Unstrung Heroes

During movies, some people gush and cry at the slightest hint of emotionality. For a while I prided myself for having not cried at one single film (a typical mentality for a young American male). Sure there were times when a ball of almost-ready-to-cry emotions would appear in the back of my throat, but I always considered that a normal reaction to what I call Easy Sadness scenes in movies (such as "Schindler's List", "Philadelphia" etc.). Then I saw "Unstrung Heroes".

When the end credits started rolling up, I was stuck in my seat unapologetically bawling. And the best part was that "Unstrung Heroes" wasn't particularly sad or depressing, the movie just, for lack of a better word, moved me.

Turturro is, of course, excellent as usual, Andie MacDowell has a memorable performance, but its Michael Richards' and Maury Chaykin's duo that steals the show. Their foolishness will have you laughing one minute and then amaze you with sage-like wisdom the next.

I guess the film is somewhat based on a true story. I gave a rating of 7.

OH! How could anyone NOT love this movie? It's so good. Andie MacDowell and John Turturro make such a cute movie couple. The real show stealer was Michael Richards. Through the movie, you're not saying, 'Hey, why is Kramer being serious?' Instead, you say, 'Wow, Michael Richards is a good actor.' This was a rare opportunity to see him do a better-than-Kramer-by-not-being-Kramer performance. I would love to see him do more serious work like this. It's very tearful at the end. Parts are mildly funny, but this movie is pure drama and it's beautiful.

This movie shows how you can find heros in the most unlikely people and places. Michael Richards character, Danny, was out-spoken and rude, but his quote, "People, they get trapped in their own history unless someone shows them a way out" is a great way of thinking, and the movie shows the hardship of growing up and finding someone special when no one else understands what you're going through. With another great direction job of Diane Keaton, brilliant performances by Andie MacDowell, and Michael Richards and an amazing score by Thomas Newman, this movie lets you know that heros can come from anywhere and be anybody.

Since this story goes back and forth between a comedy and a really sad, dramatic story, I guess you could call it unique. The drama is much more at the end involving Andie McDowell's character.

Supposedly, this is a true-life story of Steven "Franz" Lidz and his wacky family - the kid (Nathan Watt), the father (John Turturro) and the two uncles (Maury Chaykin and Michael Richards.). The story has a lot of Jewish flavor and religious themes, pro and con. It's not an easy story to explain so I won't go past what I've said that it's simply an interesting portrait of a different-kind of family with lots of laughs early on but tears later.

You could get an idea early on that it's kind of a sweet movie, but there are some uncomfortable scenes in here. There is a little bit of about everything, guaranteed to strike everyone's emotions somewhere along the way. The story stayed with me long after I first watched it.

Very nice, touching movie. Made me cry. A story of a boy coming of age while dealing with a dying mother and rebelling against his father all in the context of a loving extended family. The (Jewish) cultural angle gave it authenticity. A fine performance by Nathan Watt but that John Turturro is really something. Michael Richards was essentially Kramer again. Interesting in that it is a woman director (Diane Keaton) who brings this story of male family love to the screen. While mom is very loving as well, she sadly and symbolically abandons Steven/Franz by dying and it is the weird (eccentric and harmlessly schizophrenic) uncles who support him thru it all, once again posing the question, "Who really are the crazy (or heroes, for that matter) among us?" I give it an 8.