Go (1999) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

Here’s my review of the 1999 film, Go   Thanks for watching and please subscribe. New content dropping every week.   #cultmoviereview #moviereview #movie   For Exclusive Content:  https://www.patreon.com/filmsceneinvestigation   Rumble:  https://www.rumble.com/filmsceneinvestigations   Odysee:  https://odysee.com/@filmsceneinvestigation:e   Daily Motion:  https://www.dailymotion.com/Filmsceneinvestigation   Help Support Me At:  https://www.PayPal.me/beaucarter91

Transcript

00:12Hello guys, how's it going? It's me Beau back here on the Film Scene Investigation channel.

00:21Thank you for checking out this review. So it's a new week and today in this video

00:29I'm going to be taking a look at the 1999 dark comedy Go. Now this is a movie that I've

00:40known about

00:41for many years. I think it was back in 2001, 2002. I would frequently go to my local blockbuster

00:52HMV, whatever it be. And, you know, I was getting into DVDs at the time. So I would, yeah, look

01:00at the

01:00shelves and I would always eventually see Go. I remember the DVD cover with Katie Holmes and

01:10Timothy Oliphant on the front cover. And yeah, I'd never actually bothered to check it out.

01:17Um, none of my friends ever mentioned it to me. I never really heard anyone kind of talk about it.

01:25And yeah, I mean, it just kind of, um, went over my head. I think subconsciously the reason I never

01:33actually purchased the DVD all those years ago, I think it probably had something to do with Katie

01:40Holmes. Because at that time, Dawson's Creek was, you know, really huge and not something that I was

01:49into, you know, it was like Dawson's Creek, Buffy. And, uh, yeah, I just wasn't really into it. So I

01:55think maybe that kind of subconsciously kind of put me off buying it. So the movie Go from April 1999

02:05was a movie that was directed by the filmmaker Doug Lyman and was written by the screenwriter

02:13John August. Produced on a budget of around about $20 million, the film upon its release ended up

02:24making around about $28 million. So, you know, a modest success. It's worth noting before we get into

02:32the plot that this movie had a non-linear narrative, which meant that the plot itself was broken down

02:43into three interconnected segments, similar to the classic Tarantino movie, Pulp Fiction. When it came

02:53to the first story, it focused on the checkout girl, Rona, who was playing by actress Sarah Polley.

03:02She hated her job, uh, but she needed to pay the rent. So, uh, she was, uh, basically stuck hating

03:11life and, you know, who can blame her? You know, like, uh, standing on your feet for hours, low pay,

03:19snarky customers. Yeah, it's, uh, not great, is it? One day while working at the checkout, Rona was

03:28propositioned by two guys looking to buy some drugs. The guys, Adam and Zach, were actually meant to buy

03:39some drugs off Rona's colleague, a guy called Simon, but he was away on a trip to Vegas. Since Rona

03:48took drugs herself, she looked at this as, you know, an opportunity to make some quick cash. So,

03:56she decided to sell her own stash to the guys. Now, let's be clear, she wasn't a dealer, you know,

04:04she wasn't trying to muscle in on anyone's, uh, business. You know, it was simply because the guys

04:11were desperate and, uh, well, she needed to pay rent. So, yeah, she just looked at it as this

04:18one-off, one-time thing. Anyways, later that night, Rona visited her dealer, a guy called Todd Gaines,

04:28who was played by actor Timothy Oliphant. She had the idea that she would purchase drugs

04:35off Todd and then sell them to the guys at a higher price. Now, yeah, in theory,

04:45yeah, it would likely it would work. But in actuality, those two guys at the supermarket,

04:53they were basically informants working undercover for the cops. Rona got the drugs and she traveled

05:02all the way across town to meet these two guys at this random house. Little did she know that she

05:10was actually being surveilled by the authorities and about to get arrested for possession. I mean,

05:18this girl had absolutely no idea what was going on, but very quickly she realized that just from

05:25the guy's behavior, something was up, you know, something wasn't right. And so eventually she went to

05:31the bathroom and disposed of all the ecstasy pills that she had. She did the right thing. You know,

05:38she listened to her gut feeling. She listened to her instincts and got rid of the drugs, got rid of

05:44the

05:44evidence and made a quick getaway. But Rona getting arrested for possession was the least of her worries

05:52because later on that night, Rona would end up getting run over and left for dead. Before we could

06:00find out whether Rona had survived or not. The second story then kicked in where we focused

06:08on Rona's colleague, a guy called Simon, a annoying drug dealer. Now he was on this trip with his friends

06:18heading to Las Vegas, which was the reason why he wasn't around when Adam and Zach came looking for him

06:27in the supermarket. This trip in a way kind of, I mean, to a lesser extent, kind of reminded me

06:35of

06:35the movie, The Hangover, you know, a bunch of guys kind of just looking to have a great time. And

06:42yeah,

06:42that's what they did. They got up to some crazy, you know, hair raising situations, including burning

06:49down a hotel room and stealing a Ferrari sports car. This section was definitely a lot more comedic

07:00and a lot more kind of lighthearted compared to what we'd seen with Rona's story. Finally, after Simon's

07:10story, we focused on the two informants, Adam and Zach, as they went to the supermarket and tried to meet

07:19Simon to score some drugs. They themselves had been caught earlier and with possession. And so at that

07:29point, they had to make this plea deal, basically going undercover and trying to entrap other drug dealers,

07:37like obtaining information on their supplier, Simon would basically end in no jail time for them.

07:47These guys basically just took orders from the authorities. They did whatever they wanted just to,

07:55you know, avoid a conviction. Later on in the movie, towards the very end, it was actually revealed

08:03that when Rona was run over by this car and left for dead, the people in the car were actually

08:13Adam

08:14and Zach. These guys were arguing in the car, not paying attention to what was going on in the road.

08:22And so, yeah, they crashed into Rona and then drove off without giving too much away.

08:30Things do become clearer and yeah, certain characters meet up and things do become that they make more

08:39sense as they, as they go on. Now, one of the things that stuck out to me was how the

08:45film subverted the

08:47traditional holiday spirit of Christmas. The plot unfolded during the festive season, but

08:57there wasn't much goodwill or celebration going on. In fact, I think you could make the argument

09:07that Go is an anti-Christmas movie where the characters remained cynical and self-serving.

09:19Now, let me be clear. Having seen the film, I can confirm that there was absolutely no need to set

09:28this movie

09:29at Christmas time. There just wasn't, you know. That simply was down to a choice made by director

09:39Doug Liman. He decided to use the Christian holiday as the backdrop to this story full of degenerate

09:51behavior, you know, drugs, gambling, sex with random people, you know, all that stuff. And so you have to

09:59ask yourself, why, you know, why did Doug Liman, you know, make that choice to, you know, set his film

10:09at Christmas time? You know, he could have used any month, you know, any season. So why single out

10:17Christmas? Well, when you look into the background of Doug Liman, you'll see that he's not a Christian.

10:27He's a non-believer, which means he doesn't believe in the Holy Trinity. He doesn't believe in the

10:35gospel. And the same goes for the writer John August. He's an openly gay man who is a non-Christian,

10:46another non-believer. And the reason I bring this up is to, well, to say that once you understand that,

10:54you know, you can kind of get into the mindset of these people and, you know, what they represent,

11:00what they believe in. And so, yeah, ultimately it's no surprise that they would use Christmas

11:07as a tool to basically subvert it. Yeah, I'm not casting aspersions here. I mean, each their own,

11:14live and let live. If you want to do that, then so be it. I'm just stating facts here. And

11:19once you

11:20understand that everything becomes a lot more clear, you understand, you know, people's motives,

11:27you know, and trust me, this is a Hollywood production and making money isn't necessarily

11:34the number one goal. You know, it's also worth mentioning that the characters in Go,

11:42they never really seem to learn from their mistakes. You know, there was no redemption arc

11:50that you would usually expect to see in a Christmas movie. At the end of it, you know,

11:57the characters are pretty much in the same place they started. You know, there was no growth,

12:06there was no change. Once again, you know, subverting the norm. Now, when it comes to the

12:13technical side of things, Go was a very well-produced film. From the fast cuts to the creative transitions,

12:24this was definitely a very high energy production. I mean, the opening sequence alone was very

12:35hallucinogenic, you know, with all the strobe lighting. Yeah, I mean, it reminded me of flashbacks

12:42of when I used to go to clubs like that, man. Back in the day, never again. This was also

12:48a movie

12:48very, very much of its time. You know, it felt very kind of late 90s, Y2K. And a lot of

12:58that also

12:59came to the soundtrack. You had artists like No Doubt, Len, and Fatboy Slim, all featuring their music,

13:09which, yeah, kind of really heightened the mood. So I checked out recently the soundtrack again. And

13:16yeah, it's just a great collection of songs. So if you're into kind of, you know, not just 90s

13:21movies, but you know, 90s culture in general, you know, the music, the fashion, I would definitely

13:28recommend you checking out the Go soundtrack. When it comes to the performances, Go featured a fairly

13:38talented ensemble cast of up and coming actors, including Scott Wolfe, Melissa McCarthy, and Katie

13:47Holmes. I thought Timothy Oliphant in particular, was very good playing the drug dealer Todd Gaines. With

13:56his charisma and screen presence, Oliphant actually stood out amongst all of the other actors around

14:08him, you know, due to his performance. The Todd character had this kind of edgy persona, you know,

14:17something that you'd likely expect from a drug dealer. So yeah, he looked the part and it felt

14:24very believable. There was also actually a few times here and there where the character kind of was

14:34kind of charming, you know, and that kind of showed that he wasn't a complete scumbag, you know, he

14:42underneath he did have a heart. I like Timothy Oliphant. I remember him many years ago when I first

14:49watched Scream 2. That was my introduction to him. And yeah, I mean, he's gone on to have a, you

14:56know,

14:56pretty, pretty decent career. So yeah, props to him. And I think even with this film, he wasn't in it

15:05that

15:05much, but he made the most of his screen time. And I guess that's probably one of the bigger overall

15:12negatives of this film is that someone like Oliphant didn't get, you know, enough screen time,

15:20basically. As for the actress Sarah Polly, she played the character Rona, this free-spirited woman

15:30who didn't really seem to get phased by anything. No matter what kind of situation, you know, she was in,

15:39she just kind of went ahead, you know, and had complete disregard for her own safety.

15:48For the most part, I enjoyed Sarah Polly's performance. I mean, she absolutely nailed that

15:55kind of selfish, unapologetic attitude. But with that, it did actually make me think that

16:05in real life, if you knew someone like Rona, yeah, I mean, would you really want to, you know,

16:16hang out with her? Because I mean, she just seemed like someone that would just attract unwanted drama.

16:24I also want to quickly mention the actor Taye Diggs, who played the character Marcus. He was

16:32one of Simon's friends who went on the Vegas trip. And I must say, overall, I thought he was pretty

16:40funny

16:40and entertaining. He was the kind of perfect counterbalance, you know, to his friends who were

16:48a bunch of, you know, brash, immature guys. And he was kind of the more reserved, responsible one.

16:56And so, dislikes for Go from 1999. My biggest dislike for the film would have to be the way

17:06in which it was presented, you know, with the non-linear narrative. It was split into three

17:14different stories. Eventually, they were interconnected with each other. And while I thought initially

17:23with Rona's story, things definitely started strong, the further the film went on, yeah,

17:31I definitely started to lose interest. I guess the best way I could describe it would be that

17:39this movie, it didn't know what it wanted to be. You know, first off, we started with this

17:48dark, edgy drama, you know, involving drugs. Then we went to this kind of comedic action film,

17:56you know, in Las Vegas. And at the end, it kind of turned into a bit of a situational comedy.

18:03It was a, you know, a mishmash of different kind of genres. And yeah, to me, I just don't think

18:12it

18:12kind of gelled that well, especially the middle section, you know, Simon's story in Las Vegas.

18:20You know, it's one thing to have the story continue with someone else's perspective.

18:29But when you literally change the location, and suddenly you give us a whole new bunch of

18:36characters, it just felt very jarring. I mean, actually, during the Las Vegas trip,

18:43we saw this long winded car chase, you know, with speeding cars and explosions and all this stuff.

18:51And, you know, if like, if Doug Liman wanted to make an action comedy, he should have just gone and

18:59made an action comedy. I mean, the sequence was well shot. I mean, I'll give the guys credit. I mean,

19:05they went on location, you know, they shot on the Las Vegas strip. Obviously, that, you know,

19:11wouldn't have been cheap to do. So yeah, they put a lot of effort into this sequence. But I mean,

19:19ultimately, like, what was the point of the car chase other than showing that you can direct action?

19:25Like, what's the big, what's the point? You know, don't get me wrong, I do, I do appreciate

19:33Liman's, you know, fairly innovative approach. It's not like it was a completely original idea.

19:40But yeah, I appreciated him approaching the story from, you know, a different angle and stuff and

19:47giving different perspectives. But honestly, for me, I really just would have preferred a singular

19:54narrative. You know, this whole non-linear technique, you know, it worked for Pulp Fiction

20:03because the way I see it, Pulp Fiction had a much stronger cast of actors that could hold the

20:13audience's attention. The characters in Pulp Fiction were written a lot better. You know,

20:19they felt a lot more real rather than kind of caricature. And so once a story finished and

20:27then focused on a new set of characters, you know, you're still thoroughly interested in,

20:31you know, where the story was going. Maybe if the film had featured some, you know, bigger,

20:38more established stars, then yeah, I think this could have worked. But as it stands with

20:46a cast that's, you know, okay, but not fantastic, yeah, I think audiences are going to lose interest

20:57like I did. And so ratings for Go from 1999. I'm going to be rating this film a 4.5

21:10out of 10.

21:11Go was this fast paced, fairly entertaining drama about a group of people, young adults who just kept

21:22making bad decisions with the fashion, the music, you know, the sharp dialogue. Go definitely

21:32encapsulated that late 90s Y2K aesthetic, which for me, I'm personally a fan of.

21:40The narrative also highlighted this invisibility complex that so many teenagers go through in

21:50their lives. We had characters like Rona and Simon, you know, not really think about the

21:57consequences and just get into these, you know, crazy, dangerous situations. And we actually can

22:04apply that to our reality because how many times have we read, you know, in the papers or seen the

22:11news that some drunk teenager, you know, gets into a car crash or falls off a balcony, you know,

22:18not thinking about or being aware of their surroundings. You know, as I say this, it does actually make me

22:26think that go actually kind of glorify this reckless behavior. You know, it actually did rather than

22:38exposing the real dangers. Anyways, if you've seen go, then please let me know your thoughts in the

22:46comment section below. As for all those out there who haven't seen this one. It's a minor recommendation

22:55for me. I mean, personally, I'm glad I saw it because I'm a fan of the late 90s. I said

23:03that Y2K,

23:04you know, Millennium, you know, I love that kind of culture and stuff. So I was into it. Would I

23:12watch

23:12this movie again? Maybe sometime, you know, in the distant future, I might. But yeah, I mean, for that

23:24reason alone, I'm into 90s. I said the soundtrack as well, you know, had, you know, Don't Steal My Sunshine,

23:30you know, Len. That's a great song. So, you know, there's some good stuff here. But I mean,

23:38now that I've seen it, I totally understand why this movie kind of got or has been forgotten

23:47as the years have gone on. It's not a bad movie, but in no way did it amaze me. You

23:55know, I think

23:56if you're haven't seen this one yet and you fancy maybe watching something from that time period,

24:02you know, 98, 99, 2000, something along those lines, then yeah, I suggest you give it a go.

24:08But besides that, and well, that's all from me today, guys. So I do hope you've enjoyed this

24:17review for Go from 1999. I'll be back next week with yet another cult movie review. As always,

24:26guys, if you haven't, please do consider subscribing. I really do appreciate all the support. And of

24:31course, take care.

24:53I'll be back next week with you.

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