5 Comments on SHOPPING

Peter Shelley on Tue, 8th Sep 2009 3:50 pm


I remember seeing this film at a preview screening at the time I was a paid film critic, mainly because it was one of those (thankfully) rare occasions where I wanted to walk out, but couldn’t (though that didn’t stop others from leaving). It was one of the worst experiences I had, with only the Michael Keaton/Geena Davis Speechless beating it as intolerable. (For Speechless I stretched my legs in the foyer before venturing back, so at least I could still hear the dialogue). It can now be considered with hindsight since it features Jude Law in an early role, but who could tell from this he would go anywhere. “Shopping” is the term used to describe driving a car through a store’s front window, which is what the characters in this film aspire to, in their car-fetish underworld. Director Paul Anderson attempts to create a futureworld as a parable for the rampant nihilism of British gangland youth but his film fails to connect with an audience on any level. It’s so negligible that it’s almost a parody eg the police apear for elaborate car chases when no-one has called them. The only remarkable thing about it is the odd visual - the opening aerial view of smoky industrialism, heads looking up in a roofless lift, a stop-motion video camera, and sad Dalmation statues. The actors are so under-directed that they just stare at each other. Wax beauty Law is like Tom Hanks with collagen lips, standing in the middle of oncoming traffic to get attention. His girlfriend is straddled with a ridiculous Irish accent and plays a car GameBoy, and their friend Tommy scowls like Caligula. Law keeps a manniquin and rebukes his girlfriend with “It’s not safe to have sex in the 90’s. She then goes to Tommy who runs a switchblade over her face. It’s not safe to be a woman in the 90’s.
Rating: 1 / 5
Shopping

DominionOnline on Tue, 8th Sep 2009 5:10 pm


For a flick which is chock-full of car crashes, cop-fleeing, and massive explosions, damn, this is surprisingly boring. Jude Law is fine with what he’s given to work with, but most of the other actors–Sean Pertwee, Sean Bean, and an achingly young, gangly Jason Isaacs–are completely wasted in this silly movie.
Rating: 1 / 5
Shopping

Anonymous on Tue, 8th Sep 2009 7:48 pm


This review is based on the movie not the DVD since I have not seen the DVD yet. I ordered the DVD based on the following: “Shopping” was directed and written by Paul Anderson (Event Horizon, Mortal Kombat, Soldier). In my opinion it is his best work to date. Jude Law and Sadie Frost are two well crafted actors, I have liked everything they have done. They are a real life couple and have also been in “Love, Honour and Obey” together. Another good movie worth buying, if you have a taste for that UK humour eg: “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch”.
Rating: 3 / 5
Shopping

Duncan C. White on Tue, 8th Sep 2009 8:06 pm


This film understands something that 99% of Hollywood films dont. Its the journey not the destination that matters. Most films are like inanimate objects these days, skeletal building frames carefully joined together to get to the pre-determined and cliched ending. Boring. Most Hollywood movies make me want to shoot myself in the head they’re so trite.

If you breathe life into the characters, setting, and film itself you dont need a destination, you dont need black and white. Everything speaks for itself.

Thats why theres so much hostility towards this film, it doesnt fit in a box.

The hero is an immoral thief, yet his humanity shines through and you cant help but like him. This film is reminscent of Menace II Society in the way you excuse the criminals to some degree for their crimes.

I deduct a point because the film is a bit glossy and the characters sexed up a bit for the screen.

Great film for those who dont need to be spoonfed.
Rating: 4 / 5
Shopping

anirak@asiaonline.net on Tue, 8th Sep 2009 10:05 pm


This is one of the few movies I’ve seen over the past 20 years that I have wanted to walk out of after ten minutes. The story, setting and characters all suck. A creaky script is dragged further through the mud by the clumsy attempts of Jude ‘quite posh really” Law to portray a joyriding adolescent, and all action is pedestrian, predictable and cliché-ridden in its presentation. The phenomenon of teenage boys TWOC and driving Volvo estates through shop windows is potentially a great cinema story, but it’s not one that is told here. This is a piece of tat which was an embarrassment to British film-making at the time and, next to a genuine criminal caper like “Lock, Stock…” looks like one of the Children’s Film Foundation’s poorer efforts. Really, don’t waste your time on it. I wish I hadn’t.
Rating: 1 / 5
Shopping

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