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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Too many saving graces, January 19, 2001
When people ask me to name my favourite novel "Even cowgirls get the Blues" always springs to mind. A film translation can never match the intimacy you feel reading the book, but it can bring those treasured characters and locations to life. This is where the film version really shines.Gus Van Sant is my all time favourite director- his prevoius picture "My own private Idaho" broke my heart. It may have been over ambitious for him to bring this magical novel to the silver screen, but I find the fact that he did so, marvollously admirable. The storyline and ideals of this tale are truely unique and need to reach a wider audience. Uma Thurman is perfectly cast as Sissy. She displays both innocence and enigma quite beautifully. Support is given by a whole host of interesting performers- John Hurt, Rain Phoenix, Crispin Glover, William Burroughs and many of the "Idaho" cast make breezy cameo's. Tom Robbins himself performs voice-over narration. Little known fact- River Phoenix (to whom the film is dedicated) makes his final screen appearence as a birdwatcher in the climatic scenes. Read the book first- then give the film a chance!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Mind-boggling Train Wreck, March 6, 2009
Uma Thurman has been in some hideously bad movies. The confusing mess that was THE AVENGERS comes to mind (despite being a studio film with Ralph Fiennes and Sean Connery!). There was that horrific Batman movie that killed the franchise until Christopher Nolan resurrected it for Warner Brothers. I haven't even bothered more recent bombs like MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND (which I thought had a decent premise).
But it doesn't really matter what grotesque misstep Uma makes next because nothing can be as head-scratchingly terrible, as mind-numblingly stupid, as frighteningly vapid as EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES.
If you're seeing something else, you're just looking way too hard.
The acting is bad, the writing is nonsensical, the production is cheap (despite some excellent nature shots), scene after scene of Uma Thurman wearing ridiculous giant rubber thumbs makes you wonder just what kind of story could make this work. And that this ain't it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
One of the worst movies ever, July 4, 2008
Uma Thurman is not a very good actress. She's tall, & reasonably attractive, & sometimes blonde, but she was the poster-girl for the Uber-hip set in the late 80's/early 90's so for that set, she was a perfect choice as Sissy Hankshaw. Having read & loved this book, I knew she was not a good choice, and she was subsequently was named Worst Actress of 1993 for her terrible attempt to portray Cissy. Likewise, Rain aka Rain- bow aka Rain Phoenix was also miscast, as well as not being talented enough to pull off the role of Boss Cowgirl Bonanza Jellybean. She seemed to be attempting to read off a Teleprompter, or maybe she should have been. Did I detect her lips moving before she attempted to deliver her lines? The reason she was not named Worst Actress of 1993 was that to win that award, she had to be an actress, which she clearly is not. I've seen better acting on an X-rated channel. Angie Dickinson, that 60's-70's retread hearthrob of teenage males was nearly as bad as Phoenix & Thurman, but she had an excuse, she hadn't worked for many years, & was critically hungover. At least she seemed that way. That's the bad news. The good news is, the rest of the cast was a hoot! Batting leadoff, the always weird & wonderful Carol Kane & Buck Henry(why don't those two have children?? What a great idea), John Hurt in drag, Crispin Glover, Pat Morita(as Noryuki)as The Chink("Ha Ha Ho Ho and Hee Hee!!"), Sean Young looking so sexy I almost forgot about her psychotic meltdown over James Woods, Keanu Reeves was entirely adequate as Julian Gitchee, but any one of a number of Native American, Canadian, or Ecuadoran actors would have been a better choice, such as the lovely & talented Gary Farmer. Two other bones to pick: 1) Tom Robbins' favorite Native American tribe, is not pronounced See-Wash, but Sigh-wash and B) Why was the locale moved from the Dakotas to Deschutes County, Oregon? Stupid idea. I really loved Pat Morita & John Hurt, but their performances are not enough to tempt me to watch this terrible movie again. Like an earlier reviewer, anger is my strongest emotion at this attempt to adapt a really good book.
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