The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (2008)

Nice effects though.

just watch it!

Good concept, poorly executed.

Amateur movie with Big budget

Well, i should try for a spot of Hollywood screenwriter, as this movie is just full of absurdities that it's hard to believe that people believe in it. To put it simply, a clean and young graduate is anxious with his future. So far, it's OK as classic did it before ("the graduate" for example). To bite the life, he hangs up with a free couple during his summer break. Still nothing to blame as this age is indeed for this kind of experience. But, then, crash: the father is Pittsburg's Maffia Don: Why ?? Is it again the problem to be respectable? In all cases, Nolte is a poor godfather and all the clichés are abused. Worst, this triangular friendship evolves not into a threesome but in another homosexuality struck! Even if he "does" Sienna, he finally discovers that he prefers his boyfriend and ready to live as a couple of thugs!!! Well, all this homo silly stories by straight people is like having a debate about feminism with only men: it's just unbelievable. However, Sarsgaard is always good for this misfit character and Sienna is sympathetic with her gentle, soft, smiling spirit. And it was good to come back to Pittsburg and unlike "Flashdance", this time we have a taste of its rural beauty.

I am a big Peter Sarsgaard fan. Ever since The Dying Gaul I have been looking and watching for every film he's in. Kinsey was another tour de force - proving as I suspected that Sarsgaard is the next big male star on the horizon. He's not handsome in the matinée idol way but there's a quality about him that is true star - he lights up the screen when he's on and you just cannot take your eyes off him - and contrary to the beautiful people he has a depth that grabs you and makes you wonder what he's going to do next - he's totally unpredictable - in Mysteries of Pittsburg he shines brightly especially in scenes with Jon Foster who at the moment is starring with Jenna Elfman in the CBS sit-com Accidentally on Purpose which is based on a book by a local journalist here in Northern California. Jon Foster is another fast rising young actor whose future seems bright and the sparks really fly between him and Sarsgaard. Their scenes shake the earth in terms of eroticism, unlike anything I've ever seen on the screen. They're so totally into women - both of them - that when they're into each other - it's not only a shock because it's so unexpected but it really does make one rethink things as I had to do since I've never understood how men can do the nasty - but here it seems perfectly natural, so natural in fact that I really had to think I was ignorant on the subject. The film moves at break-neck speed but the ending is a solid thud - a major disappointment in fact it's so trite and predictable.

Michael Chabon's 1988 novel " The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" was a novel about coming of age for a young man. The book is a fine account of a summer in the life of Art Bechstein, the son of a mobster who falls for Jane, a young woman, who is in love with another man. There is no doubt in our minds Rawson Marshall Thurber had the best intentions when he decided to adapt, then direct, this beloved work of many for the screen.The problem seems to be in the way Art comes out in the movie, where he also serves as the narrator as well. The way Mr. Thurber conceived his main character does not resonate with the viewer. It is never quite clear what did Jane and Cleveland see in this bland person to befriend and be part of a group; they are unevenly matched, to say the least.Cleveland is the most complex character in the novel. He is a bisexual man that is in the equation for the thrills he can get out of his situation with Jane. Art finds out soon enough what Cleveland is all about, but in the end he too is seduced by a guy that is a manipulator of the worse kind. It is also hard to believe, the way Cleveland is presented in the film he is the criminal he is supposed to be. Art, on the other hand, appears to be a closet homosexual, in spite of the sexual relationship he was having with Phlox, something that seems contrived and phony.Any film in which Peter Sarsgaard appears is worth a look. He is the most lively character in the picture. Mena Suvari shows up as a brunette with such a different look. It is hard to recognize her at first. Ms. Suvari is at her best in the film. Jon Foster is too bland to get anyone's attention. Nick Nolte plays Art's father. Sienna Miller, in spite of her looks, is an enigma in the movie.One thing that plays well is Theodore Shapiro's fine musical score. It gives the picture some class. Michael Barrett captures the spirit of the city, and its surrounding area in great images.

A friend of mine gave me this movie. A friend of mine is now in a hospital were a team of doctors are trying to surgically remove a DVD casing from his ***. I got quit excited by the prospects of an other Michael Chabon movie. After all his novels have brought me much entertainment and previous screenplay adaptations were great, but boy, was I wrong.First off the people that did the casting must have been asleep whilst doing so. I imagine the castings went something like this. "Tell me, do you like fish?" "Yes I enjoy fish very much." "Wonder full, you're hired. Have some money." Than there is the script. I have read Chabon, who I hope went blind before he could see this piece of dong, and it has absolutely nothing to do with his novel. I'm not quit sure why it annoyed me like it did, but it might have something to do with the fact that listening to a speech impaired 90 year old drunk duck hunter with a right cranial lobe dysfunction would have been a treat in comparison to the one-liners these 2nd degree model massacre kids spat out.This is an actual line from the movie; "If you tell me something that you've never said out loud to anyone before, than this moment becomes unique!" Unique? Does it? Does it really? Off course not you plank. Please pass me the Imodium. I'll have a whole ****ing strip. The directing is... well. I've got nothing. Maybe Rawson Marshall Thurber just got word his grandmother exploded or something. Stick to directing comedies. No stick to directing commercials. This movie is so horrible it left me banging my head against a wall so hard it brought me back to the stone age. I give it 2 stars because I don't wanna be the guy that watched a 1 star movie.