Stars:
Jake Busey, Bijou Phillips, Adam Goldberg, Natasha Lyonne, Crispin Glover, Eric
Roberts, Jennifer Tilly, and Ron Jeremy
Writers:
Bruce Craven, Peter Chase, and Salome Breziner
Director:
Salome Breziner
Feature
length: 108 minutes
Extras:
Trailers
Languages:
English Dolby Surround 2.0
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging:
Alpha Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 24
Sound:
Dolby Stereo Surround Sound
Year
of DVD Release: 2002
Home
Video Distributor: Lions Gate Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Jake
Busey plays Rick, a self absorbed L.A. cowboy and playboy whose idea of a
romantic night with his girlfriend (Natasha Lyonne) is to rent out porn films
featuring his favorite porn star Ginger Swan (Jennifer Tilly.) As patient and
understanding his girlfriend is of him, she is tired of Rick taking her for
granted, skipping out on picking her up at her night job, and she wants a man
that will make love to her, not to a fantasy on tape.
When
Rick spots his favorite porn star, he dumps his on the wagon junkie friend (Adam
Goldberg,) who secretly cares for Rick’s girlfriend and despite his checkered
past, actually might make a better boyfriend for her if only that he desires to
improve his life and would appreciate Rick’s girlfriend enough to treat more
like a lady.
Rick
has a night of fantasy sex with Ginger and then decides to show up at her Palm
Springs residence for some more action. Along the way he picks up a bizarre
introvert, with a borderline Norman Bates interest in birds played by Crispin
Glover. Their odyssey yields more surprises than Rick ever imagined and by the
end of the film events will explode into a climax he will never forget.
I
found the film as a whole entertaining with Crispin Glover virtually stealing
every scene he appears in by adding a new whacked character to his resume.
Jennifer Tilly is believable as porn star, and I’m not sure if that is
complimentary for her or not. Jake Busey is quite likeable in this film despite
his character’s jerk-off attitude (No pun intended.) Eric Roberts lends some
presence in a small, but important cameo role and Adult Film Actor and frequent
mainstream film extra Ron Jeremy has a cameo in the film as Rick’s
girlfriend’s boss. The interior sets look pretty cheap, but much of the film
takes place using real outside locations so the interiors are not too
distracting. The only complaint I have about the film is the rather flat ending.
I am not sure exactly what Busey’s character is supposed to have learned and
some story threads like the triangle between Busey, Goldberg, and Lyonne are
never resolved and what’s the deal with all the bird symbolism anyway?
Lions
Gate Home Entertainment presents “Fast Sofa” in a letterboxed (1.85:1)
aspect ratio, which is slightly uneven, with some scenes showing a bit of fine
grain yielding a soft look to the picture. This might be intentional, but I am
not sure. The English Dolby Surround Soundtrack is well mixed and is
complimented by optional English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish
Language Subtitles encoded on to the DVD.
(1.33:1)
home video trailers for “Fast Sofa” as well as Lions Gate Entertainment
previews for Richard Linklater’s “Rancid Aluminum” and “ Tape” wrap up
the extra features on this DVD. The
menus are made too look like a “Twister” game mat, which is appropriate for
the film in more ways than one and these standard interactive still frame menus
are also easy to navigate.
“Fast
Sofa” is available on DVD-Video now from Lions Gate Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.