirdo, and Layla is nuts.
All of this would be acceptable if Buffalo '66 was intended as downer drama, but Gallo thinks this material is funny. In order for comedy to work, you have to beleive in the reality of the film, and that's something I did not do once. Take Layla, for example. Lots of women would take any of the myriad chances she has to run away after Billy kidnaps her. There also has to be some level of taste and proper context. Take Billy's mom, who is such a huge sports fan that she neglects her son, even he when he is telling her something very important. Or Billy's dad, who strangles a puppy to death. That's really funny.
Buffalo '66 cannot be technically counted in my Clever Comedy genre because it is not as upbeat and not every character has a quirk, but it's clearly a cousin, sharing an "ironic" detachment and some hipster techniques. I found it just as annoying.
There are lot of people who like Buffalo '66. Despite the fact that I watched the movie in a room filled with them, I don't understand why. This is an obnoxious and unfunny film about people I only cared enough about to dislike. There was one pleasant surprise, however. It was discovering the film was ten minuets shorter than allmovie said it was.
Why do I get the feeling I'm going to get some hate mail?
Buffalo '66 (1998)