Highball (2002)

Best movie of this year hands down!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

It's an intricate piece of deeply disturbing fluff that hooked me at 3am on IFC and forced me to watch it over and over again. I want to marry Carlos Jacott just for being Felix. Look, I understand that some people have found this movie to be "pointless" and "frustrating", it's very hard for some people to let go of the need for traditional story structure and endless back story and meet cutes. Maybe you don't know people like those in the movie but I do and I hope to meet more of them. At the end of the day who would you rather hang out with: Felix or Federline? I thought so. Sometimes a little highbrow cynicism goes a long way and sometimes tuneless karaoke is more moving than that song they can't stop playing when they salute the exiting American Idols.

I just watched this film and I was amazed at what an effect It had on me. It was very funny and weird, but most of all it was true. The writing was sharp and often hilarious, but the performances are what really pull it off. I often say that Chris Eigeman steals any movie he is in, but it doesn't happen in this movie. All the actors hit the right mark to create something that is rare in current independant films. No one in this film over or under acts. If you love dialogue driven comedies with some fine nuanced perfomances (ie Whit Stillman, kicking & screaming) you'll enjoy this flick.

I can't believe how much I laughed out loud at this movie. The comic energy that they managed to capture is outstanding. I just saw it recently and keep laughing when I remember certain moments- like Justine Bateman's shifting while the girl is talking about how she "used to love a gay man." I almost peed myself.

It might be creatively written, it might have been done a nice small budget, but I still can't give the movie much praise. While it tried its hardest to make the audience laugh, I kept waiting for a punchline that never appeared. Parts became monotonous, dragging so far as to invoke the fast forward button on my remote control. Possible it wasn't the script at all, it felt that the actors and actresses had little or no chemistry or emotion throughout.