Customer Reviews

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men [Blu-ray]

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

 

 

In a year that has seen a surge of articles about a supposed "menaissance" and "men's studies" programs at universities, this film is especially timely. I read the book this film is based on last year, and I was so excited to see that John Krasinski would be directing it. The underlying thread that connects all the interviews seems to be, "how does treating people, yourself included, as less than or other than fully human impact you, your romantic relationships, and society?" Some of the scenes that I loved so much in the book were beautifully shot here- especially the bathroom attendant and John Krasinski's character's rant at the end. The addition of the character of the interviewer helped weave the individual stories together and gave more meaning to the film as a whole. If you have any interest in gender studies or psychology, this is a must-see.

(I have not read David Foster Wallace's story collection "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men." As of yet, I have only seen John Krasinski's film of the same name and subject.)

This movie is viewed best as an overview of a certain mindset rather than of all men. It is comprised mainly of a series of interviews performed by a female interviewer (Julianne Nicholson). Male subjects include both strangers and close acquaintances. Nicholson is excellent, especially considering she is mostly silent. All women characters lack a voice here. This clearly symbolic reinforcement of women as objects and victims is interesting but also an easy evasion of creating the rare three-dimensional female characters.

The inconclusive interviews are, at times, frustrating. In fact, several cut off when the subject is about to confess his most important theory about himself or women. Perhaps the point here isn't so much what these men believe; it's that they believe they are right. Many stones are left unturned, as there really is only one general theme in a variety of guises, that of objectification. Here, male insecurities and self-hatred lead to misogyny. Men ruminate on the female mystique. One man describes objectification related more to race than gender. The pieces range from humorous, inoffensive, and light, to powerful and truly sickening; some are both.

'Brief Interviews with Hideous Men' has received mainly negative reviews. In spite of its flaws, the movie is funny, disturbing, and, ultimately, intense.

Two things are clear from actor turned writer/director John Krasinski's debut film "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men." One is that Krasinski has deep regard for its source material, the challenging David Foster Wallace collection of the same title. And two, Krasinski clearly has friends in the entertainment community for this film is populated with a veritable "who's who" of familiar faces in even the briefest of roles. I suspect that, like the book, this is a piece that will divide its audience. I don't suspect that many people who've read "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" ever expected to see a film adaptation. A "love it" or "hate it" postmodern literary experiment, the book "Hideous Men" sometimes got lost in its own ambitions and cleverness. Brief snippets of story, sometimes with no discernable point or narrative conclusion, are told in a series of vignettes to explore the male dynamic especially in regard to his view of the female of the species. Some were terrific, some fell flat in this intriguing but exasperating work.

Krasinski, in his screenplay, tries to tie these stories together with the smallest of narrative hooks. Julianne Nicholson, representing every woman, stands as the film's central performance--a researcher studying the male perspective. Existing completely and only to tie the male stories together, however, her underdeveloped character adds little to the overall experience. Shot in outright interview sessions, observations from Nicholson's actual life and fantasy sequences and recreations--Krasinski pulls out all the filmic bells and whistles to unite this into a cohesive piece. He has talent and I'd be interested to see his next pursuit, but his version of "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" struck me more as an intriguing experiment as opposed to a fully formed film. Don't get me wrong, I admired many aspects within "Hideous Men"--it was just a bit all over the place for my taste.

Of the stories/performances (you will recognize just about every actor in the film--so there are too many to list here), several do stand out. Krasinski saves perhaps the best monologue for himself and is terrific delivering it. It is, however, a noticeably scripted piece and not remotely like actual verbal discourse. Dominic Miller gave my favorite performance as an unhinged student who challenges Nicholson. It has a power and surprise lacking from many of the stories. For example, Josh Charles does particularly well as a lothario but the segment offers little that we haven't seen countless times before. Like the book, the film has its stronger sequences and its less memorable ones. As a whole, though, I like the effort from an intellectual standpoint more than I appreciated it from an emotional one. KGHarris, 1/11.

The topics the film brings up are very thought-provoking, especially the idea of how people treat other people as objects in everyday life.

The story wasn't very cohesive. After I finished viewing it, there was just this feeling of "Really? That's it?"
I don't know.

The title is apt....these are hideous men. They whine, they moan, they make up stories about women all in the interest of making themselves feel better about the fact that they are acting badly. Still it's interesting to see what lengths they will go to to pursue the women they obviously don't like or have much respect for. The acting is dead on and the premise is worth watching, but well,....a little of this goes a long way. On the good side, once again I have to give Chris Meloni a pat on the back - he's acting, but maybe not............and he comes eerily close to the traveling salesmen that most women have met at least once in their lifetime.

This film had so many good actors associated with it, that my husband and I decided we needed to see it! Beginning with Julianne Nicolson and Christopher Meloni, both from the Law and Order series, and throwing in Timothy Hutton from the big screen, it was too interesting to pass up! The icing on the cake was John Krasinski who is Jim from the Office.

Julianne's character is wounded and hurt by her boy friend (Krasinski) and so she obtains permission from her professor to take on a project of interviewing various men. Her goal is to learn how men think and why they treat women the way they do! The information she obtains is a mixture of painful truths, obvious lies, possible fantasies, sincere adoration of women, and devious mixed messages! Krasinski, who was also the director delivered one of the tougher monologues to his former girlfriend. I found him to be convincing as a rather insensitive character. In fact, the cast were very good, but I do think the film needed a little more editing because it did drag a few times.

A fantastic film - I can't wait to re-watch it because I just know it'll hold up. The DVD came on time and in perfect condition which means I'll be re-watching it for years to come!

I read the book first, which was a mistake. I already wrote in my book review how awful and painful the book was to read. But, when I saw that Krasinski had adapted the book into a film, I had to take the time to check it out. After all, I am a huge fan if his.

What a wonderful movie. I really liked it. It was af if poor Krasinski sorted through the confusing, and poorly written excuse for a book and pulled out the meat and potatoes to create a wonderfully interesting story.

Great job on intertwining the interviews into something that actually makes sense.

The only negative point, is that Krasinski kept the Foster's langauage the same as the book. In written word it makes sense, but when you transalte it to film, you quickly realize that people just don't talk like that. I don't care how intelligent they are. But, in the end it didn't take much away from the movie. I still really enjoyed this film.

BRIEF INTERVIEWS is a fascinating, thoughtful, talky slice of dramatic analysis. Based on stories by David Foster Wallace, it is (as you might expect) very postmodern and non-linear. The movie is almost entirely dialog-driven. A great deal of the dialog takes place in the main character's head, either remembered or imagined.

Sara is a Ph.D. student, researching modern male-female interactions by interviewing adult male "subjects" (most known only by their numbers in the anonymous interviews) about their views of and romantic interactions with women. On the topic of women, her subjects express befuddlement, hostility, agression; it's very clear that none of the men she interviews "get" women, and the majority of them don't even seem to care if they understand the opposite sex. Most of the men view women either as objects for sexual conquest or the means of achieving some kind of salvation (from loneliness? their own constructions of masculinity? meaninglessness?).

As her interviews progress, her socio-scientific observations and private life intersect / overlap in fascinating and painful ways.

Julianne Nicholson is perfect as Sara. Her character is the most developed, and she has the most powerful and expressive silences in the movie. John Krasinski's character didn't ring as true to me.

Extraordinary acting by each actor. The development of the story line, beyond the obvious, puts the viewer in the uncomfortable position of asking yourself, "If bad things didn't exist would we know good." It is so uncomfortable that one can't help but go a little numb if not apathetic depending on your stomach and intelligence for existential contemplation.

The story mirrored my thoughts and feelings about men but I'm sure there are many women who also go through life frightened and unable to truly commit for many reasons, tragic and otherwise. Personally, even though I was in a bad relationship, I chose to "go down with the ship." After we split I would hear that song on the radio or in the supermarket and cry; I am this obsessively predisposed to commitment and I accept that nothing in life is perfect only to be improved upon. I can just imagine my ex-husband stating with emphasis, "I'm the ship!" To which I would reply, "Not everything in life is about your penis!" And I'm just at this moment now, as I write, conscious of the use of the song "Sloop John B" as part of the musical score in the movie.

Is the mundane struggle in life, for men, really all about sex? Without tragedy or defeat does sexual gratification become our raison d'etre? Yes.

Good musical score, especially the jazz.