I just saw this film in the comfort of my home. While not perfect, it had a fairly underrated cast (yes, not the usuals), a great shooting style, and a near perfect plot. With Tim Allen illustrating story-writing and then watching it applied to the actual movie itself was hugely refreshing. How could it have garnered such a low score? Surely it would've been over 7 if more people looked past small flaws and saw the film as a good, well-rounded whole.
shareI agree. I thought the whole deconstructing of movies was a great plot device to move the story along - especially since it was not completely chronological. Did people miss this, overlook it, or just not think it was that brilliant?
shareI don't remember hearing if this movie before, I was just lucky and found it on my tv's program guide. I thought this was a wonderful movie--clever and original. It was a real gem, no pun intended (OK, you got me, I did intend the pun). ;)
Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever.
I seem to recall the movie was left on the shelf for quite a while after it was made. I remember a lot of reviews when it came out from critics who'd gone in expecting a stinker and instead found a perfectly acceptable ensemble piece with a competently told story and some quirky characters. Hence, it wasn't bashed, nor was it really praised due to the knowledge of the production issues. Critics were quite happy to say it was OK, but weren't going to do anything to actually help it. The studio was resigned to it not having a wide appeal and so made no great effort to market it. Not a stretch to say it nearly went straight to video and almost wasn't released in any medium despite no one thinking it was particularly bad. It was a slender hair away from being a tax write off, which would have been a shame as it was actually a fun little movie.
I enjoyed it. Probably the lats time I liked Slater in anything and Tim Allen's best live action film role comfortably.