Dustin, a starving artist, has a chance encounter with the beautiful Christiane the day after his 27th birthday. He spends the night with her, then becomes obsessed with her when he wakes up to find her already gone. Her own home life is less than satisfactory, with an abusive husband who has destroyed their possessions by the time she returns to their home. Having idealised her in his mind as the woman he wants to be with, Dustin makes Christiane into his artistic muse and sets off on a quest to find her.
Along the way, we are also introduced to Paul (Dustin's manager), Buzz (Dustin's best friend), Christiane's kid sister Rebecca and Phil, the plumber who often drinks at Dustin's and Buzz' favourite watering hole, who puts on a fake Irish accent and tries to get Dustin's spirits up.
This was the film that got Woody Harrelson's name out there as a film actor (he had previously been on TV in "Cheers", and "White Men Can't Jump" and "Natural Born Killers" launched his career as a leading film actor). Hank Azaria (pre-Simpsons) also has a role as Buzz. Ely Pouget (better known from "Lawnmower Man 2" and "Red Shoe Diaries") plays the lovely, enigmatic Christiane, while John Diehl stars as her husband Clayton. There are also guest appearances from Sean Penn (albeit uncredited) and director Mark Mullin's cousin Elisabeth.
To me, this film is basically the 1980s neatly packaged into a 1 1/2 hour movie. It's nothing groundbreaking, nor is it any sort of "Taxi Driver" or "Romper Stomper", but it's far better than many modern films. It's also an useful lesson about how idealising someone (or something) and then finding out the truth about that person can be disappointing.
