Python Hyena Goodbye Lover (1998): Dir: Roland Joffe / Cast: Don Johnson, Patricia Arquette, Dermot Mulroney, Mary Louise Parker, Ellen DeGeneres: Strange dark comedy that is both clever and insulting. There is no love or lovers in this film, only deceit, lust and murder. Don Johnson plays a big corporate boss unable to control his aggressive brother. He is having an affair with Patricia Arquette who is married to his brother. When Johnson becomes involved with Mary-Louise Parker he breaks contact with Arquette who threatens blackmail. He receives a threatening call from his brother, which leads to murder. Subplot involving the doctor is not necessary and the sequence between Johnson and Arquette at Church is revolting. Then there is that Sound of Music cassette that plays a role of its own. Director Roland Joffe keeps everything uncertain with Arquette well cast as the vixen poisoning the minds of all for the sake of control. Dermot Mulroney plays the drunken aggressive brother. Johnson is excellent in the lead struggling to maintain a certain level of dignity in the midst of a police investigation. Parker is also superb as the lover who also becomes entangled in the web of deceit. Ellen DeGeneres is terrific playing a cynical cop investigating the crime and spewing one-liners. Strong theme regarding deceit marred with aggressive sex, which viewers will either engage or bid farewell. Score: 6 / 10

elshikh4 This is brilliant movie for sure. It makes you think, enjoy and sadden as well ! The basis of the non-stop deception and killing is just super, managing to give you both the thriller time and the deep melancholic meaning (the sadness part!). It was also some kind of prophecy about the widespread presence of the twist technique in a lot of the American movies in the next decade. Yet here it was more sane to a classic status.I liked the way this movie's dirty world was shown, along with its deformed dictionary of relationships where there is no brotherhood (the brother kills his brother), no happy marriage (the husband cheats on his wife) and there is no real friendship at all, even the one who finds himself in love so refuses to betray it (Johnson when rejects his affair with Arquette) he becomes, according to this formula, the weakest person in such a world so he naturally must be the first to die, because pure love in such circumstances is a sign of murderous weakness ! (Arquette)'s character herself was pushed by her love to commit a crime (killing her husband and his mistress) yet blinded by this love she didn't do it thoroughly however she got away with it ONLY by the power of money…the new rescuer love.Harmonize with that many swift but so effective points; for instance beginning the movie with an act of obscenity taking place in a church, while everyone there thinks How great and imposing; that summarized - in smartly ironic way - the whole disordered logic of this cosmos, so its double-faced nature.So it was bright also to make the field of the leads' business center around publicity (read : duplicity) and relating that at the last shot to the political figure when appears so polished while in the same time the 2 female killers are loose and innocent more than ever; like saying nicely what a world of colored lying we live in.Look at the passion of "Sound of Music" as a good irony between the ethereal spirit of music as perfect embodiment for love so its power of changing on one side and the translation of all of that according to our ugly modern time on the other side where there is no sound or love but for the green !Or look at the little appearance of the character of the serial killer; firstly as someone this world produces and needs, so secondly as someone with all the evil in the world doesn't have a chance in front of 2 greedy and sharp women, not because simply 2 killers are more powerful than 1, but because this is a crazily violent world where you're whether deadly or dead ! Thus it was a priori to have the only character that doesn't belong to this formula (DeGeneres' partner) as so naive (even if he's intelligent), so dull and so queer expressly when he doesn't think about making money or being bloody opportunist, or even suspects something dirty around.And what a dark message this movie delivers eventually about love in today's world whereas it ends its events with 2 women live for enjoying money and money only. It was smart move not to show them as lesbians because that would've transformed their relationship into a case the emotion got to do something with it, but who said that there is originally a smell of love in this very sick world ?!As for the dialog it got some of the cleverest lines I've ever heard in a movie, meaning of course all what was written for Ellen DeGeneres' character as the melancholically cynical yet deeply materialistic investigator, making it one of the most memorable characters in the history of Noir film. Save the way DeGeneres discovers the whole matter at the end so easily to fabricated extent, it's fun like a remarkable black comedy about the despotism of the materialism in our present life. Delivering the pessimistic message of "goodbye love" cynically as it should be. P.S : there is amazing Indian remake 10 years after (yes, believe it or not it is AMAZING !) which could make you wonder did Goodbye Lover utilize all of its chances or not?!

Pepper Anne Goodbye Lover may start out like pure trashy nonsense what with Don Johnson (as Ben) and Patricia Arquette (as Sandra) running around in the church having enough sex to make a person cross-eyed. The story finally takes off when the characters do more talking and we find out that the couple's affair (Ben's sleeping with his brother's wife) turns awry once Ben decides he's had enough and Sandra's decided that he's not getting off light, even though he'd like to forget the whole mess, her included. But, lo! Someone plunges some forty stories to his (or her) death, someone with a life insurance policy worth millions (of course). Now, if you are literate in modern noir, you know that there is always a financial motive to murder, that more than one person is after the money (including not-so-clean-cut investigators and other law enforcement), and everyone is willing to turn on another (with the body count rising) to get away free with the riches. That's the kind of story we have here, and sometimes it is a little confusing as to what exactly the plan is and just who is in on it, as we are thrown a few clever surprises here and there. Bottom line: trust no one. The movie is pretty funny, despite the creepy characters and their shameful and casual approach to stuffing their pockets. And much of the comedy element comes from Ellen Degeneres who plays Sgt. Pampano, a cynical sarcastic investigator who knows that the inital murder (which set off the other chain of events) is no accident, and that everyone has a darkside, despite her optimistic, and often naive partner, Rollins (Ray McKinnon). It is quite an entertaining thriller, once you get past the first ten minutes or so. Once the victim plunges to his death from the top floor, the movie actually starts to become a pretty interesting, wholly involving story. A funny one, too. Excellent.

bob the moo Things are not well in the Dunmore family. Sandra is an improvement tape freak who's marriage is rocky as her husband Jake hits the bottom of every bottle in the bar. This affects his work (but luckily his brother owns the company. However Ben is having sex with Sandra. This drives Jake to the point of suicide, however when Ben comes to stop him Ben becomes the victim of a plot that sees numerous twists.I didn't have a clue what this was about when I watched it – and that helped. The start is OK and sets it up as a quirky film, with Arquette listening to self-improvement tapes and `The Sound of Music'. However it then gets dark with the murder itself but then veers between comedy and noir right till the end where we get a `to the camera' final line. The plot itself is OK – not great but passable. However it's not helped by the film not really knowing what it is – a comedy or a noir. Due to this it fails to do well in either but is watchable as both.The thriller/noir bits don't work because they are damaged by the comedy and the slightly farfetched nature of the constant twists. The comedy doesn't work because it's either too quirky or just plain tired - witness Ellen DeGeneres deliver one dull putdown after another. However it is still enjoyable – merely because it's glossy and moves fast.Arquette is sexy at some points but annoying at others – she is OK but I wouldn't pick her as my choice for femme fatale. Mulroney is OK but unmemorable. Parker again is good but I can't remember much about her character – she had little to do. The best bits come from the cameo of Gallo and a good early role for Don Johnson. DeGeneres is poor because she's lumbered with a poor role and no jokes to work with,Overall I wasn't bored and didn't hate it. However it is a mix of styles and in no way is it a neo-noir of any description. However from the director of `The Big Easy' and a good cast of good actors I really expected more.