TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews Just from reading the main cast of this, one would expect a marvelous drama. Nolte, Stone, Bridges and Finney... such grand talent in the craft of acting. The fact that the writer/director had never worked in movies before or since didn't worry me too much... The Wachowski brothers handed in first-class work the first time they tried their hand at directing, and their first script... well, OK, but they've later redeemed themselves for that turkey. The cinematography is not unique, but it has moments. The editing is much the same... effective at times, but rarely breaks away from the norm. The plot is fair... it develops nicely throughout, providing the back-story and evolving throughout. The pacing is OK. The acting is pretty good, I didn't really find any performances to be lacking. I think my main issue was that I could simply not understand why the people acted like they did, for the majority of the film. I never anticipated their actions, I never followed their motivation and got to the conclusions that they did. Also, the themes and ideas seem to be nothing more than side-notes... none are explored with much effort. All in all, I found this to be a decent-looking film with sufficiently good acting that just didn't make an awful lot of sense and didn't spend enough energy on giving the viewer anything solid, be it an idealist message or simply food for thought. I recommend this to fans of horse-racing, as it features a few very nicely shot sequences of horses, and, to a lesser extent, fans of the actors and possibly those who know the play(as I don't know it myself, I wouldn't be able to tell you if this were a good translation or not). 5/10

george.schmidt SIMPATICO (2000) *1/2 Jeff Bridges, Nick Nolte, Sharon Stone, Albert Finney, Catherine Keener, Shawn Hatosy, Liam Waite, Kimberly Williams. Lackluster and boring adaptation of Sam Shepard's play about adolescent chums Bridges – a well-to-do horseracing magnate – and Nolte – his drunken albatross – embroiled in facing ghosts from their past involving a blackmailing get-rich quick scheme some 20 years ago and revisiting some not so good old times. For a neo noir the film suffers from nothing original, new or noteworthy and frankly offers no tension or interest; a real disappointment. However Keener gives a small gem of a performance as a gal pal of Nolte caught up in the attempted nefarious doings. (Dir: Matthew Warchus)

mgulev Nolte and Bridges are great actors and prove it again - although they are not given a script with much gusto. The story left me waiting for more and not receiving it. The movie reminded me of "Affliction" (also with Nolte) in that it is a slow-moving story more concerned with character development than actual plot. All in all not really worth the time.

Jugu Abraham This is not a great film but it deserves some attention.I am an admirer of Sam Shepard the writer, not necessarily the actor. And even though his contribution to the film is not direct, his subjects make an impact on me. I am surprised the director did not involve him in the screenplay. Of course, Shepard is more a playwright than a screenplaywriter...I loved all the main players, especially Sharon Stone. She had a small role that was impressive.The camerawork of John Toll always impresses; this film was no exception.One thing was clear; the direction lacked experience--but for a first film, the output is creditable.