Customer Reviews

Beautiful Joe [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This 2000 black comedy from the United Kingdom began as if it were going to be a tearjerker, but with the right touch came off as an inspirational film where two people find each other at difficult moments and eventually happiness. Billy Connolly, the world famous comic from Glasgow, and sexy Sharon Stone comprise the initial odd couple that in the end fulfill each other's needs.

Connolly's plight is far more tragic than Stone's in that he is handed a potential death sentence by his New York City doctor. At the very time that he needs sympathy and understanding he comes home and finds his wife sharing his bed with another man. She tells him bluntly about her intention to seek a divorce because she finds him totally boring. He does not tell her what he has just heard from his doctor.

The scene then shifts to Churchill Downs in Kentucky, where Connolly has gone to gain a needed change of scenery. He is betting on the races and doing it foolishly, without any semblance of strategy. Horseplayer Sharon Stone sees him there. After latching on to him as a potential means of helping her financially, she gives him up when he hands all his track winnings to two nuns, causing her to conclude that he is a loser as she walks him away and leaves him standing in the distance watching her.

Connolly meets Stone again at the strip club where she formerly danced and now supervises. He catches her at a bad time, when an old live in love that now works for the mob is seeking to obtain money she owes. Eventually Connolly takes Stone home. Just as she is again about to end their association she realizes what an effective housekeeper he is when she is at the club and that her two young children like him.

Just as Connolly, Stone, and the two children are making very much like a family a problem ensues and the mob is in hot pursuit. For one thing, the local Kentucky mob boss played by Ian Holm has mistaken Connolly for a famous New York syndicate head, has let him off the hook on the debt, and has angered his superiors. Gil Bellows does a superb job of playing the highly incompetent former love of Stone who invests the role of enforcer with Inspector Clousseau comedic clumsiness. Holm is plenty clumsy himself and the film is one that focuses on comic deficiencies of the mob figures rather than ruthless and violent efficiency.

The Kentucky mob ultimately pursues Connolly and Stone to Las Vegas after she has told her girlfriend where she is going, never dreaming that she will report back to her enemies. Eventually the pair will find happiness after some unique surprise twists involving the mob figures.

Stephen Metcalfe wrote a fine script and directed as well. He deftly spun two character arcs in the film, that of Connolly abandoning his former cautiously boring demeanor as he becomes associated with Stone. At the same time, Stone, while bringing Connolly out, admires his stable qualities and tones down her erratic conduct and savage temper.

I was delightfully surprised to see Sharon Stone and Billy Connolly in a movie together. An unlikely match, you say! But the story and plot were superb! Billy has toned down his humor, but it shines through. Sharon was an excellent love interest for him. He plays his role with tenderness, humor, bravado, and extreme likability. She has a role which is not typical for her, nevertheless a good one. I highly recommend watching this movie.

Before her 2 year hietus due to illness, Sharon Stone stared in this romantic comedy with Billy Connolly, as a single mother called "Hush," whose life is full of messy relations with men and gambling. The film is directed by Stephern Metcalfe, and is the first job as director, who has been working as scriptwriter in Hollywood. But you will be impressed with somebody else.

The film is, in fact, about an amiable Irishaman living in America named Joe, who is effectively played by Billy Connolly, best known for the film "Mrs. Brown" opposite Judi Dench. Joe, seeing that his life as a good-natured flowerist is too boring, decides to travel, and meets Hush. After several misadventures including horse-racing, mud-wrestling, and an encounter with local mobsters (Gil Bellows, TV's "Ally McBeal" and Ian Holm as his boss), Hush comes to like him, so does Joe, among the kids whose life has been so far neglected by Hush.

The best thing you can find about "Beautiful Joe" is Billy Connolly's amicable portrayal of Joe, who fares among the clithed moments better than you expect. We can understand that people around him all like him, as the film depicts. Even Ian Holm's Hannibal-like caricature of gangster looks funny before Connolly's incredibly innocent talk, and there are some good moments in the film, especially when those veteran actors are allowed to do some tricks before us.

But too bad that no one among the crew seems to have pointed out that this kind of film fails to interest us when it looks as if going automatically. I do not see why Joe should fall for Hush, who treats him very bad at first, and keeps on chasing her. The gangster plot is too familiar after our seeing films such as "Life Less Ordinary" or "Get Shorty" and many, many others, and the inclusion of kids is also too clithed. Or, if I may sound too harsh, let me say that at least they should have give them (kids) more decent dialogues.

Sharon Stone seems miscast at first, but actually her acting is not so bad as you may think. It is rather her constant change of hair-styles and costumes that annoys us, making us wonder why these changes are needed. Actually, she was much better in the similar role in "The Mighty" (and duely nominated for Golden Globe), but here her heavy make-ups look as if to show the lack of confidence. They should not have done that.

As a whole, "Beautiful Joe" is a disappinting film because of its lack of originality and confidence. So, why gangsters? The film has one saving grace Billy Connolly which they should have used more effectively.

It seems to me that almost everyone who writes or directs a movie these days throws gangsters into the potpourri of their films. And I do mean that exact word "throws." This is otherwise a very human scale romantic comedy and drama vehicle very ably acted by Sharon Stone, as a woman in need of rescue from a life lived too close to the edge, and Billy Connolly, a rock of a man beloved by all. They are an unlikely pairing but it works. The jist of their plot is whether Stone's character can finally settle down with a worthwhile guy (Joe) instead of the marginal losers she normally ends up with. Then there is the whole gangster subplot which involves gangsters after both Stone and Connolly with reasoning and results so convoluted that all you can do is groan when they come onscreen again. Maybe these movies get financed when the producers hear the word "gangsters." I can come up with no other reason why they are being inserted into every other film I am seeing these days.

BEAUTIFUL JOE (2000) is a rarity and a beloved favorite of mine for only one reason: it is a Billy Connolly film. Negligible inducements include appearances by the great Ian Holm and the equally fun bit player/TV star Dann Florek.

To start, "Beautiful Joe" is an interesting title, and the name of a character. I leave it to you to decide who "Beautiful Joe" is, but I'll add a clue that there is indeed a character here named "Beautiful Joe".

Billy Connolly is happy-go-lucky Irish florist Joe (I think his surname is Sullivan). Ensconced in the Bronx, Joe's life is a relatively cheerful, quiet existence that seem to buoy the spirits - it is one of the powerful qualities this movie conveys. In one single horrible day, Joe is told he has a brain tumor and his wife bashes him over that poor head with a demand for a divorce.

Joe suddenly believes his days are numbered. He has a set date for his brain surgery, and his doctors have not painted any kind of picture for him at all: the worst kind of prognosis. Like the amiable and slightly childlike good guy that he is, Joe keeps a monthly calendar with the date of the surgery encircled - and he takes off on an adventure a little reminiscent of RAIN MAN.

He travels, sees America, meets folks. He's a lovable guy and befriends people easily, but that is not the highlight of the film. Joe meets Hush (Sharon Stone), a con artist/prostitute with two children to care for and raise. She begins accompanying him, thinking he's a very wealthy man. They go to the track, Joe wins about $150,000 which he immediately signs over to some nuns he happens to see. Hush is ready to faint after she sees that.

Hush is in a lot of trouble from bookie and small fry weirdo mobster George the Geek (a hilarious Ian Holm doing his best Hannibal Lecter impression). Joe decides he'll simply go straight to George and speak to him about Hush's debt. Hilarity is not far off with Connolly in a film - and here, the fun starts. Joe, if I may state it carefully, is mistaken for ... someone else. When that happens, George immediately settles things in Hush's favor.

My favorite part of this film is a spoiler I don't have the heart to ever divulge. The great Dann Florek plays "Happy", a snappy dresser with a foul mouth and grump-from-hell attitude to match. Joe has been the only 'real' man, the only decent friend, Happy has ever had. Let me say, you will be stunned by Happy in the end. And that is not all that will stun you.

This film has been critiqued as a dramedy - which it is. The critiques are puzzling; perhaps folks just don't understand the film well. Films were struggling a little in 2000; Billy Connolly, while beloved, is not a box office draw (unfairly, he's more of a box office drain). BEAUTIFUL JOE more than anything is proof that Connolly can solidly carry a film, not just in and of himself but as a romantic lead. He stands well with good chemistry next to Sharon Stone, for heaven's sake! And Connolly got to show off his natural, feel-good humor that isn't side-splitting but is more profound.

This was a good companion to his work in HER MAJESTY MRS. BROWN (vid. my review). What this film reminds me every time I watch it is the enormous waste that has been Connolly's career in film. He has the gift, he had enough draw and a cult following. (You should have seen the online campaign for him to be cast as Mad Eye Moody in the HARRY POTTER films!)

Well, get this DVD which eminently worthwhile. The story will captivate you, Connolly never ever fails to please, and Stone is surprisingly gifted in her handling of this role.

It is film history and shouldn't be ignored.

I never heard of this film--a friend recommended it--it is now one my favorite "little" movies. Billy Connoly being brilliant--and one of my favorite performances by Sharon Stone (others where I loved her were "The Muse" and "The Quick and the Dead"). Buy this movie.

I can only recommend this one - it's a nice, funny, heartwarming movie with an intelligent plot (for a movie - not for real life..). Sharon Stone is really great, and Jurnee Smollett HAS BLUE EYES - WOW!!!

The somewhat charming presence of Billy Connolly notwithstanding, "Beautiful Joe" is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I took the DVD out from the public library; I should have known.

The story cannot be dumber: Joe, a florist originally from Dublin and recently living in the Bronx (my hometown!), finds his wife banging the plumber, after he finds out he's got a brain tumor, so he heads off to find some adventures. He meets Alice (Sharon), who's basically this trashy woman with two kids (one mulatto and the other silent), at the race tracks, and immediately falls in love with her. How believable! How adventurous. Anyway, Joe goes off to talk some sense into local hooligan and loan shark George the Geek, who mistakes Joe for a famous Manhattanian-Irish hitman Beautiful Joe (who turns out to be Joe's drinking buddy Happy). When George finds out the truth, he's set on killing both Joe and Alice. So JOe and Alice take the kids and flee.

The rest of the film gets even more boring and predictable. The movie pretends to be a romance story, but there's very little chemistry between the two main actors. Sharon puts up incredibly bad acting here. Alice says, "oh I'm growing fat and old," and that's exactly how the formerly-lovely Sharon looks in the film. That's not even one-tenth of the problem if not for her poor performance. It's evident that this is not a role she wanted. She's in either for the money, or to fulfill some studio contract. The two kids are annoying, to say the least. When the boy Lee talks toward the end, after Joe rescues Alice from the gansters in Vegas and realizes that Happy (Beautiful Joe) is just a mob associate of his ex-father-in-law, the head of the Irish crime family (Joe wasn't aware of it), Lee philosophizes about life by quoting from a bunch of TV talk shows and the stupidity of this scene just totally stunned me. I never thought Hollywood could come out with something so utterly brainless. In the end, Joe gets a successful surgery and, guess what, lives happily ever after with ex-trashy woman and her two abnormal kids.

This is just absolutely one of the worst movies ever made.

Help! Can anyone help me find the soundtrack to this movie! A movie with such great music should'nt go unheard!

It was so easy and I got the video within a week. I am very happy with my purchase and plan on purchasing other movies.