Amazon.com: Writer-director-composer Vincent Gallo and Christina Ricci star in this quirky and deliberately grimy little movie. Gallo plays Billy Brown, recently released from prison and unable to find so much as a decent bathroom in his cold hometown. Billy's parents are unaware that he's been locked up; in a pathetic attempt to impress them with how successful he's become, he hits on the novel plan of kidnapping young dance student Layla (Ricci) and forcing her to play the role of his wife. Billy's distant--to say the least--parents are played to the hilt by Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara, Huston in particular bringing a demented glee to her role as Billy's football-obsessed mother. As the movie unfolds, we learn more about Billy's tormented childhood and unfortunate tendency to bet on the Bills in the Super Bowl. Gallo boldly throws himself into the task of playing a complete sleazebag, and Ricci does lovely standout work as the one ray of hope in the grinding darkness of Billy's life. This odd little love story is just the thing to make you feel better about your own relationship--especially if you're not in one. --Ali Davis
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Wicked Black Humor!!!
"30 years I haven't missed a game." says Billys mother. Buffalo has just missed a field goal on TV. "They haven't won the championships since 1966, and I missed that game 'cause that's the day I had Billy.."
Billy went to prison. The movie starts with him just getting out. Why was he in prison, you may ask.. Well, Billy bet $10,000 one year that the Buffalo Bills would win the superbowl, which he loses of course. The gangster bookie (Mickey Rourke) tells Billy that instead of doing really bad to things to him for not being able to pay off his huge bet, he can take the fall for ... Read More
Rating: - Interesting story, kinda reminds me of A catcher in the rye
This is an interesting tail of a guy, billy brown, that has been in jail for 5 years, and somehow managed to hide it from his parents. He now finds himself released and returning home to visit the parent. He's told them hes making great money, and he has a wife. Now, how does he find a wife in the matter of a few minutes...oh yeah, kidnap one (christina ricci). Soon we find out that Billy has grown up in a unique household, and also that he went to jail under unique circumstances. Finally, how does he reconcile his mind from what he has obsessed about for 5 years with what actually is occuring ... Read More
Rating: - An Indie Gem
Few films will survive the weight of time and technology... This will certainly be one!!
Rating: - A tortered soul
This movie was an odd and interesting one. It is a story of a man that is incarcerated for a crime of not paying his bookie and then planning his revenge on the football player that lost the superbowl in prison. He is released from prison and it is the next 24 hours after his release is what the movie consists of. He kidnaps a girl, sees his dysfunctional mother and father, talks to his "slow" friend, goes bowling and then gets a motel room with the girl across from the strip club that the football player owns. The reason that I am giving this movie 5 stars is for the acting and the story of a "deteriating ... Read More
Rating: - Dark, but good.
This was a very strange movie which featured Vincent Gallo as Billy Brown. He is released from jail as the movie opens and then we go on a pretty wild ride as he kidnaps a girl who he needs to pose as his wife when he goes to visit his mother before his later plans to find the Buffalo Bills kicker and shoot him. Billy has no direction and he plans to take no responsibility for what happens after this night, until the woman he kidnapped says that she has fallen in love with him. I know what you are thinking, but no, this was not a Disney movie.
In my research on the film, many people seem to focus ... Read More
- 
- 