Across the mud

Rating: 1/10 (15 October 2007)

Let me save you the trouble of having to watch this film: Guy is loser in Liverpool. Moves to the States, becomes loser there. Falls in love with promising young lady who turns into loser anti-war fanatic. Loser guy gets deported to Liverpool. Loser guy comes back, but is still a loser. Gets back together with girl, who is still a loser as well.
Character arch? Development? Lessons learned? Nothing.
But let us ignore the silly characters who never learn or develop in any way, except to change for the worse. Perhaps the film's saving grace is in its social significance. Maybe it was trying to, you know, "tell us something." What, oh what could that be? That, folks, will remain a mystery. The only stretch I can make here is that the director is trying to make a comparison between the anti-war sentiment of the '60s and the lack of it today. A way to rile up the crowd, so to speak.
Still, even with that in mind, the film falls flat due to a terminal bout with pointlessness. Some character named "Prudence" (hey, ya think we'll hear them sing 'Dear Prudence' later on?!) dressed as a cheerleader sings a song, then disappears only to sneak into some strangers' flat for no apparent reason (I cringed when one of the characters said, matter of factly, that she "came in through the bathroom window"), then has some lame emotional upset and that's that. The only purpose she served in the film was probably to put in an Asian face 'cause, you know, we gotta have a nice collection of faces representing every continent in every single film that comes out of that infested hole called Hollywood.
Speaking of such lameness, there is a character who is a Janis Joplin clone and a guy supposed to look like Jimi Hendrix. Why? Wait, don't ask why. That's not important now! What matters is that we can now cue the interracial relationship. How groovy.
Perhaps the most irritating part of the film is the development of a character who is a well-to-do young white woman from a good family. She moves to New York to study at Columbia, then falls in love with Liverpudlian loser mentioned above, becomes a complete anti-war fanatic freak, starts smoking, getting high, squanders her future, and then... stays that way till movie's end. For cryin' out loud, at least get us to the point where the characters have grown past the ridiculousness and filthy depravity of the abomination that was the 1960s and have grown up a little.
Then there was the inexplicable hippie van ride the main characters took with some west coast druggie guru to go meet some "doctor." We see them driving there whilst enduring some idiotically performed song by the "guru." When they arrive, the doctor won't see the guru. The guru takes his loser horde and drives back to the west coast, leaving our main characters stranded. They all lay in the grass and sing -- again. Why? We will never know.
Then there are the "visuals." Oh god, the friggin' visuals. Sure, every pretentious, nonsensical art school student here probably liked them, but if you are an even halfway logical individual you will probably not only be bored but downright revolted. The most enduring image I have in my mind is that of a bunch of incredibly freakish-looking naked female creatures with pasty white skin and disgusting contorted faces falling backwards slow motion into the ocean. We even get a close up of one of the she-freaks' twisted faces. Yeah. Great visuals.
The only enjoyable part about this movie consists of the first two minutes, as the movie open up with Liverpudlian dumbass Jude singing the opening verses to "Girl." "Is there anybody going to listen to my story / all about the girl who came to stay." "Woohoo," you think. This is gonna be good. Little do you know what's in store for you.
The other interesting scene is an army recruitment sequence where the soldiers are cartoonish, identical characters, preparing everyone for in-processing while performing a mechanical choreography. I can't remember which song was used for this, probably because its rendition was less than memorable.
And, lastly, speaking of the songs, I don't think they were that bad. I really enjoyed the rendition of "Come Together," as well as "Hey Jude." Aside from that, nothing else about this film is memorable, and I'd like to forget what little I do remember.
Stay away from this tripe. If you want to see a socially significant film dealing with the '60s, rent "Forrest Gump" instead.