BroadcastChic
Excellent, a Must See
Crwthod
A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.
Jenna Walter
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
ejamessnyder
The film begins by introducing our hero, Seymour Moskowitz. Except he isn't a hero; he's just a regular everyday guy with his own distinct personality and his fair share of flaws. He's neither likable nor unlikable, but we still feel compelled to watch his story unfold.Seymour is a professional valet and the way that director John Cassavetes is introduces him is so brilliant that I was immediately and overwhelmingly drawn in. But it's also so subtle that you could easily miss it if you're distracted while watching this movie.Minnie and Moskowitz is unlike many of Cassavetes' other films in that it's more of a comedy. But it's funny in the way that real life is often funny. Everything that happens in the film and every line of dialogue is totally believable. That's what makes it so great, as so many other comedies fail to adequately capture real life and often don't even attempt to do so.And overall, this one still has that same old wonderful Cassavetes feel to it, which is indelibly infused in everything the guy made, from comedies like Husbands to crime thrillers like The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. And it has some great music in it that suits the on-screen images exceedingly well.Much of the film consists of one long conversation after another, often between just two people and often across a table. But the conversations are not boring or rambling or pointless. They're interesting and funny and eye-opening and they're always different. A couple of times we get close to the point where it feels like conversations are about to start going on a bit too long, but they're just so humorous and intriguing that we never actually reach that point. We never want them to stop.We meet several funny characters in this film, of a type which in another film might feel forced for comedic effect, but here they always feel real and therefore always fit perfectly into the story.While the story being told in this film—about a man and a woman meeting and falling in love—is nothing new, the way it's told is fresh and original. The structure and style are fun and perfect and so realistic that it's difficult not to enjoy every minute of it. And the love between the two characters is not perfect and not absolute, just like in real life. You really get to see how Cassavetes was totally in control of his film and told the story exactly how he wanted to tell it.The flow of the story is fairly unpredictable, which is one of the things I love about it. The film's biggest letdown—and the only one I can think of—is the acting, which is usually brilliant but sometimes pretty bad. The lead actors both do great but some of the actors in the smaller roles give some pretty unsatisfactory performances. I got the feeling that they only did a few takes of each scene.There is one scene in which Moskowitz fights a man in a parking lot that was cut together in such a way that I got that impression that the filmmakers realized too late that they hadn't shot all the footage that they thought they had. A few people complained about this and called it bad editing, but I found the end product to be a unique and innovative solution. Had things gone differently, the scene would have ended up being fairly forgettable, but instead the filmmakers were forced to be creative and it gave the scene a fun and unique flavor, and the film is better for it.The movie is not too long and not too short. Personally, I would say it has the most perfect pacing of all of Cassavetes' films and I would rank it as his third best, after A Woman Under the Influence and Faces. I recommend it to anyone who likes to laugh or smile occasionally.
Blake Peterson
Minnie Moore (Gena Rowlands) doesn't believe in the movies. As a girl, she fantasized about finding a Prince Charming in the shape of Humphrey Bogart or Clark Gable, living in a fancy house, and having kids the neighborhood could wince in jealousy over. But now Minnie's in her late 30s, fully aware that the man of her dreams probably doesn't exist. She swears that she's gotten used to the fact that reality isn't so rose-colored and things can't always turn out the way you want them to; but once you're a romantic you're always a romantic, and deep down, Minnie still finds herself hopeful that someday her Bogie will arrive on her doorstep.Seymour Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel) is a free-spirited valet with no great ambitions in life, contented drifting from town to town, from bar to bar, causing ruckuses and speaking his mind. Ponytailed and handlebar-mustached, he has no problem with the judgmental world or his rotten temper, which seems to escalate from zero to sixty through the slightest provocation: bar fights are a norm in his life. But despite the ever mounting flaws that seem to continuously tarnish his character, he's a good man, just a lost one.By chance, these two misfits meet after Minnie endures a particularly awful date; the man who took her out, a demented widower, nearly assaults her in a parking lot after she flatly rejects him. As if he's magnet for action-packed situations, Seymour flies to the rescue, knocking the date out and speeding away with Minnie in his beat-up pick-up truck. For Seymour, it's love at first sight; but for Minnie, this long-haired, hairy-lipped time-bomb is a red flag, not a Gable. Seymour, however, isn't the kind of guy that gives up a good woman when he sees one. So he spends the rest of "Minnie and Moskowitz" trying to win her over — and with their identical lonely hearts, it might not be so difficult after all."Minnie and Moskowitz" is John Cassavetes' warmest film, a quirky romantic comedy frequently raucous (Seymour has a quite a mouth) but also endearing, hopeful, lovable. The characters finding love aren't of Doris Day/Rock Hudson perfection but of damaged confidence, both completely lost in this game called life. It's a rom-com so real it's hard to even call it a rom-com, with the story unforced, the eventual marriage hasty enough to make even us have inhibitions. Minnie and Seymour are not conventionally likable (she's untrustworthy to the irritating max, he's so hot-tempered it's a wonder anyone talks to him), but because they're so much better together, their union is one of rare affection that suggests they really do love each other, though not in the way Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard taught us. Cassavetes dedicated "Minnie and Moskowitz" to the people who married for love, not comfort, and it's a worthy sanctification.His other films are extraordinarily realistic, mostly telling stories of middle-aged people facing a cruel case of mid-life crisis blues. Here, it's the opposite: the middle-aged people face a cruel case of mid-life crisis blues before they find romance; and after they find their special someone, they are renewed. They become whole again after years of trying to find themselves. With its mostly improvised dialogue and no-holds-barred performances, "Minnie and Moskowitz" should be uncomfortable. But being the voyeur to a trial of love is an easy job, and Cassavetes lets his optimism shine through. Rowlands and Cassel are terrific.
jzappa
Minnie and Moskowitz is the most pathetic and ungraceful love story I've ever seen. Between Minnie, a disillusioned museum curator whose abusive married boyfriend dumps her and leaves her even more uptight and confused than she already was, and Seymour Moskowitz, a parking attendant so desperate for attention that he spends his nights going to bars and restaurants aggravating people, there is a chaotic and disenchanted match from the start. Just like so many pairings that we see every day.In nearly every love story, there is a man and a woman, the man being confident, funny, either classically hot or attractive in his own way, whose shortcomings are charming, and the woman a wounded soul who could have any man she wants who chooses this guy because there's just something about him. These movies make everyone feel so good because the characters embody what every man and woman wants to be, not what they are. Minnie and Moskowitz, instead of indulging in any hint of fantasy in the realm of romance, depicts people who may just be more common than the attractive, confident people with so much experience playing the field. What's the story behind the love affairs of the ugly, alarmingly awkward man with no life and no job that we all run into, or the woman so crippled by insecurity that it's difficult to talk to her?This film is not as fascinating as Cassavetes's Faces or Opening Night, but it has that riveting quality that Cassavetes always fought so hard to render, which is an unbridled depiction of people underneath the ego that hides behind itself in nearly all other films. Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel, delivering startlingly pitiable people, are hardly likable. Moskowitz nearly drives us mad, let alone Minnie. He imposes himself so forcefully in her life, the dates are an explosion of the inner voices of ours that respond to the screamingly inept uneasiness on dates we've all been on, rejections we've all swallowed, and arguments we've all had that we know were our own faults. I admire a film like Minnie and Moskowitz because, as the trademark is with the films Cassavetes helmed himself, it identifies with us in 100% honesty. Our egos play no part in company with his characters, thus a tremendous achievement per performance by actor.
E.B. Hughes (ebh)
Possibly John Cassavetes best film to date, and definitely his funniest. Seymour Cassel plays the young Moskowitz smitten with real-life wife of Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, excellent as usual. A must see gem of a film, if you can locate it.
