Go (DVD)

...wallet, and tells him to go away for an hour. In the meantime, Simon causes havoc, culminating in them having to make a swift exit from the hotel.

Adam and Zack’s story – “In a half-ass, thrown together kind of way, we did the right thing”

Adam and Zack, the men who ask Ronna for the drugs, have other motives for asking her. This section follows them after the drug deal as they are invited to a couple’s house (with hilarious ...
...characters at the rave.

To say any more here would spoil some of the elaborate twists and turns in the plot, and some of the humour that comes from misconception of what’s actually happening.

Charge one – A teen movie?
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All the main actors in the movie are in their late teens or early twenties. However, when I think of teen movies, due to my age I invariably think of John Hughes, ... more

If you search the internet for ‘Go’ (and ignore anything not related to the film), you’ll find it variously touted as a ‘teen-movie’, ‘the movie Human Traffic wishes it was’ and ‘a rip-off of Pulp Fiction’. I’d like to look at these accusations in turn, but first let’s have a précis of the plot.

A small section about the plot
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‘Go’ revolves around a few characters, and the part they all play in a drug deal, and the rave going on that evening. The story is told in three sections, each one focusing on one character’s point of view of the action. There is also an end section which ties up the loose ends, although this section doesn’t have its own title screen.

Ronna’s story - “None of that crunchy herbal rave sh*t”

Ronna, Simon, Claire and Mannie are all employees of the local supermarket. Ronna is in danger of being evicted from her house the next day. Simon needs to get to Las Vegas, so he offers her his shift for the extra cash. Two men come to her till and ask her to find them some drugs – she arranges to meet up with them later. Ronna breaks the rules of drug dealing by going above Simon to his supplier, Todd. The deal goes wrong (as you might expect) and although Ronna gets to the rave and tries to scrape together the money to repay Todd, by the end of her section, she’s not looking too good.

Simon’s story – “You couldn’t be less black unless you was clear”

The section starts again with Simon offering Ronna his shift. He then goes to Las Vegas with Marcus, and two other friends. To stop him losing all his money, Marcus takes his wallet, and tells him to go away for an hour. In the meantime, Simon causes havoc, culminating in them having to make a swift exit from the hotel.

Adam and Zack’s story – “In a half-ass, thrown together kind of way, we did the right thing”

Adam and Zack, the men who ask Ronna for the drugs, have other motives for asking her. This section follows them after the drug deal as they are invited to a couple’s house (with hilarious consequences) and eventually cross paths with some of the other characters at the rave.

To say any more here would spoil some of the elaborate twists and turns in the plot, and some of the humour that comes from misconception of what’s actually happening.

Charge one – A teen movie?
====================

All the main actors in the movie are in their late teens or early twenties. However, when I think of teen movies, due to my age I invariably think of John Hughes, and his masses of funny, but touching, portrayals of teens having problems but sorting them out in a wholesome way.

The plot for this film revolves around sex, clubbing, and drugs; these might be covered in a John Hughes film certainly, but not in the same way. John Hughes would have shy virgins worrying about their first time, and lots of soul searching about how to get their friends to stop taking drugs. There is a scene in ‘Go’ in which Simon crashes a wedding, pretends to be Irish, gets the two bridesmaids drunk and stoned, and then shags both of them, shortly before setting fire to the room, and running off. I just can’t imagine Andrew McCarthy doing that in ‘Pretty in Pink’, can you?

Verdict – not guilty

Charge two – It’s the movie ‘Human Traffic’ wishes it were?
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If you haven’t seen ‘Human Traffic’ it’s a film about people clubbing and taking drugs, and the relationships they all have with each other. When it was released, people talked about it being a more optimistic ‘Trainspotting’, and I was bitterly disappointed. I didn’t care what happened to any of the characters; they were all annoying, had no morals, and I felt like I had nothing in common with them. Worst of all, they didn’t seem to enjoy what they were doing, which made me wonder why they bothered.

Whilst ‘Go’ focuses on the same sort of people, they are infinitely more likeable. They all look out for each other, and genuinely seem to be having a good time. The conversations they all have with each other are believable, as well as being very funny. There are no clever one-liners as such, just lots of interaction between people who like each other, and so the dialogue never seems forced. Even Simon, the most idiotic one of the lot, is hard to dislike – but you get the feeling that his friends feel the same about him. He gets them into trouble, because he won’t listen to their advice, but they still take care of him.

However, ‘Go’ doesn’t labour the point; these people do recreational drugs, and they enjoy it, but it is just another facet to the character.

Verdict – sort of guilty (it’s definitely better than ‘Human Traffic’, but it has different aims.)

Charge three - A rip-off of ‘Pulp Fiction’?
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The writer has clearly been influenced by Tarantino – the film follows the same story seen from three different angles, and like ‘Pulp Fiction’, each segment doesn’t focus exclusively on the parts of the plot relating to the main focus of the film (the drug deal). Simon’s section is only related to the other two by hearing the other side of the phone call he makes to Todd in Ronna’s section.

However, to call it a rip-off is denying the inventiveness with which August weaves together the story lines to create the climax – he might have borrowed the idea a little, but the style is all his own.

Verdict – guilty of the offence of borrowing the idea only

Final verdict and sentencing
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Whilst the structure of ‘Go’ is clearly not all that original, the story is brilliantly written – the dialogue is superb, and all the actors give the best performances I’ve seen from any of them. Doug Liman’s direction is, as usual, flawless – the same scene is filmed from many different camera angles, keeping it watchable, whilst the soundtrack fits perfectly with the mood of the film.

This film has been sentenced to be one of my top ten films of all time; it’s not clever, it’s not thought provoking, it’s just very funny, and enjoyable every time I watch it.

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All the other gumph you might need to know
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Director – Doug Liman
Writer – John August
Music – BT

Cast (including where you may recognise them from)
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Ronna – Sarah Polley (Dawn of the Dead, 2004)
Simon – Desmond Askew (Grange Hill - seriously)
Mannie – Nathan Bexton (Air Bud 2 – nothing to be proud of really)
Marcus - Taye Diggs (Equilibrium)
Claire – Katie Holmes (Dawson’s Creek)
Todd – Timothy Olyphant (Scream 2)
Adam – Scott Wolf (Party of Five)
Zack – Jay Mohr (Jerry Maguire)
Burke – William Fichtner (also in Equilibrium, but plays the voice of Ken Rosenberg in “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City”, fact fans)

Tributes to Other Films (that I could see)
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The Breakfast Club (the virginity line)
Reservoir Dogs (‘Magic Carpet Ride’ being used in a car chase)
Pulp Fiction (for the use of the same story from 3 angles)

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THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ MY REVIEW. IT’D BE GREAT IF YOU COULD RATE IT AND PERHAPS COMMENT ON IT FOR ME TOO!!
 

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