Illtown (1996) User Reviews

Pretensions abound

[artimusduck · 4/10 · 16 July 2003]

Man, I can't believe I stayed up until 1am watching this mistake on IFC. I really enjoyed Laws of Gravity (granted I saw it almost 10 years ago and my opinion may be quite different if I saw it today), so I figured Illtown would be at worst an engaging if not unique film. The thing is, it's not a extremely bad film, it's just drops the ball in alot of places, is pretentious in many others and is a mess and a failure at the end. I mean, to start with, Gomez seems to equate putting vague segues, low talking and excruciating overused slo-mo with standard crime film cliches as great film making. The talent is there with Rappaport (Wigger #1, my man!), Taylor and Corrigan, the cinematography is creative, and the story, while not unique, is engrossing enough to make you want to spend 90 minutes on. The pacing is tolerable at first and the quiet slow dialog between Rappaport and Taylor is captivating for about 45 minutes, but then cliches, unrealistic criminal behaviour and TONY DANZA derail this into what ultimately is a failure, and an irratating one at that. The characters, Gabriel and D'Avalon in particular, are portrayed as too "cool for words", as if we are suppossed to be impressed with them because the filmatic cues instruct us to. Gabriel is terribley overacted, his motives are legit but his execution of his plan is absurdlly plotted, confusing and devoid of the tension Gomez seems to think we'll allow him without earning it. People are killed left and right in what is suppossed to be shockinging casualness but comes off more comical and absurd (aparently the only cops beside the corrupt one are the ones in flashbacks.) It's like Gomez picked the top 5 most public places to NOT commit a murder and just offs people without consequence. That isn't shocking, it's dopey. "Hey, I'll kill one of my crew out of tough guy spite in my girlfriend's apartment like it was ordering a pizza!" Ooooooooh, how Tarantino. Rappaport is OK (he isn't bad at all, rather likeable, but is kind of trapped in a crummy movie), Taylor is actually quite good (and as a cheap "guy" aside, she's actually kinda cute in this movie. After seeing her in one too many "ugly duckling/manly psycho" roles this was refreshing). It was nice to see her character as business equal, not just "minor drug lord's girlsfriend". I really liked Corrigan who's occasional overblown performance seems more a result of a cliched script than his ability. But really, the absurdity of absurdities is DANZA. Poking holes in a Tony Danza performance is like shooting fish in a barrel then stomping on them in jackboots on the driveway, so I feel pretty cheap doing this. The roles as it appears he was directed and dictated by ridiculous dialog (drug lord dialog 101) would be terrible if it was Pacino, for Godsake, but with Danza it's atrocious. Hey, I'm all for reinventing youself (I still applaud Stallone for Copland and I still foolishly root for the never-materializing Great Jim Carrey dramatic role). The man simply had no clue how to approach this already cliched character, so he did what he thought would come off as "important": he spoke low, added a bit of lame fey (oooh, the drug lord is gay, so I'll play him like a angry dandy), started every scene with a disarming non-sequitor . . . ugh. What a pretentious pile of crap. Questions abound: Why didn't Gabriel just kill Dante? How was the corrupt cop in Florida and Boston? Why do bodies lie undiscovered for days? Where is everyone in this city? Why doesn't Gabriel look anything short of an chiseled underwear model after getting beat with a pool cue and strangled (not a damn mark on him after loosing teeth and turning purple)? What the HELL is the deal with Isaac Hayes? And DOES DANTE DIE? Is the abiguity suppossed to impress me? It just comes off as stupid.

Not nearly as good as "Laws of Gravity".

[FATLOSER · 26 October 1999]

After being completely blown away by "Laws of Gravity" and "New Jersey Drive" I had great expectations for this bigger-budget, bigger-talent movie. Unfortunately this effort fails to achieve what Gomez's earlier offerings did so successfully. I think the biggest problem with the film is the pacing. All of the heroin-induced deadpan dialogue just wears the momentum out of the story. The talent here is just wasted in a cloudy disembodied attempt at a realistic portrayal of the world of heroin in Miami. My advice, stick with Gomez's earlier films and hope for future success from this very talented director.

do NOT waste your time....

[avanwhy · 1/10 · 28 January 1999]

... with this pretentious, "confusing as hell" movie. Some bad movies are worth watching just to see how bad there are... this is NOT one of those movies....

Worth watching, but falls apart toward the end

[Uthman · 7/10 · 2 April 2001]

Sporting an excellent cast and appealing stylistic elements, ILLTOWN visits the theme of what happens when people trapped in a life of crime they began as kids are drawn by the normal maturation process to middle-class values. Like much good storytelling, this film starts with vagueness and confusion but gradually gels into a coherent story. The problem is that it falls apart again in the last third, and we are never sure what really happened to the characters at the end. Still, the film is eminently watchable, and if you can handle the irresolution, I would recommend it for rental.

Illtown (Lake Worth Fl)

[hekat · 3/10 · 21 May 2006]

I just watched the movie (05-21-06), and never heard of it before. I even live in Lake Worth, Fl where it was filmed. It was really strange cause after awhile I was unsure of what was going on in the movie since there were so many people doing drugs and hallucinating. I didn't know what was what, but what I did enjoy was trying to figure out where certain scenes were being filmed at. Thats basically what kept me watching the movie till the end. A few scenes were made right at Bryant Park and the outskirts of the park where the fisherman unload their boats. They even sat at he Gulfstream hotel at one point which is across the street from Bryant Park. The funniest part of the movie was where the one young kid stole a car out of the 7-11/laundry mat parking lot and it shows him driving and driving and when he finally crashes it is actually on the same exact block of where the car was stolen from, just one building over. That just made me laugh.

Not perfect, but certainly a keeper to me.

[johnboy1 · 7/10 · 15 March 2005]

Many people hate movies that skip over the happy endings, or fail to feature any likable characters, but I'm not like that, at all. If you are, you probably won't like this movie.

Most of the characters are unscrupulous, and in some cases, downright despicable. I love that in a movie. Hehe.

It kept my attention all the way through with lots of action, and the final shootout was awesome.

I love Lili Taylor in anything, and she's great here. Also worth noting are the performances of a couple of highly underrated actors....Paul Schulze and Adam Trese. Watching Tony Danza play a gay crimelord is a hoot.

Sure, it's downbeat, gritty, and dreary, but isn't that what gangsters and drug trafficking is all about? Love it!

What's wrong with this picture?

[ruffrider · 3/10 · 24 January 2006]

This story of murder and betrayal among drug dealers gets suitably gritty treatment from the writer and director, but unfortunately the whole thing seems out of focus, like one long drug-induced haze. Michael Rappaport plays Dante, a dealer who delivers his illegal wares to the disco crowd of south Florida via the high-school-aged punks who work the streets for him. Dante's life starts to spin out of control when said punks betray him to strike out on their own, leading to the murder of one of them and ending with Dante having to fight for his life when a rival sends his own gang of vicious kids after him. There are some good shootouts, warm interplay between Dante, his wife and Dante's right-hand man and many dream sequences, as Rappaport and Company recall happier days, which are increasingly in stark contrast to the reality around them.

What throws the movie off its narrative track are the extended slo-mo's, too many of the afore-mentioned dream sequences, the total lack of any human beings in sight except drug dealers and the baffling scenes where Tony Danza, as Dante's drug overlord, talks a little like an Eastern guru giving life lessons in metaphors. Wouldn't such a man - whose power would be backed by fear and violence - be screaming "Where is my f___ing money? and I'll kill you!" when one of one of his dealers (Dante) suddenly stops bringing in the money? What's frustrating about this film is the fact that when it works (gritty environs, vivid shootouts, nice supporting performances by Lili Taylor, Adam Trese and Kevin Corrigan) it's good, but when it's over you don't know what happened to Dante (the movie ends on one of its many dream sequences) and you feel like you've nodded off for an hour and a half and dreamed something about drug dealers in south Florida, but you can't remember what.

Oh. My. Gaw...

[piccard_a · 1/10 · 8 July 2006]

This is a bad movie. Very, very bad. Pretentious. Confused. Laugh out loud unrealistic. And violent. Stupidly, lovingly violent. Plus it has Tony Danza. One small example: there's a shootout at the end between the two main characters. The "good" guy drug dealer shoots his handgun 23 times without reloading. 23. If you watch closely you'll see his slide lock back at least twice in the quick back and forth cuts between the shooters but he clearly never reloads. And the people who are shot?!!?? They lie dead on the ground, in public places, and in one case for seemingly more than a day, and no one does anything or even notices. They must live in Vice City...

Startling, unique film

[JimFK · 8/10 · 18 July 1999]

Illtown's a startling 180 from the documentaryish "Laws of Gravity", from the same director and much of the same supporting cast...this is a dreamlike, strangely structured film about drug dealers that sets up an expectation of a typical revenge flick, but by the end we don't quite know who's the "good" guys or the "bad" guys, and despite the narrative setting up one set of characters as the protagonists, the antagonist ends up in many ways as sympathetic, if not more, for this is a film that doesn't fill us in on the backstory for some time...watch it for Corrigan's great monologue about his wife three quarters of the way in, just one of many great moments in this truly weird, violent, unsettling film...

heroin scarface

[housecountrywife · 9/10 · 6 April 2012]

As the title says, I find this to be sort of the 'heroin' version of Scarface though the stories are not identical. The movie features strong actors who can be seen in movies/shows like True Romance, Copland, American Pie, The Sopranos, The Substitute, Ransom, etc.

The movie is trippy/surreal so in some ways it's comparable to David Lynch's directing style. The story revolves around drug dealers and an ex-dealer getting out of prison and trying to reclaim his place in the drug world in Florida. i don't want to give the story away, but you can assume from the aforementioned summary of the plot, that there will be friction, and deaths.

strong movie, obviously from the rating, it's poorly underrated.

I think Nick Gomez is awesome.

[tara-18 · 4 August 2002]

I just watched Illtown on video, 6 years after it came out. Better late than never! I loved Laws of Gravity and wondered what happened to Nick Gomez. I knew he was directing some TV stuff (Oz, the Sopranos) and unfortunately didn't get around to seeing Illtown when it was in the theatres. Nick Gomez's directing style is so unique and powerful, and his sense of color and detail is incredible. Illtown reminded me alot of Soderberg's "The Limey", in its sophisticated sense of space and geography. Gomez's use of the Florida landscape and architecture is just as expressive as the incredible cast of characters he assembled, just as his location of Williamsburg, Brooklyn did in Laws of Gravity. I loved this film, and I encourage anyone who has any taste to see it.

Worth Seeing

[lwilensky · 8/10 · 3 October 2001]

This film lacks credibility, but it is certainly worth watching. Though not nearly as good as "Laws of Gravity", it is well paced and flows along dreamily like the heroin trip it portrays. Lili Taylor delivers a decent performance, though Michael Rapaport is a bit stale.

worth your while

[Blaise_B · 20 July 2003]

Though a deliberately confusing ending ultimately undermines this film's potential, an excellent cast and unique storytelling approach make it well worth the time for anyone not expecting a straight-forward crime picture.

Director Nick Gomez, also responsible for "Laws of Gravity" and "New Jersey Drive," once again proves that he refuses to be predictable. The former plays like an updated "Mean Streets" overseen by the ghost of John Cassavetes and the latter like a straight-forward entry in the "Boyz in the Hood" sub-genre. "Illtown," on the other hand, is an ultra-stylized revenge/crime thriller mixed with a character drama mixed with wierd surrealism. The only thing I can think of to compare it to, at least on some levels, is Sergio Sollima's equally slow-paced and dreamy "Violent City." The Florida locations fit the mood perfectly. The protagonists are a bunch of laid-back, golf playin' smack dealers one would genuinely enjoy serving in a restaurant or at a ticket counter; the stereotpyes normally attached to their way of life are conspicuously absent. The final shoot-out between Rappaport and Trese is all style and no substance, but in such an oddly good way, it had me gawking with awe.

Lili Taylor, Adam Trese and Kevin Corrigan, all relative unknowns (which irks me), are all great here. Michael Rappaport, while somewhat over-exposed at this point, was also under-appreciated at the time of this film's release. He, Gomez regular Saul Stein, and even the oft-annoying Tony Danza all rise to the material, for which they are aptly cast.

Like I said, the end left me frustrated, but the overall experience is well worth it.

Good Acting

[Bryan Wayne · 9/10 · 16 February 2000]

I felt this was a movie that was well acted. The story was very good. Until you have been in that element you do not realize how true that story can be. The story about Trese's character's wife is great. Tony Danza was also good.

Atrociously underrated

[JDK2003 · 10/10 · 29 April 2003]

Nick Gomez' "Illtown" is a brilliant film that seems like a genre picture on the surface, but it transcends almost every aspect of the "drug-crime picture" by eliminating typical plots and conventions. The pace is slow, dark, surreal, and incredibly original. Very few people have ever even heard of this movie. Those who have seen it don't like it since it has the courage to be different and focus on the characters instead of action and shoot-outs. It's time for the DVD to be released.

ONE OF THE WORST MOVIES OF ALL TIME

[doowop · 7 September 2002]

This film is very poorly directed and edited. I got the impression that the editor took all the pieces of the film and put them in a hat and then spliced them together in a random order. Flashbacks merge into present-tense without any rhyme or reason. Momentary images of characters pop up without justification. I watched this because I love the work of Lili Taylor who is forgettable but not offensive in this; not so for Michael Rappaport who appears to be using some of the drugs that he sells in the movie. There's an amazing last shot in the film where Rappaport is supposed to have hit a golf ball on a golf course. His gaze goes up and out to show that he's hit the ball `hundreds of yards' but it is obvious, even without freeze-framing, that the ball actually dribbles about 20 feet in front of him. The reason that I hated this movie so much is that it COULD have been good with it's fine cast and interesting script - I'll never watch a Gomez film again.

Had me until the end ++ Possible Spoilers ++

[LatigoMeans · 6 September 2002]

I enjoyed "Laws of Gravity" and figured this would be as good. I like watching Michael Rappaport, and this was no exception. Tony Danza was a surprise heavy and the rest of the cast held their own. Kevin Corrigan was excellent as was his delivery of the story about his wife. All in all, a film whose characters kept you involved in their life of crime, the criminal's own concepts of honor and their delivery of retribution. The youth gang standing around after Dante's payback for Cisco didn't make much sense, unless you are to suppose they were merely robots and did not act unless directed accordingly. Neither did the casual attitude about bodies laying around until the requisite characters in the film got their 'look see'. Poetic justice? OK. But that ending was the most confusing in a long time. It just leaves me unsatisfied with any spin I've put on it. That ending golf cart sequence sure didn't help clarify anything either <G>. Fore!!!

Surrealist Cinema?

[garrymitchell2002 · 27 May 2006]

...artistic, cultural and intellectual oriented toward the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative faculties of the "unconscious mind" and the attainment of a state different... the "sur-real", or "more than real". Drug dealing and dirty cops are confusing...the movie reflects it. It's no tour de force! It is a series of vignettes often presented out of sequence. George(aka Isaac Hayes) = racial undertones. Needless to say this movie is not about race. Or is it? Inner city youth dress, speak and display "Illtown" attitude(s). FINAL ANALYSIS: this production has the players, enablers, misguided youth and violence that is expected in the genre. The film is not likable because it is top heavy with editorial and special effects that are not needed to depict the morass of drug abuse. Just say NO!