An alcoholic tries to make sense of his life that's spiraling away from him.
PLOT:
Tommy Basilio (STEVE BUSCEMI) is an unemployed alcoholic who spends his nights hanging out at the Trees Lounge and his days upstairs sleeping off his hangover. A former mechanic, he's recently been fired from a garage owned by his former best friend Rob (ANTHONY LAPAGLIA) who also "stole" and married Theresa (ELIZABETH BRACCO) his girlfriend of eight years. But most of the time he hangs out with another alcoholic, Mike (MARK BOONE JUNIOR), who's having marital problems with his wife, Marie (ESZTER BALINT). Things change for Tommy when his Uncle Al dies and he takes over his ice cream truck route and meets up with Debbie (CHLOE SEVIGNY), Theresa's seventeen-year-old niece. There's some chemistry between the two that doesn't please her father, Jerry (DANIEL BALDWIN) and from that point on, Tommy just tries to exist and ponder the direction his life has taken.
WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
It's doubtful this movie will be of any interest of kids, except perhaps for older teens who might be drawn to the bar scene story line.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R
For plentiful strong language and some drug content.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
STEVE BUSCEMI plays an alcoholic drug user who sleeps with a seventeen-year-old girl.
MARK BOONE JUNIOR plays an alcoholic drug user who tries to pick up other women although he's married and trying to reconcile with his wife.
CHLOE SEVIGNY plays a seventeen-year-old who drinks and smokes both cigarettes and pot. She also sleeps with Tommy.
While certainly not a happy story, this movie is full of enough quirky characters and black humor to make the ugly parts bearable. Steve Buscemi perfectly plays the role of the main character and one sense his desperation but inability to overcome his drinking demons. The supporting cast is good all around and as said before, there's enough black humor (ie. laughing at things you might not ordinarily find funny) to sustain the film's many slow moments. Some people will hate this film while others might find it to be an interesting character study of down and out individuals. We think it's somewhere in between and thus give it a 5 out of 10.
OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
While kids will probably avoid seeing this film, older teens might see it. It contains extreme use of alcohol and there are many scenes with people drinking and/or drunk. There's also some drug use (particularly by a seventeen-year-old). Profanity is extreme and it's implied that the main character and the seventeen-year-old have sex (but nothing more than passionate kissing is seen).
There's some marital discord and arguing concerning a secondary character. The one main violent scene deals with the main character being chased with and eventually hit by a baseball bat. This certainly isn't an uplifting movie and none of the main characters are anywhere near being good role models. As always, we suggest you read the scene listings for every category before allowing any children to see this movie.
There are several scenes where cocaine is snorted. Tommy's cousin, Matthew, uses it after his father's death. Tommy tries to snort some (supplied by Mike), but is interrupted. Later, Mike is interrupted from snorting coke when the phone rings and he chases everyone out of his house, including Tommy who tries to snort some when he comes back in.
Tommy and Mike roll their own joints and smoke pot. They then give a joint to Debbie (17 years old) and another woman. Later Debbie says that she's "stoned."
Since most of the story takes place in a bar, there's an extreme amount of drinking of beer, whiskey and other liquor consumed in the bar and in other locations.
Many characters are occasionally seen drunk and/or passed out.
There is a drinking contest between Tommy and a woman where, after drinking shots of "wild turkey," he'll try to drink two glasses of beer before she can drink a shot glass of beer.
A bartender tells Tommy that he'll give him ten dollars if he doesn't drink his beer and leaves the bar. Tommy takes the money and then quickly downs his beer and leaves.
Tommy admits that he was fired from working at Rob's garage after he "borrowed" $1,500 from the gas station and lost it all gambling in Atlantic City.
Rob is suspicious that his and Theresa's unborn baby might have been fathered by Tommy (since the two of them dated for eight years and he thinks Theresa still has a thing for Tommy).
Mike flirts with and tries to pick up other women while still trying to make amends with his wife.
Tommy gives marijuana to and later sleeps with a seventeen-year-old teenager.
After Jerry's thrown everything out of Tommy's ice cream truck (see "Violence" for details), local kids swoop up the money, ice cream and candy off the street for themselves.
An ice cream truck slowly swerves down a street (after its driver has had a heart attack) and nearly hits a boy who waits until the very last moment to get out of the way.
While we didn't hear any, there are many songs (covering a wide span of music) that may have something inappropriate in them, but were played too quietly in the background or under dialogue to pick out any such material.
57 "f" words (1 used sexually, 1 used by a little girl, 1 used as slang: "bopped"), 16 "s" words, 12 "ass" words, 2 hells, 1 slang term for female genitals (the "p" word), 1 damn, and 3 uses each of "God" and "Christ," 2 uses each of "Jesus Christ," "For Christ's sake," "Swear to God," and "Oh God," and 1 use each of "Oh my God" and "Jesus" as exclamations.
It's said that Rob stole Theresa from Tommy, "...f*cked her, and knocked her up."
Uncle Al, seen on an old videotape, is called "Pinocchio" by some teens at a birthday party. He then grabs one of them, sets her on his lap, and says that there's "something else growing (other than his nose)."
Tommy, also on videotape, threatens to "whip it out" while faking that he's going to pull down his zipper.
There's a good amount of sexual tension between Tommy and Debbie (17 years old and his former girlfriend's niece). After getting "high" together, they end up on the floor passionately kissing. Nothing more is seen, but the next morning he drives her home and they both look uncomfortable. Thus, it's implied that they had sex, although he later states that they "only made out."
The bartender hopes that she didn't say the wrong thing to Jerry when he came looking for Debbie. Tommy then says, "What, like he's bopping (slang for sex) your daughter?"
Mike and Marie are having marital problems (due to his heavy drinking) and she eventually takes their daughter and stays at her mother's. Later they argue in front of their daughter (about Marie and the daughter moving away). Even later, she's suspicious (and rightly so) of Mike having women over at their house the night before.
Family members are seen at Uncle Al's funeral.
Debbie runs away from home after her father has beat her for not staying at her friend's house the night before.
Rob grabs Tommy's finger and bends it backwards after he tires of Tommy hanging out in front of his garage.
Mike and Matthew (Uncle Al's son) get into a fight in the bar and have to be separated (all we see is struggling with no punches thrown).
A truck hits the back of Tommy's car. No one is hurt, but the car is damaged a little.
Some older kids, playing stick ball, whack Tommy's ice cream truck when he drives by them.
Tommy mentions that Jerry (Debbie's father) once saved him in a fight by bashing a large and heavy ashtray onto the other guy's head.
Debbie tells Tommy that her father "wailed" on her (hit) after he found out she didn't spend the night at her friend's house. Many bruises are seen on her arms.
Jerry chases Tommy (after learning that he slept with his daughter) and yells, "You're f*cking dead" and "I'll f*cking kill you." They end up on a baseball field where Tommy climbs a fence to avoid being hit by the baseball bat that Jerry's wielding. Jerry then goes to the ice cream truck and begins smashing the windows and a headlight. When Tommy tries to stop him, Jerry hits him on the head with the bat. Jerry then proceeds to throw all of the ice cream, candy, and money out onto the street.
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