Overrated, but not worthless

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 1998)

Few movies made in the last five years have inspired such impassioned criticism and intense adulation as Quentin Tarentino's Pulp Fiction. Most viewers either love it or hate it. Only a few folks, like myself, land in the middle ground in their critical view of it.
Is Pulp Fiction the best film of the 90's ? Certainly not. Schindler's List, LA Confidential, GoodFellas and Saving Private Ryan should all rank far above it in 90's film retrospective lists it when the decade (as mediocre and uninspired an era of filmmaking as Hollywood has ever seen) is over. All four movies are more coherent and precise in their treatments of their individual subjects. All four pictures are more convincing and all do a better job than Pulp Fiction of balancing their remarkable style with substance.
At its best Pulp Fiction is a rollicking, chaotic swirl of color, melodramatic tension and 90's pop iconography. The movie has a wonderfully sharp and stylish look--like a celluloid version of the comic books and cheap novelettes which inspired its story. The editing is brilliant in its quirkiness and unconventionality. The movie jumps from panel to panel with breathtaking intensity, much like a graphic crime novel. The fractured narrative structure of Pulp Fiction keeps the audience off balance: it's a superb touch that allows the movie's narrative twists and turns and visceral images to impact on the viewers.
At the same time Pulp Fiction's strengths are also its weaknesses.
Too often the movie is "over-stylized" and technical. It's like a brilliant film student's dream picture--too cute and "too cool" in its inventiveness and technical precision. Tarantino's unabashed tribute to pulp novels and movies can be both a joy and a bother to behold. At times, Tarantino's obviousness and lack of subtlety is grating. The movie's dialogue suffers most from this malaise.
Those who praise Pulp Fiction's script as "brilliant" ought to run down to their local video store and rent Howard Hawk's The Big Sleep and Roman Polanski's Chinatown. Both scripts are everything that Pulp Fiction TRIES (and fails) to be: funny, quirky, cool, subtle and substantial. Indeed, it is a sad commentary on current society that anyone could Pulp Fiction's muddled screenplay "brilliant" when placed against masterpieces of screenwriting like The Big Sleep.
In writing Pulp Fiction's script Quentin Tarentino tried too hard. The screenplay is loaded with lame modern pop cliches and cutesy cultural references. The overly slick script nearly mars the brilliant acting efforts of Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta and others. In light of all of this, the trite theme of redemption that runs through the movie comes across as false and shallow.
Nonetheless, Pulp Fiction is still worthwhile viewing. For all of its flaws it succeeds in entertaining the audience. Samuel L. Jackson's performance--a sign of his great talent--alone makes it worth seeing. If viewers take the movie with a grain of salt they should enjoy it. It they want depth or profundity they should look elsewhere
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars, 81/100.