Overrated fantasy

Rating: 5/10 (1 February 1999)

This is a film that started out strong, then fell apart. The only thing that saves it is the acting, which is superb. Patricia Arquette is particularly good.
Clarence (Christian Slater) plays a complete fool, who lives in a fantasy world, and tries to live out a movie fantasy. Reality occasionally rears it's ugly head, but never when Clarence is around to see. He never has to face any consequences for his foolishness. He never even finds out that his actions lead to the death someone close to him, much less grieve for the poor fool.
The ending is a complete cop-out. We're asked to maintain the same state of denial that Clarence is in. (Don't read the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to know.) Imagine if the Godfather ended with Michael and his wife breaking out the Champagne bottles to celebrate his victory over his enemies, then living happily ever after.
Years after seeing this movie, I found Quentin Tarantino's script in a bookstore. Wow! What a great script. It's the same story, but it's structured differently, and it works a lot better. It also has a much more believable ending, which doesn't descend into codependence. It's too bad Tony Scott had to butcher the film. Don't see this movie. Read Tarantino's script.