The New Age (1994)

What makes it different from others?

Nice effects though.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Gee ... I started to type in One of and the computer filled in the rest, so obviously ... i've named some other movie here on the IMDb one of my favorites ... oh well ... room for more than one.This movie, The New Age, is one of those great black comedies that sort of fell through the cracks on release ... and for some odd reason has not yet been released on DVD, which is a shame.I just rented it tonight and dragged my VHS player out so I could watch it. It's been awhile since I've seen it ... just some great lines and scenes ... a walk through southern California new age spiritualism and materialism ...A very intelligent script ... great acting and casting ...

This movie is not fun to watch like those wonderful Bob Fosse films or any of the movies shown on American Movie Classics or network television, but it does carry a couple of compelling messages. First, those who go into sales would be well advised to avoid selling to friends. Second, those who work in telemarketing are corrupted more by their occupation than a person's dead body is by the agents of decay. This movie contains the best examples of the sociopathic nature of sales people since the chapter of Steinbeck's, "The Grapes of Wrath," about the thought process of a used car salesman in the Great Depression. It would have rated a "10" if there had been a scene at end where the main characters were shown burning in hell.

Michael Tolkin impressed me so much with his film "The Rapture" that it was certainly depressing to then see his talents go to waste with this absurd comedy of lost morals. A graphic designer and her Hollywood honcho husband are in big financial trouble: she has no clients and he just quit his job. Some of their solutions are quirky and interesting, but the characters are off-base right from the start. Tolkin is the new Sidney Lumet: everyone screams irrationally at everyone, but it's tough to discern whether or not we're supposed to laugh at their banal verbal matches--from opposite ends of their swimming pool! In the leads (another problem), Judy Davis and Peter Weller can't work up any semblance of chemistry, or to even convince us they're a high-powered married couple. A few of their marital predicaments are worked out amusingly (they separate within the house, and date others), but their jealousies and insecurities are a bore. Tolkin (the screenwriter of "The Player") pretends to know these people. He's pseudo-hip. It would be to his ultimate advantage if he broadened his horizons...or maybe made some new friends. *1/2 from ****

This film was a complete surprise to me. It's clever, funny and very thought-provoking. Judy Davis and Peter Weller (that man is underrated) both deliver excellent performances. A warning: The ending isn't quite the usual happy salvation, but it really does hit the perfect note on one of the main themes of the film: You can't always get what you want. And pushing that very feeling to the viewer just before the credits is perhaps the cleverest thing about the whole film.