djbuddy97 Loved it....While not especially dark, this film really captures the lingering malaise that is a working life in the New York area burbs. If you spent any time growing up, living in the area you know a place like the "Trees Lounge" that is populated by "townies" that sort of never leave. I won't write a review of the performances/script other than it is a great "capture."Highly recommended -- especially for those that love theater as well. Stellar all around - glad I caught it on Netflix. You may very well want to watch this flick as a warning tale as well. You already know everyone in the film!

rymphsklymptor From the quirkiest of the quirky, Steve Buscemi premieres his first film with a nuclear blast. The cast, which most have gone on to really big films, all artfully create the character study which is what Tree's Lounge really happens to be. Each cast member should be awarded an Oscar for how real they portray this sad set of characters. Like a step into the daily wrongness of a typical craphole which can be anywhere in the USA, Buscemi's breakout performance as the alcoholic ice cream man captures a rawness of how a man can be degraded so swiftly in the morays and questionable social structures that permeate our culture. Brilliantly written, Buscemi makes the assumption of just how relationships are all based in fear and the fact of this fear is why the characters act out and react as they do throughout this film but as we all do in the real world as well. When looking for a slice of life that reminds us just how not to be, Tree's Lounge is the perfect example. This film is a triumph.

Flowbeer I loved this movie from the first time I ever saw it. I had it at the end of a video tape I'd recorded (off IFC) after 'Monument Ave.', a Boston-mob film that had a similar "bar tone" to it, but was nothing like 'Trees Lounge.' 'Trees' takes place on Long Island and the vast array of crazy characters are a lot to choose from! There's a lot of humor in this film - and a lot of secrets & desires. The lounge is a bar that has a lot of losers who frequent it - the main one being Tommy (Buscemi)! There are the standard barflys who sit there all day drinking, and who must be on a fat social security paycheck to pay for it all! Anyway, we follow Tommy through his break-up with a gal he treated like crap and who has left him for one of his more-stable friends who owns a garage, going to family funerals and getting beaten up by a certain 'guido' in the 'hood. The only thing Tommy has, and the rest of his drinking buddies for that matter, is drinking his blues away. One of the cool people Tommy meets at the Trees is 'Mike', played by Mark Boone Junior - who gives a great performance as a guy who's wife is also threatening to leave him if he doesn't straighten up his act. So Mike & Tommy drink together and at one point, bring home 2 teenage girls to smoke some pot and dance to some records, in a bout of drunken bad judgement. When the wife returns, she asks Tommy if there were any girls there and Tommy, as a pro, covers for his new friend perfectly. There'a also a small part with Debbie Mazar, who Tommy almost gets to take home - until she passes out and her friends tell him to leave her alone! And Carol Kane is wonderful as the feisty bartender who keeps Tommy in line when he needs it. Also look for Kevin Corrigan as a coke-head loser, similar to the one he portrayed in Buffalo '66. By the end of the movie, you really start to feel sorry for Tommy. You wonder how much of it is based on Buscemi's life in New York, before he made it in the business. They say he actually drove an ice cream truck for awhile in NY, so that part must be true. All in all, Buscemi gets totally DICKED OVER in this film. But it is still a great film. And real. If you're a drinker, you might just see a bit of yourself in this film. 8 out of 10 stars

JoeyStobart Watched this with some trepidation, having seen the absolutely excellent trailer. So few movies live up to their trailers, especially indies. Anxiety increased by having read Buscemi's fairly harrowing account of making the film in one of those 'The Directors' books.Shouldn't have worried. Great flick. Totally engrossing, especially to a *cough* former *cough* barfly like myself. Beautifully understated, funny, very sad, nicely paced and Buscemi very wisely NOT trying to dominate every scene, although he certainly dominates the movie.Movie appears on first sight plot less but actually it isn't at all: Buscemi's search for a second chance to escape from the morass of his own making is riveting. Everyone involved seems to have had a good time and the beautifully relaxed performances are the reward. Only the two knucklehead goombahs fall below the otherwise uniformly excellent level.A real treat, and thoroughly watchable-again able. My DVD was in TV format, which sucked, but otherwise the low budget doesn't really intrude.Nearest movie to it I can think of offhand is KILLING OF A Chinese BOOKIE. Radically different subject matter but similar bittersweet texture.A slightly, but only slightly, generous 9/10 from me.