dallasryan Charles Bukowski's essence was found in this movie, by the director, by the whole production and by last, but not least, Matt Dillon (Henry Chinaski is Charles Bukowski). Finally a film that nailed Bukowski's essence dead on! I was very impressed. A very beautiful and funny film. It's funnier in the beginning and starts losing steam towards the end, but still, all around a great film. The final voice over monologue will leave you with chills going up your spine by how spot on Chinaski is about life. Some beautiful moments in the film are moments where they just are, you just observe the characters. Eckhart Tolle fans will appreciate this movie, this is the stuff Eckhart is talking about, these moments that are shown in this film. A movie that was not going to make money, but that was true to the master, the genius in Charles Bukowski. Very well done. Matt Dillon is excellent. Lili Taylor is superb. She is one of the most underrated actresses of our time. Check this film out. Bukowski lovers will love it, and if you don't know who Bukowski is and you love this film, do yourself a favor and go buy one of his books right away. You are in for a big treat, one that will leave you wanting to read more and more of this brilliant man's work.

brucetwo This is not the Bukowski novel of the same title. Some of the incidents are from that book, others are from Buk's other stories. But much of the point of Bukowski's writing seems to have been missed. None of his intelligence, skepticism, humor and the grim determination to survive and "get through" life. This film's Chinaski just seems to be only a guy who likes to drink and get into fights (which is part of Bukowski's writing, but only the most superficial). Kind of reminds me of the "dumbed down" Clint Eastwood movie "Every Which Way But Loose" where he is driving around in a truck with a monkey or orangutan or something. Interesting that some of the scenes from another Bukowski-inspired film--"Barfly"--is also in this movie. This film seems to have been made after Bukowski died, so he didn't have any input into it. For Bukowski's own perspective on the whole movie-making process and what it does to his work, see his novel "Hollywood." It's worth reading.By the way, Bukowski does have another link to the movie business--he used to be a drinking buddy of Leonard DiCaprio's Dad. Any time spent reading Bukowski's actual writings--prose or poetry--is time well spent.--B2

ge-ranma First, my only gripes with the film are about authenticity. And they're just because I'm a huge fan of Charles Bukowski. I've never thought of Matt Dillon as a "great" actor. But I thought Dillon's role as Bukowski was just okay. I almost can't quite put my finger on it. He looks a decent bit Like Buk, but his actual performance seems almost too much like a mediocre impression. I don't know. It's just not very natural or convincing or something. I'm not an acting coach. He just didn't click with me as Bukow...*ahem*, Chinaski, anyway.As a whole the film just didn't capture the feel of the Bukowski novel. It seemed too clean for some reason. The whole film just seemed a lot more tame than the literature. His writing captures this great sense of adventure, danger, and a frequent raw vulgarity. But also, it has a very artful heart to it. The movie missed this entirely, in my opinion.But believe it or not though, I still think it's a good movie. Outside the actual interpretation of Charles Bukowski's novel, it's still fun watch, with generally good performances, and a phenomenal story to have been based on.

Zigawaguay I wasted 90 minutes for the movie already, so i'll keep it short: the movie has NO story in it. It's about the life of a man losing one job after another. I'm still wondering how you can spend money to make a movie, after getting a script like that! There are so many scenes that i felt like they had to do, just to get enough material together to stretch the movie to 90 minutes. Scenes where they just sit there and no say a word and nothing at all happens. I guess i have seen worse, but it's definitely one of the most boring movies ever! The only reason for the second star is that Matt Dillon still did a good job. Even though there was not much to act.