Steve Pulaski
Bobbie (Vincent Kartheiser) is a young, petty thief with little going for him by himself. If he continues to act alone, he's going to get nothing but screwed in the long run. However, he decides to team up with the charismatic junkie and thief Mel (James Woods), who is prepared to take the kid under his wing and make a true, big-time crook out of him. Bobbie brings along his girlfriend Rosie (Natasha Gregson Wagner) to work in unison with Mel and his longtime girlfriend Sid (Melanie Griffith) with plans to conduct a large drug heist that will provide them with another cash for life. The challenge at hand now is to assimilate Bobbie and Rosie to the cut-throat lifestyle of the drug life, and to get them in a position where they'll be able to survive.Another Day in Paradise comes from the uncompromisingly honest and brutal mind of Larry Clark, who answered with this film after his unbridled masterpiece Kids made waves of controversy a few years beforehand. Clark's subjects in that particular film were young, impressionable teenage boys and girls, running around New York unsupervised swearing, robbing, and having unprotected sex. Clark now sets his sights on a group of people who are slightly older but possess a similar, youthful, impulsive mentality about the world.Consider Mel, who constantly acts with animal-like dominance whenever he is challenged, mainly by Bobbie. "You never mess with a man's money, you never mess with a man's dope, and you never mess with a man's p****," Mel tells Bobbie when Bobbie remarks how attractive Sid is. This sort of animalistic protection over what Mel thinks is his carries over throughout the picture.Because Clark, who was already in his fifties making this film, has his reckless background and definitely has his checkered past, Another Day in Paradise feels authentic and real, mainly because we could see these series of events having their place in Clark's life. Whether or not the film is partially autobiographical is up for debate, but with every Clark effort comes shockingly natural and believable scenes involving teenagers or troubled subjects feels as if it could've been extracted from real-life circumstances. If not Clark's dizzying, completely fascinating style, the film needs to be seen for a terrifically over-the-top performance by James Woods, effectively stealing nearly every scene he finds himself in. Kartheiser and Wagner work well with what they have, in addition, and Melanie Griffith begins with her string of rebellious performances, continuing on with John Waters' Cecil B. Demented in 2001. Immediately, Another Day in Paradise finds itself sandwiched between Clark's exceptional directorial effort Kids and Clark's future directorial effort Bully, both of which I find to be more complete pictures with a smoother, more original focuses. This particular picture feels a bit sloppier, a bit more ordinary in its focus, and bears a style which can only be viewed as Clark being something he isn't, between the imperfect camera shots, dazed-and-confused style shooting, and the seventies-infused soundtrack. However, the film emphasizes what I love about Clark, which is do what you want, how you want, and let your age be your justification for experience and knowledge.Starring: Vincent Kartheiser, Natasha Gregson Wagner, James Woods, and Melanie Griffith. Directed by: Larry Clark.
Ishkandar Raskolnick
Another Day in Paradise is not the story of your life, it is not the story of my life. It is the story of Bonnie and Clyde at their early forties… They are junkies by now and they can't have children so they adopt a young fresh couple and they give them a place in their life. They become family… Things go wrong, of course... I loved the moment when this Clyde / Mel guy punches his Bonnie / Sid in the face for a reason…This film is an excellent choice for a rainy Sunday evening at home
dan_allegre
From the name of the movie to the not too ambiguous ending, we're in Hollywood. The premise is pretty familiar if you've ever seen more than 5 movies that are rated 'R'. It's a shoot-em-up (lots of heroin and guns) with the familiar sexy antihero couple roaming around the American southwest playing a high stakes game and dealing with character issues (though in this movie we get a new twist because there are two couples instead of one and one of them is old, so you can watch it with your parents).That said, the cinematography is really easy on the eye and the acting is excellent. James Woods gives a great performance even though he plays the same character he plays in other movies he's been in (casino, once upon a time in America, the onion field). Many of the reviews of this film include some comparison to Lary Clark's other big film, "kids". To me, it's hard to compare these movies because the intentions are so different. Which one you like better depends upon, well, what kind of movies you like (you probably would't like them both equally). I'm more of a 'kids' type of guy.Over all, a pretty decent flick. There's a lot of art and subtlety to the acting and there are some pretty powerful scenes. It could have used to loose some of the stanky Hollywood chiche's (how many brains have you seen get blown out in the movies in your lifetime?), but they can be fun I suppose. Maybe VH1 should have a 'top 100 brains getting blown out scenes' show.
NHNeil
What is it with people thinking that Larry Clark is actually talented? I saw two of his movies this week and this guy sucks. His movies go nowhere, have violence in them just for violence sake and if he made his movies any darker, you wouldn't be able to see what the hell was going on. Maybe that would be for the best.Why James Woods and Melanie Griffith would agree to be in this movie couldn't have been anything more than a venue to line their pockets.This movie wasn't as bad as Kids (1995) regarding the nudity that was needless but the violence made up for it. Anything I see with Clark's name on it at the video store will remain on the shelf as far as I'm concerned.
