jrcoxx Since my first viewing of this film, I have never been quite able to get it out of my mind. The principal characters interact in simultaneously theatrical and believable fashions, and Genevieve Bujold as the crazy "Doctor Love" is simply irresistible. David Carradine is a sympathetic nut-case -- not an easy job to pull off, and Lesley Anne Warren is both strong and incredibly vulnerable. If you like a film with continuous contrasts and quirky ensemble cast, this is the movie for you. but don't hold out for a happy ending, even though you might? get one... wonderfully quirky and complex, this film bears many a repeat viewing. You will discover something new every time, nd, if you pay close attention, is sure to become a favorite.

eascheffler This movie is one of my all time favorites. The other folks covered some of its highlights, let me add a couple. This dark smoky film noir is one of those romantic bedroom farces where everyone ends up sleeping with each other at least once in their search for love and fulfillment, while a saxophone wails jazzy riffs in the background.Irony is in this movie's constant embrace. Dr. Love is a relationship "expert" who has no experience therein and has no idea what love is. Mickey is "a compulsive liar" whose every utterance turns out to be right on the money, yet no one believes a word. Pearl is black, nicknamed Whitey, who tries to write poetry but can't write a pearl to save her soul. Johnny Aces does virtually nothing but strike out. Start getting the picture? Add postmodern touches like referential film posters at Pearl's place, the appearance of Ed Ruscha-famous ironic painter-and you've got Alan Rudolph's best picture. It's a gem from start to finish.

preppy-3 Lesley Ann Warren owns a bar in LA. She has the habit of sleeping around with almost any man--she's just looking for love. Genevieve Bujold plays a radio relationship talker, Dr. Love. She has severe issues herself with love and sex. Keith Carradine is a drifter who enters their lives...and things go barreling out of control.Very strange but great movie. It's shot mostly at night in beautiful film noirish settings (look at all the smoke in the bar and at a card game). It's also one of the most romantic films I've ever seen. There's a virtually nonstop score by Teddy Pendergrass--soft romantic songs that perfectly set the mood. All the dialogue is about love, sex and relationships but on a very adult, intelligent level. It's full of great lines and sharp insights. It all leads up to a happy ending (sort of).The cast is just excellent. Warren is fascinating--sexy and beautiful but deeply damaged. She shows it through her face and expressions extremely well. Carradine plays the whole role with a blank face--but that fits his character (a compulsive lair). He is so many things to himself and everybody else that he has no identity. Best of all is Bujold in a very difficult role--she has the play a sex radio therapist who is perfectly in control and a woman who has NO control over her life and loves. Everything about her (especially her voice) changes between the characters and you always see both inside her at the same time. She also has a few monologues that are fascinating and funny at the same time. Rae Dawn Chong is pretty good in a supporting role--love her apartment (check out the posters on the wall). Patrick Bauchau is pretty bad in another supporting role--but not enough to destroy the movie.Direction by Alan Rudolph is great. He bathes many scenes in red lights and I LOVE how the camera moves back and forth during a conversation between Bujold and Carradine. He also wrote the great script. One minor complaint--Bujold has a few short, dark fantasies which are never explained. What was all that about? This was a big art house hit back in 1984 and deservedly received a cult following. But it seems to have disappeared since then (the DVD was released with no fanfare at all). Still it's well worth seeing.

marymorrissey Although I have to say it's . . . a little disconcerting to rate a movie#1 and I think top 10 lists are like. . . film festival programming, itseems to be an impossible job to make one that is at all sound... Ihave to say nonetheless that this is my favorite movie of all time.Aside from the entertainment value and the sweetness what reallyis profound about this movie is it's view of love/romance. It's veryantiromantic or anti hollywood romance tradition in its wisdom tosuggest that love isn't a matter of finding "the one" as keithcarradine says in the movie "there might be plenty of other peoplewho would fit the bill but we're here and they're not" it's about 2people making a decision to lose it for each other . . . At the sametime AR's films really do seem to have this "one and only" theme,e.g. The Moderns. So. .. it's kind of dialectical or what have you, too. It's too bad his earlier film "Remember My Name" is pretty much offthe map. Starring Geraldine Chaplin and Anthony Perkins it wasanother of his really interesting movies. Just about everything elsesince from him has been such a disappointment. I didn't manageto see "Afterglow" I'm sorry to say. "Trixie" was just a piece ofgarbage. I don't know what happened to this guy . . . sigh