Clean

If you ever wonder why Paul Haggis, or Damon/Affleck received awards for screen writing, then let this film be an example of a screenplay that does not work. The screen writer is not totally to blame. It is the producer, or producers, that are ultimately responsible for the end product. They must not have had the experience to realize that the script required more polishing or possibly, a rewrite.

The movie's home page or web site states that Clean has won awards at various film festivals, which is commendable. However, we are not told what the competition was or the other films or home movies Clean was up against.

Home video is a booming global industry and cultural phenomena. When you hear that the late Saddam Hussein was a fan of Tom Cruise films, you know that many have been touched. Along with the roll-out of the VCR in the 1980s and current digital medium of choice the DVD, plus retail successes of Blockbuster and Netflix, and you have a planet full of film fans. Some have taken this to the extreme and pursue the art of film making on a budget. Enter the Indie film. I mention this because it appears that Clean is wrapped as an Indie film, which thanks to Sex, Lies, and Videotape and more recently Little Miss Sunshine, can be a popular selling point. Clean has these wrappings of a successful Indie film, but a peak under the hood displays some parts missing. The global demand for films is on the up and up, so who am I to question cable networks for picking up Clean.

This film does have acceptable direction and editing, but not enough depth in character development to involve the viewer in telling a compelling story. There are several scenes in Clean when things happen with out any setup. One involves the lead male ridiculing a female dinner companion for faking her enjoyment of (careful) having breakfast during dinner time. This particular scene made me feel sorry for the female. But, the sorrow had nothing to do with the story, and it's the story that you should be experiencing. This was just one example of several scenes where awkwardness or inexperience drew focus away from the story. Let's face it, eggs and bacon tastes good anytime.

However, for the people behind the scenes, Clean represents a grand achievement. I saw the film on the satellite DirecTV Starz movie channel. Imagine how proud the film makers and actors are to get on a legitimate pay channel movie network.

As I count them, there are only 4 user comments and the message board is empty. Today is March 15, 2008. I would suppose that after a few showings of Clean on Starz, or maybe another cable channel, there will be more comments and messages. Feel free to add to these lists. It's free and can be more fun than watching Clean.

Don't waste your time. Relentlessly boring, with long periods of inactivity "made up" for with an unbearable soundtrack. This is a poor poor attempt at a gritty realistic and ironic look at Hollywood and celebrity, with undeveloped characters being explored by amateur actors. Not one single person you care about, and no plot to speak of. Ridiculous and inane. What is amazing about a film like this is that it truly says nothing. The title of the film implies that we will see some sort of example of what "clean" looks like, but instead see a parade of depraved characters, and a protagonist who we can not like, much less get to know, as he speaks a grand total of about 10 lines of dialog, along with a couple of lame ass monologues directed at other characters, meant to assert his moral or ethical superiority, yet it is never once on any kind of display for us to see. Im not sure who did a worse job here - the screenwriter, or the actors, although I suspect the actors were doing the best they could with a script that left them absolutely no clue of who they were supposed to be portraying. A cheap attempt at a surreal drug dealers lair, a la Boogie Nights, comes off as studenty and amateurish. Bad movie folks.

Excellent well filmed and well interpreted it show the underbelly of the life in Hollywood. The script and character are fantastic. Hopefully the movie will have a world wide distribution. Also there is confusion with a French Canadian production having the same title. The film deals with a seedy subject, has scene dealing with masochism, rape and homosexuality yet is not obscene or pornographic. As an independent film I believe is qualified for general distribution. The interpreters the director and photographer should be commented for the work they have done. The film shows that an excellent film can be done with a low budget

After watching this film somewhat randomly due to the limited selection from 'vongo,' I checked it out on IMDb and was surprised to see that it had only one broken-English comment. This is a very good, very strange movie. The plot follows a man named Maynard who is trying to get, that's right, clean. Maynard gets a job as a limo driver and the rest of the film follows his adventures with the people he drives around Los Angeles. Many on the scenes are simply small character studies, and some have larger plot arcs that carry through the story. Individually, each scene is well-crafted, and the dialog holds your interest even if it smacks from time to time of 'indiefilm-dialog.' All in all, a very well done movie...the kind that makes you happy you stumbled across it.

A friend of mine lent me a screener of this film. I was told at the particular screening my friend went to there, was more laughter and walk outs than any other film. With good reason.

This is ultra bad film school writing, directing, acting, shooting and editing at it's most insipidly hispterish worst complete with coke sniffing off body scars (sorry kids, you are not cronenberg), badly acted sex (I feel sorry for everyone involved), and crappy cinematography. Editing makes no sense, ackward cuts and matchs, not in a good way. No sense of flow even within scenes. Acting is hollow al la 'cool' indie crap. The dialogue and writing is perhaps some of the most illogically stupid and amateurish drivel any bad actor has been tasked with. not even pacino could work this garbage. wow. just, wow.

Paul Morrissey minus the talent.