American Buffalo

Brilliantly acted. Hoffman's performance is reminiscent of his role in Death of a Salesman. Unfortunately, the ending is a let down. I was hoping for more of a shock. Still worth watching if only for Hoffman and Franz and if you love Mamet.

This film features both Dustin Hoffman and Dennis Franz acting in keeping with their excellent reputations, but to no purpose. The three-man script is gritty, but pointless. As many great scripts as Mamet has written, this one is a dud.

From the 1975 play, "common" people spout philosophy and psychology in street slang. By attributing middle-class "hang-ups" like greed, paranoia and vanity to "losers," Mamet dramatizes "our" similarity to "them" (we all have our investment "bubbles") and vice versa. Luckily for the audience, this is done within the context of a deceptively simple (if we can piece it together from the fragmented conversations) crime story (touches of O. Henry) and some uniquely funny dialog and situations. Good acting, esp Nelson. In a recent interview, Arthur Miller had decried how difficult it had become to be a "serious" Broadway playwright. Apparently Mamet saw the "writing" on the wall and turned to screenplays, and has managed to appeal to a sufficiently wide audience. Many writers have been less successful at that transition, as satirized in "Barton Fink."

After previewing this movie, I can't imagine why Dustin Hoffman allowed it to be distributed. If I were he, I would have paid to keep anyone from seeing it. This is the only movie I have ever walked out of before the end. I wouldn't mind a movie that has little action or special effects, but I do prefer one that has a script. My friend and I both love Hoffman and Franz, but the dialogue was not that good and the movie was going nowhere. After twenty or so minutes of incredibly boring conversation,we looked at each other, stood up, walked and never looked back. I have never regretted that decision; I only wish I had asked for a refund.

I'm not sure what the appeal of this movie is, but I couldn't find it. It's a really long, barely credible, hardly lucid conversation between three guys on one set. It doesn't move anywhere, the characters are just totally bizarre, the underlying plot equally so. It's lost on me, definitely a walk out movie. The one thing that keeps you from walking out is the ever unrealized possibility that it might have some kind of point or meaningful climax, and the fact that, all irritation aside at the banal personalities, they're acted quite reasonably. But you have to brace yourself for endless dialog, wishing on many an occasion that Teach would just shut the %*&* up for a moment.

Overly talky and often tedious and annoying (especially at the start), "American Buffalo" seems to be going around in circles. Mamet's dialogue is occasionally amusing (like in the "wrong number" scene), but cannot completely cover up the fact that nothing much happens - by the time the film ends, not one thing has changed in the characters' lives. There are some tense moments and the performances are good, but I can't imagine more than 10% of any given audience enjoying this film. (**)