User reviews

The incredible William Macy gives us a glimpse into real madness in EDMOND, a sort of FALLING DOWN for the new millennium. Macy's life begins to unravel, and he ends up falling into an urban hell where he encounters and sometimes gets rough with, or roughed up by, various seedy characters (this is supposed to be New York, but was shot in Hollywood). Macy is magnificent as this increasingly nutty human being, and nothing any actor has done before can touch it, including Michael Douglas playing a similar role in FALLING DOWN. He is the whole purpose of watching this movie, and the camera stays tight on his anguished face in many shots. Adapted from a play by the great David Mamet, EDMOND is must-viewing by a mature audience. Legendary horror director Stuart (RE-ANIMATOR) Gordon gives EDMOND a bloody touch or two or three, much like fellow horror director Reny Harlin did with DIE HARD 2. Interesting to note: Gordon regular Jeffrey Combs is among the cast, and both Combs and Macy will appear in Gordon's next RE-ANIMATOR sequel. Macy will try pretty much anything, I guess. And he rarely fails. He can go from playing a lovable but aging salesman to a gun-toting villain out to kill the president's daughter. Amazing.

We have here a night of debauchery, violence, anger, and hate which could only be delivered by David Mamet's lyrical prose and the horror background of director Stuart Gordon. Think Scorsese's After Hours, but dead serious and shrouded in pitch black darkness. Much like Mamet's Oleanna, also based on his own play, Edmond features a tour de force performance from lead actor and real life friend William H. Macy. His character awakens to the mundane existence he has been a part of for 47 years and decides to go on an adventure to live life in the moment. You have not seen a crisis of identity lead a man to the depths of the hell within himself like you do here.

Gordon shoots the film with a bit of an off-kilter unease, showing the audience how fragile each moment is. At any time Macy's Edmond could fall in lust, partake in bigoted conversation, get mugged, find God, and even kill. Macy delivers an emotional clinic as he falls deeper and deeper into insanity or maybe just plain indifference. He is the star of the show and is on screen every second of the film just trying to give wisdom and take some for himself, not realizing the crazed malice infused in his face as he spouts his philosophy. The film is definitely not for the weak of heart, and not because of any real overdoing of blood and nudity, but because of the script itself. Each character is a racist and bigot of some sort, exposing their prejudices with candor. Edmond is on a journey of acceptance for who he really is. Where that trail ends may be surprising and also fitting at the same time, but if nothing else, it is the place he has been searching for his entire life.

This is definitely Macy, Mamet, and Gordon's film, but it wouldn't be as successful as it is without an abundance of name actors in extremely small roles helping to keep the adventure going. Mamet's wife Rebecca Pidgeon is great as always playing the wife Macy leaves; Mena Suvari and Julia Stiles are believable as two of the women he crosses paths with, both of whom are introduced as one thing but eventually allow their true colors to come through; and Joe Mantegna once again shows that he became an actor only to show the world how Mamet's words should be spoken. No one does it like Mantegna and no film penned by Mamet should be without him.

Edmond is a strangely intriguing film to experience. It is dialogue heavy and contains a strong lead turn from Macy. Everything that transpires does so as a result of what he has experienced beforehand. Macy would not end up where he does if all that happened this night of self-reflection did not occur in exactly the order that it does. Straight from the note his secretary gives him at the beginning, to the tarot reading soon after, the planets aligned and fate led him to his salvation/destruction. There are moments in which the story grinds to a bit of halt and takes a little to get back on track, but overall the experience is one not to be shaken easily from your consciousness.

Interesting, if not altogether captivating slice o' night and consequences of one Edmond Burke; a man who is driven to the edge, and all areas after, following his decision to essentially walk away from everything due to feeling unfulfilled in life. Working from this always relate-able premise, Mamet crafts a more intelligent, more realistic version of last decade's controversial but safe Falling Down, and in turn offers some of the year's best societal release. Problems arise however when the actions slow down and the talking speeds up, where monologues and even back and forth dialogs seem to be coming from the writer's mouth instead of the characters. This all goes south in the second half, where Macy's sermonizing kills some of the script's authenticity and integrity, due to the long-winded, self righteous, and ultimately distracting and uninvolved nature of his lines. For a film that approaches a gritty New York night with style and ease, with a scriptwriter as esteemed and knowledgeable as David Mamet, it was a shame to see some of the later scenes become a pulpit for Mr. Mamet to talk through instead of more subtle suggestion, but it is still far from making this movie avoidable. With some of William H Macy's most powerful work, Edmond is still a triumph of a character based thriller, leaving me satisfied with it's profound conclusion.

This movie makes most people uncomfortable. It's not an easy movie to watch. Its like watching a gruesome accident but not being able to stop. Edmond is a middle age man going through a crisis. His life is meaningless and boring but he is content to plod along until a series of chance encounters leads him to the decision that he must leave his life, including his wife behind. Having hidden his true nature all of his life, he suddenly releases his pent up frustrations and in doing so, takes himself down a path, not of redemption but one of degradation. He is searching for something or someone to fill a void in his life and with his new purpose of self, he becomes in fact dangerous. The transformation of Edmond from mild mannered and dutiful citizen to an angry, rebellious zealot is fascinating. I immediately went out to buy this movie after purchasing it from Redbox. I am not surprised that this movie was never released widespread. It would surely have caused a huge ruckus in our politically correct society. I know I am being vague. But if you want to watch a movie that is totally different from the standard fare, then see this movie. The big surprise at the end is the actor Bokine Woodbine, who plays a significant but very small role, that puts a fitting end to this thoroughly entertaining, disturbing and engrossing movie. William H. Macy, is superb, and who knew that he actually has a great body for a man his age.

It may be presumptuous to say that this is similar to the great film Crash, but it deals with the same themes of prejudice and intolerance.

Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, Body Snatchers) takes a David Maumet (Ronin, Wag the Dog) play and has a stellar cast led by William H. Macy, to give us a look at a man who loses control in a world that he is not familiar with. The consequences are disastrous, but funny, especially the end of the film.

It also stars Denise Richards, Bai Ling (Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith), Debi Mazar (Ugly Betty), and Mena Suvari. It is Bokeem Woodbine's role as Macy's cell mate that has a role you will not forget.

At first glance, horror meister Stuart Gordon would not seem the obvious choice to direct an emotional psycho-drama cinematic rendering of a David Mamet play, yet with Edmond, he displays a deft touch for the material and allows the actors to carry the day.

Originally penned as a stage play, Edmond tells the story of namesake Edmond Burke (William H. Macy), a mundane white collar worker who has spent his entire life being a faceless cog in the big industrial machine. The rescheduling of a business appointment to 1:15 (a number which re-occurs in the film) propels him to idle away his time with a visit to a tarot reader who tells him he's not where he's supposed to be. From there he begins a slow spiral into depravity and insanity that begins with telling his wife he's leaving her and progresses to an outback-like dreamwalk into New York City's seedy underbelly of bars pimps and prostitutes.

Written in the wake of a divorce, Mamet infuses the script with racial discourse and epithets that are stunning in their caustic vulgarity as Edmond pours out years of pent up hatred on one of his muggers revealing a window into his shallow soul that only becomes more intensely evident as the movie reaches its conclusion.

In the scene where Edmond tells his wife their marriage is over, he explains to her that she hasn't satisfied him spiritually or emotionally for quite some time. Yet, after watching his progression trough the course of the story, it becomes clear that spiritually he has no soul, and emotionally he's a shallow but volatile cauldron of disjointed thoughts.

The film is a tour-de-force for Macy, who is in every scene and morphs from a character of Caspar Milquetoast proportions to unhinged bigoted psychopath and back again by the movie's end. Along the way he's complimented by solid performances from Joe Mantegna, Julia Stiles, Mena Suvari and Bokeem Woodbine. As if in a wink and nudge to his own work, Gordon even manages to insinuate longtime stalwart Jeffrey Combs into a small but telling scene during Edmond's descent into insanity.

By the time Edmond arrives at the end of that journey, however; at that place where he ought to be; I couldn't help but think he had merely wasted his life catching up to where his soul was long ago.

Edmond Burke (William H. Macy) has grown frustrated with his life, and after a visit to a tarot reader, he has decided to start a new life. And that new life is going to start with some sexual fantasy and a bit of violence... where will it go?

While I have no interest in talking poorly about writer David Mamet, this film is much like "Falling Down" with Michael Douglas, another white-collar man who goes through a mental break. Sadly, the difference is in style: this film is more artistic, and "Falling Down" is more gripping. Where Douglas can be fierce and menacing, Macy can only come off as nervous... even his most violent moments do not have the emotional sincerity that Douglas exudes.

Anyone who wants to rent this should be warned in advance, the back cover of the DVD is riddled with lies. It claims to "star" Mena Suvari, Denise Richards and Julia Stiles. That is a lie, as only Stiles has a scene of more than three minutes. You could just as easily say George Wendt or Jeffrey Combs star. The box also claims this is "a first rate mystery", but there is no mystery to be found in this film. None.

Likewise, the film is a bit hard to categorize... it's something of a violent drama. Hollywood Video called it horror, and the box calls it a thriller. The thrills are minimal (this is a slow-paced film) and it is not horror in any traditional sense. Stuart Gordon is a great director and a very nice man, but fans should be aware that this falls more in line with "King of the Ants" or "Stuck" than it does with any of his more well-known horror masterpieces.

I will not discuss the philosophical aspects. Edmond believes that "every fear hides a wish", and he has constructed an interesting racial theory. The viewer can take these however they like, I do not know if there is an overarching meaning behind any of it... I found they fleshed out Edmond's character but had little value beyond the film itself. The deleted scenes, a mere six minutes, add a bit of intrigue and should probably have remained, especially with the film running only 82 minutes.

Stuart Gordon or David Mamet fans should see this one. It's not going to blow you away, and beyond little thrills like a Jeffrey Combs cameo and some semi-nudity from Julia Stiles, it is not the most memorable. But Gordon's career is best understood in its complete vision, and this is outside the scope of his better-known work.

In all honesty! This movie made me physically and mentally ill. Macy the milquetoast-Meister will rise above this bulls**t and do better things because = There Is No Downhill From Here.

The stingy whore mongering character of this queasy repetitive storyline was unbelievably moronic. I can't believe people still make these low grade depressing pieces of worthless garbage.

I foolishly watched this whole movie.

Where's ACCEPTED when you need it??

All of these talented people luring you into believing something worthwhile is coming---I don't know who's the bigger sucker the paying audience or the people who put their names on this filth.

When I find my spiritual self (who's now hiding from me in a recovery house)I'm gonna hunt this Mamet fella down and kick him in the ding dong!

Clean and jerk this ugly movie to the trash.

Stuart Gordon is known for his Lovecraft adaptions and the terribly violent "King of the Ants". David Mamet is without doubt a great writer, and this movie shows that he is very brilliant. The tagline by a reviewer: "Makes Falling Down look like Bambi" is pretty funny, and also quite true. Unlike Falling Down this movie actually portrays a character, Edmond, which could exist in real life, and we understand what motivates him. It 's, like "King of the Ants", a very disturbing and violent movie. I had to, from time to time, fast forward because I found it too disturbing what might happen next, and I had to see what happened next. There's also some great philosophical dialogue and we can really understand that this character is searching for the meaning of life. This movie is certainly worth seeing and fits in well with movies like "Taxi Driver", "Bad Leutenant", "Death Wish" and "Falling Down" (also a good movie in its own right, didn't mean to downgrade it). Moreover, it is quite a good movie about urban alienation.

Ugly, decaying and rough, but a thoughtful psychological observation of a lonely man loosing control in a personal quest where the cards go on to tell the story in this independently made, stuffy-dark thriller. I see this get labeled as black… blackest of dark humor. I don't know about that, as sure it really does pick on our main protagonist and turn his once well respected life upside down (chewed up and spat out) in one night, simply longing for a change with some truth to it than the boring one his living now. Never did I find anything remotely humorous, but more so it had me cringing… and that's where I feel director Stuart Gordon and writer David Mamet were aiming. Should we be looking for something we don't understand, or should we be happy with what we got. Should we fear of what will become of those desirable dreams and inner feelings when lived out? David Mamet's philosophical screenplay is experimentally exhaustive in its personal exploration by ramming down a verbose range of dialogues and largely mind-thoughts that's perfectly handled by William H. Macy's torn-down performance (starting off in a deaden state to only erupt with reflective energy) beams shades of Jekyll and Hyde. It's quite an interesting performance, but this whole angle becomes less convincing, where he begins to question life's many hurdles began to grate (with its boundless ramblings) and the forced conclusion only cements that we only ended up with more questions than when we first started. Looking for something, but in the end still not quite sure in what. Gordon's somberly starch direction is illustratively atmospheric capturing the ominously lurid and harsh urban backdrop of New York City with the guidance of the camera venturing through the seedy dark streets of the night. What occurs on the nocturnal journey is impulsive, startling and unforeseeable with many edgily morbid strokes by Gordon… namely the violence. Bobby Johnston's emotionally tuneful jazz score and Denis Maloney's subjective photography add a lot to its intimate style. The cast features some fine additional support (Rebecca Pidgeon) and in bit parts, but important to the story's progression is Joe Mantegna, Frances Bay, Julia Stiles, Mena Suvari (looking stunning then ever), Denise Richards, George Wendt and Bail Ling.

I saw the high rating, read a couple of reviews and decided to spend my time watching this movie.

Needless to say, I feel compelled to warn other people that this film is so overrated and has so many 'what the heck?' moments that you walk out completely baffled.

Predictable - Could the fortune teller draw any more cards with swords? Illogical - What's with the nickle-and-diming for sex? Especially in NY! Plain stupid - I doubt a good looking girl will try to hold a 'the meaning of life' conversation with a guy she just met holding a knife. Nonsense - For someone other than a tourist to fall for Three-card Monte is plain ridiculous.

No doubt that Macy is always excellent and any screen time with Julia Stiles is a bonus, but this movie is just too far fetched.

Save yourself some time and money and avoid this movie. If you want a bunch of psychobabble and a predictable storyline then go ahead and watch this movie.

David Mamet's writing demands things from you and of you, as an actor or a viewer. It is extremely specific, and if the wrong actor is given the material, or the wrong director for that matter, things can end very badly. Such is sadly often the case in "Edmond" one of my Mamet's best, darkest and funniest plays, but one of the worst adaptations to film. Perhaps it doesn't translate as well as some of his other things. Even still. Stuart Gordon, director of "Dagon" and "Space Truckers" may not have been the ideal choice. It appeared as though there had been no rehearsal process for the film, which is very likely, given the nature of the production, as is my assumption that there was little to know text analysis, character discussion, etc. And with material this dense and textured, that's like shooting yourself in the foot. Scenes that contained dozens of different arcs went nowhere. Macy's monologue about killing the pimp, one of the best speeches ever given to any actor, was almost totally lifeless. You could easily tell who'd done their homework, and who hadn't. Joe Mantegna's scene was pitch perfect (he's a Mamet regular, so it's no wonder), Bokeem Woodbine was mostly solid, and the scene with Bai Ling also worked pretty well. Mamet incorporates many natural vocalizations, there are often loads of one word lines-- "Yes." "Okay." "Uh-huh."-- but if many of the actors-- Julia Stiles, I'm looking right at you-- don't DO something with the line, it becomes stilted. That's why Mamet isn't done more often, it's difficult! For a crash course in how to do Mamet brilliantly, watch Glengarry Glen Ross. Then watch "Edmond," if for no other reason than that the story is interesting, and the themes are still clear. You'll see the difference.

I decided to give this movie a try because I am a tremendous fan of Julia Stiles. And William H. Macy can be entertaining. I think Julia Stiles was totally wasted in this movie. I do not have any idea why Julia Stiles agreed to be in Edmond unless maybe it was a "contract" issue. I found the movie to be disjointed. If the movie was supposed to be portraying a person degenerating into malevolence and one would like to see this I recommend Falling Down (1993) staring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall. I think the movie, Edmond, would be better if the movie had not been made.

This movie is similar to "Falling Down" in its plot, and "Crash' in the way it deals with lives spinning our of control because of racism and other intolerance, but I thought it was far more believable and had a more satisfying end than both. I have watched "Edmond" three times over the last two days (it only goes for 74 minutes) and I was very happy to have hired the DVD rather than to have seen it at the Cinema as I was able to go back and watch the scenes that did not sink in as profoundly the first time round. The first time I watched it alone and found I missed a lot of important dialog and imagery that was crucial to the story because I was thinking about the previous scene...so when the end hit me, I found my head was spinning and I couldn't believe what I was seeing and thought I must have missed something. Wasn't this man a homophobic, racist, bigoted, atheist?...So i watched it again and saw that I had (my fault not the films)in fact missed some crucial but minute facts. So, the second time I was able to fully get my teeth into it and because I knew the outcome I could concentrate on the brilliant, realistic performances of the actors and direction without thinking about what had just happened or worrying about what would happen next. No one could fail to notice the extreme brilliance of William Macy. I knew he was an amazing actor but I think this is better than some of the best academy winning performances that I have ever seen and I cant believe it was overlooked by the academy! Also Julia Stiles performance was fascinating...Even though Stiles role is only short it is the turning point of the film. Macy goes from a mild mannered, suburban business man, in what he feels is suddenly a monotonous, loveless, one sided marriage, living a very white, middle-classed existence to a manic, explosive, violent, bigoted, homophobic, 'grass must be greener on the other side', racist before you know whats hit you. Even when he smiles it is in the most inappropriate places. Also, watching Stiles the second time I realized that she wasn't just a silly, wanna be actress trying to be cool and politically incorrect, but a person who was deeply struggling with the fact that the stranger she has stupidly and casually brought home with her may well end her life...So, what does she do? Go against him or agree with him? Does she say what he wants to hear or stay true to herself? You will not be able to take you eyes of the rawness and brutality of this scene for one second. The third time I watched it with my husband, who was as blown away with it as I was, but I found myself pointing out stuff to him so he wouldn't have to watch it twice to get it as I did...although, I realized everyone gets something different out of a film, so I was wrong to do so, and so I wont do that here either or it may spoil your own experience. Watch this film with an open mind. I know this parallel, seedy, underbelly of life does exist, so far removed from my sheltered, secure, tolerant, safe world, made up of the downtrodden, abused, rejected, masses who don't know how else to act as they have never known love, safety or security (and sadly, probably never will). As well as the actors performances themselves, I take my hat off to the brilliant direction and music of this wonderful film adaption of an equally wonderful play. It is like a book you cant put down...you just have to watch it to the end without distraction. I believe these are the roles actors wait for all of their lives and will happily do for nothing.

Playing like a more philosophical version of FALLING DOWN (1993) but done on a more intimate scale, this character drama resolves itself into a series of interesting vignettes where a good cast is allowed to leave its mark: David Mamet (who wrote the script, based on his own play) regular Joe Mantegna and a surprising amount of female roles (including, as is his fashion, one for Mamet's wife Rebecca Pidgeon) - with the most impressive, perhaps, being Mena Suvari (as a high-class hooker) and Julia Stiles (as an aspiring actress doubling as a waitress). But, of course, it's William H. Macy's show all the way and he delivers a terrific performance - vulnerable and generally perplexed, yet capable of incredible and unexpected violent outbursts (even the subway scene, in which he verbally lashes out at a black woman who is unwilling to engage in a conversation with him, is priceless). Mamet deals with Fate and how it shapes someone's future in spite of oneself - as the motif of number 115 proves; still, the film's suggestion that Macy's character ultimately finds contentedness behind bars as a homosexual is baffling and somewhat alienating! All things considered, however, a good film - surprisingly but well handled by gore-meister Gordon - focused on telling its story vividly (the sleazy L.A. nightlife, which I saw a bit of while in Hollywood late last year{!}, providing an overpowering backdrop), concisely and, occasionally, with great power. The jazzy score is quite nice, too.

I kept expecting this film to get better but it never did. The film starts off in a promising manner but meanders in all sorts of irrelevant scenarios. Although Mamet is known for his use of language/words above all else, his language, ideas and concepts couldn't save this movie from being an incredible bore. Save your time-watch something else. William Macy is wasted in this film. I spent 1/2 the time trying to figure out where the movie was filmed. Sometimes it reminded me of the same city presented in Eyes Wide Shut and other times it seemed as if the film took place in some gritty part of Los Angeles. Try Mamet's House of Games instead.