Boondock Saints-Near Perfect!

[Mr_Vindictive]

Wow, I really haven't been this excited after seeing a film since Fight Club!  Boondock Saints is completely awesome.  I recently ordered it for 6.00 from Best Buy due to the fantastic reviews I had read about it.  What I recieved in the mail was a thoughtful, action packed, suprisingly funny masterpiece!  Where else can you see Ron Jeremy as a mob boss, Willem Dafoe dressed like a woman, and Dafoe dancing around a crime scene!?!?!?  PERFECT!

[thefeen]

I purchased The Boondock Saints solely on the strength of good reviews and was very pleased with it.  Although in some ways flawed (Norman Reedus' Irish accent is terrible), it is one of the finest films i have seen in a while, the dialogue alone makes this film worthy of purchase and the scene where the saints are ambushed by Billy Connelly is excellent.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I don't believe I've laughed this hard at a film in quite a long time.  The scene with the cat.....amazingly funny!  Not gonna give that scene away with any spoilers.

[Brother Ragnarok]

I was told about this flick several years ago by an ex-bandmate.  I think it's gonna turn into a sleeper and within the next year or two everyone will be talking about how they just discovered a great new indie film, except it ain't gonna be new anymore.  Hell, it ain't even new now.  But it does kick ass.  Just get your stupid f**kin' rope.

Brother R

[trala-log]

i don't mean to poop on your parade but i thought it was horrible.  it was somewhat enjoyable....but it was so theologically horrid that this over shadowed any possible goodness the film had to offer.   the only good film i've ever seen that deals with christianity is the apostle...most of them seem pretty terrible.

[Vermin Boy]

I rented it with a group of friends a while back, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Dafoe is great in it, and a lot of the scenes (like Rocco telling the joke) are simply astounding.

"There was a FIREFIIIIIIIGHT!!!"

[The Burgomaster]

I resurrected this thread because I finally got around to seeing this movie.  I bought the UNRATED version on DVD.  I must say that I was very disappointed.  I was expecting a more serious, grim movie like RESERVOIR DOGS or even KNOCKAROUND GUYS.  I was surprised by BOONDOCK'S bizarre, comic book characters and situations and it just didn't work for me.  Maybe I need to watch it again (now that I know what to expect).  And Willem Dafoe really freaked me out.

[Yaddo 42]

Maybe it was because it was hard to find for so long locally, the local video stores never had their copies in (rabid fans stealing copies?). Maybe it was hype and heightened expectations due to fan frenzy, especially online. Maybe it was the cast, I'll give just about anything with Billy Connolly a shot. Maybe it was left over yearning for a good hipster crime/assassins with attitude flick after the glut of ripoffs and and pale imitations in the wake of Pulp Fiction and Reservior Dogs. Whatever it was I was really eager to see this, figuring I was very likely to like "The Boondock Saints". Tired of trying to find a rental copy I finally broke down and bought a copy when the price dropped. Found myself hoping I had found a new cult movie that I could latch onto.

I hated nearly every second of it. Just annoyed me from beginning to end,The characters were shrill and just exercises in shallowness, the leads were supposed to be cool just because the makers of the film thought they were. They both seemed mental ill, or just frames to hang odd characteristics and quirks on and call them people, like halfassed characters from some badly run screenwriting or creative writing class. Their stupid petty crook buddy made me wish they were severe in their morality that they would shoot him too. Willam Dafoe's gay cop character seemed like and escapee from some bad nightclub act. The surprise about who the leads' father was wasn't. To borrow a line from the old British show "Whose LIne Is It Anyway?" that for me seemed to sum up when something was so awful it even even defied good grammar, "It was all just so very much bad."

That said, it fascinates me that so many feverishly love a film that undewhelmed me so strongly. So I ask has anyone seen the documentary "Overnight" about the whole process of pitching, making, and releasing Boondock Saints? It got great reviews from Ebert and Roeper as a unique story of the enthusiasum of the makers getting way out of proportion to the film itself. I've been wanting to find it since the "Anatomy of a Train Wreck" aspect appeals to me.

[Shadowphile]

I disagree entirely.  I thoroughly enjoyed Boondock Saints.  I orginally saw it because a friend was an extra in this movie and I wanted to see if I could spot him. (I couldn't)  I found the movie to be a source for some great quotes, ranging from the 'death prayer' to Rocco's 'diversity of the word' quote.  And Willem Dafoe?  He plays an awesome homophobic homosexual....

[loyal1]

I was actually excited about it too, and stopped watching it about a half hour into the movie.  I couldn't connect at all to the characters and thought it was s**te.  Resevoir Dogs I loved, Pulp Fiction absolutely, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, bring it on...but this.  No.  It just felt like it was trying to be cool and I just didn't care for it...I didn't even care enough to finish it.  I haven't done that since The English Patient.  Ugh!  I was totally Elaine from Seinfeld when that movie came out.

[Ash]

I had never heard of this movie until a friend mentioned it a few months ago and it played at a midnight showing at our local second run theater.
From what I've read online about it, everybody seems to be pretty polarized about it so far.
Either they love it or hate it...there is no in between.

I still haven't seen it yet.
Maybe I'll have to rent it sometime soon.

[Yaddo 42]

Although you CAN make a pretty good drinking game around how often people say "f**k" throughout the movie. That's how I usually recommended this film to others.

[The Burgomaster]

YADDO:

You could also make another great drinking game out of this movie.  Every time an actor recites a contrived piece of dialogue or every time the director uses a "hey, look at me, I'm a cool director" bit of direction, everyone takes a drink.  You'll be passed out in a pool of your own vomit and urine within 15 minutes.

[peter johnson]

Not to disagree just to disagree, but I found myself in the firm middle on this one --
     I had heard the story of the guy who shopped it for years around in the biz before I actually saw it, or even knew about the documentary --
     There was this hotshot, out of nowhere kid who got his own comedy club -- bought and paid for -- and jobs for all his drunken bum buddies, all on the strength of the word-of-mouth this film generated in the biz -- I mean, it was a legendary kind of story that actors told each other backstage --
     Then the guy got greedy, wanted too much control & started acting like the north-bound end of a southbound horse to everyone around him.  Bad move.  He spent all his karma, as well as his money, and ended up a bum again, all in a brief span of time.
     SO, upon renting this film, I was genuinely prepared to really hate it, just rip its guts out, and was pleasantly surprised that it was just a . . . movie.  Just a movie, with flaws and very good bits and stuff that didn't work at all, just like a lot of films.  Heck, I know I would've liked it even more if I'd never heard a word about it or its making.
     So not a bad film at all -- didn't like it as much as Pulp Fiction, but prefered it to Reservoir Dogs.  Really liked the humour, but thought overall that it was rough and unfinished and would've benefitted from a good editor.  Thought the next film the kid made would be better -- except he ain't gettin' another chance.  Which is sad in itself.
peter johnson/denny crane