crystal075-705-904023 Amazing cast, great music...great style. The ultimate cool movie. I find myself watching this about once a year, because it just keeps growing on me. The comedy is sublime, dancing awesome, and cast amazing. It's the best musical I've seen in decades. If you were alive in the 80's or you know anyone who was, you should see this film because it captures the essence of the geeks of the decade so well. The effect of the decade on a small town is well crafted and developed. John Goodman shines in a pre Homer Simpson like character. You will not regret spending time with this charming recreation of America in the 80's. My only regret is that I wasn't present for the filming, it would have been a blast to be in the audience for "It's a Wild, Wild Life". Sit back and enjoy the ride, this film will bring a smile to your face and get you dancing.

Rodrigo Amaro The original tag line of "True Stories" was: "It's a completely cool, multi-purpose movie." Yes it really is. Directed and written by David Byrne (singer, writer, composer, a multi-talented person), this movie is an surprising and uplifting story about Virgil, a fictional Texas city that are celebrating the state's sesquicentennial year. Byrne is the nameless narrator of "True Stories", and here he presents us all kinds of characters, including the lovely Lewis Fyne (John Goodman, very good) a bachelor who wants desperately to get married even knowing that his appearance isn't what most women wants; the Culver family led by the most influential business man of the city, the odd, funny and controlling Earl Culver (Spalding Gray) among many other persons.Both in his musical works and in the case of this movie, Byrne puts very forms of speeches, as may seem throughout "True Stories". It's not just an ordinary comedy, it has something more powerful between it. He made statements over the unbridled consumerism (well noticed in the lyrics of "Wild Wild Life" and in the video of "Love for sale", where a sitting woman and a walking employee robot, watches a video clip showing that everything and everybody's out for sale). Those moments might seen an attack to some viewers and probably many will find that these scenes has nothing to do with the movie. Wrong. It is just a way to show many aspects of real life, after all we're talking about possible true people but in a funny way. It is not pointing to the people like a character judgment. Instead of that, Byrne and the writers (the actor Stephen Tobolowsky is one of them) shows us many levels of the society's stereotypes (the funny guy, the simple people and the rich people, and their events). But there's a sense of union, everybody likes each other in the movie, people go to clubs and shopping malls, sing songs, go to the big parade honoring the city and their special figures. Everything is likable. Perhaps in a deep view you'll find that something's wrong.It's like Altman's "Nashville" but with less characters and more funny, and it's like "This is Spinal Tap", (both stories are showed in a documentary style) but Byrne's film is far more complex, very much like an art film filled with cultural references. This is one more of the most positive and underrated films I ever seen and I think it was made way ahead of its time. One of those to be watched again and again. If you're a Talking Heads fan you'll enjoy the songs played in the movie and sing along (Wild Wild Life is my favorite moment). If you're not a fan or don't know Talking Heads, well here's a great invitation to meet them. It's very cool and fun to watch! 10/10

HelloTexas11 Reading some of the other reviews of this quirky little movie, I was amazed at how much I have apparently missed the twenty or so times I've watched it. Either that, or these other reviewers were stoned. I suspect the latter. Having a puff or two before watching 'True Stories' isn't a bad idea, though, as it seems to make one more receptive to the experience. I disagree with the other reviewers mentioned however; I find nothing 'deep' about 'True Stories.' It's a sophisticated new wave New Yorker's look at eccentric Texas rubes, alternately snide and endearing, with no greater meaning than that, intended or observed. Byrne, who directed and co-wrote, has crafted a funny little flick that tries just a bit too hard to be bizarre about very mundane matters but does display a wickedly silly wit at times. It's full of Byrne's Talking Heads music too, which is a perfect fit. The story, such as it is, concerns about a half-dozen residents of Virgil, Texas; their everyday lives and the town's preparation for its celebration of special-ness. There is the lonely guy who advertises for a wife; a woman who never gets out of bed; a conspiracy-minded preacher; another woman who never tells the truth about anything (and who is appropriately named 'the lying woman' in the credits); one of the town's leading couples, who never speak to each other (directly, anyway); and an old psychic of sorts, who is hired by the lonely guy to cast a spell and find him 'someone to love.' The film is really a series of barely-related vignettes and musical numbers. Byrne is both the narrator and a featured player. It's never clear why he's in Virgil, other than to make comments that are by turn, bland, nonsensical, and just plain odd, all delivered dryly with a straight face. Highlights include a strange fashion show (though it's a bit over-the-top, even for this movie), a church service set to a great Talking Heads song 'Puzzling Evidence,' karaoke night at the local bar, and a take-off of commercials, again set to a Heads song, this time 'Love For Sale.' The reason I call this a 'self-parody' is that 'True Stories' ends up being far more a spoof of Byrne himself, his attitudes and sensibilities, than of the intended spoofees. One can almost picture him and his collaborators snickering between takes at the clever little potshots they are taking at all the hicks and rednecks. Good performances, particularly by John Goodman, Spalding Gray, and great old Pops Staples, infuse 'True Stories' with a good deal more oddball warmth than I suspect Byrne ever intended. But in doing so, they tend to disprove what seems to be the film's central premise, that these people are loonies who 'don't want freedom (or) justice.' Crazy, maybe so, but they're doing just fine, even if they are a couple of thousand miles from New York City. 'True Stories' is one of those rare movies that is better, and funnier, than it was supposed to be.

rosebud-karlstad This movie made me a different person, to watch David Byrne was a heartwarming experience. Sometimes it's a slow moving picture but it picks up the pace in just the right time to make you feel involved in the characters. To put it frank - this was a mind blowing experience. Some people may come to the conclusion that this is just a simple movie about simple people - and these people are right. But my dear friends, ask yourselves; how often do you see that - once in a lifetime! The reason that I haven't said anything concrete about the movie is that it's a picture in the same class as Lost Highway, try to say something about that movie, it's not easy, see it and become a better human being.