taking a few tips from the pulp fiction school of filmmaking , go is the new feature from the director of the cult hit swingers .
the story centres around a group of people , who include brit simon ( askew ) , and checkout girls claire ( holmes ) and ronna ( polley ) and the misadventures that they get into , split into three chapters .
everything from sex to drugs to violence is covered in a film with a much blacker edge in comedy than swingers .
although qt’s touch is evident in nearly every frame , go is entertaining enough to forget about the similarities and just enjoy the rollercoaster ride .
liman , who also photographed the film , has a deft touch with the camera , and the film looks good .
the film also seems to have benefited from a budget , with the night-club scenes in particular looking pretty good .
there’s a twisted sense of humour running throughout which ensures that even the darkest scenes get a smirk .
the young cast are talented and help bring the story to life .
holmes , one of the dawson’s creek cast ( a show i’m not particularly fond of ) displays much talent here , and despite her largely limited screen time manages to make a three dimensional character and never becomes a caricature .
askew is slightly successful , being rather obnoxious .
no doubt the filmmakers intended this to make the audience cheer when what happens to him , but instead of ‘funny annoying’ he’s just annoying .
he drags down slightly one of the funniest chapters , but the talent around him in that particular tale more than makes up for it .
the real standout is sarah polley as the drug dealing checkout girl : her refreshing and deeply enjoyable performance makes the heavy going stories she is involved in much more entertaining .
also entertaining timothy olyphant as the rather sinister drug dealer , who gives an nice evil performance .
the script , written john august , is sharp and witty , with good dialogue and some funny jokes .
it starts off rather slow however , but in about twenty minutes the script has found it’s footing and just keeps getting better .
the stories are largely satisfying , although occasionally there’s too much attention on one detail but not on another .
also , some of the endings seem a little forced and lucky .
still , the cast have a meaty script to get into and obviously enjoy it .
it could of tried a little harder in some parts however , and these parts lag .
because this is a gen-xer movie , the obligatory rave soundtrack must accompany , and go’s one is pretty decent .
unlike other gen-xers movies , go never allows the music to substitute for plot or dialogue , which is a plus .
go is a very easy movie to absorb into , and the audience really starts feeling for these characters .
thankfully , they never become two dimensional characters who are bent and twisted throughout the movie to fit into the stories mechanics ( like the heroine in 10 things i hate about you . )
they are who they are and they stay that way .
go is great fun , and a worthy follow up from the director of swingers .
ignore the fact that it steals from pulp fiction and very bad things , and just sit back and enjoy the rollercoaster ride .
erm , go to go , i guess .