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Mad Dog Time More at IMDbPro »

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41 reviews in total

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19 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
Gabriel Byrne steals the show ..., 5 October 2003
Author: shellemk from Milton Keynes, England

... his version of "My Way" is hysterical (especially after I read somewhere that he truly thought - before he heard himself later - that it was Paul Anka that was out of tune and not himself!) and he gets all the best lines. That said, I thought Jeff Goldblum was also excellent - more understated than the rest of the characters which was a good foil for them.

The film is just simply great fun. It's not a classic, clever masterpiece of its time, but it is immensely enjoyable and well worth seeing at least once.

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14 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Misunderstood yes. Terrible film? Heck no!, 2 August 2001
Author: corky244

Despite the disparaging comments by other reviewers here, and the savaging this film received by mainstream critics, I've got stand by my original assessment of the piece which I made in 1996 on its release. This is a taut, sardonically funny, very well done flick, and I think it's detractor's may be missing the point a bit by pointing out that it plays like a rough draft. Were not many of the so called `Rat Pack' movies nothing more than hastily thrown together vehicles for whatever `Packer' happened to be starring? Of course it's rough around the edges! Of course it never seems to be getting its own joke! Unfortunately the joke ends up being on the film itself because it does its job too well. It looks at the genre from the coatroom, behind a row of smoke-scented overcoats. If it looks and feels like the reels were left on a smoky card table for a few weeks before being run - then it's doing its job. It's that very patina that gives Mad Dog Time it's credentials as a well done and mutli-faceted darkly funny movie that belongs not so much with it's erstwhile Rat Pack brethren as has been suggested so often, but rather with The Player and other movies whose joy, in part, is the fact that the players are so clearly having a ball making the thing. Goldblum and Dreyfuss stand out from an altogether superb cast. Goldblum for his ability to keep the audience guessing as to whether or not he really feels as confident as his character acts throughout and Dreyfuss for proving that nobody in the business can look both smugly amused and supremely confused at the same time as well as he. That's all I have to say. Now I think I'll hop home, pack my bags and leave town.

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13 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Mad Dog Time/Trigger Happy: Gabriel Byrne, 16 May 2005

Author: star_baby_727 (katrinametzger@yahoo.com) from Berlin, NJ, USA

If you are used to seeing Gabriel Byrne in serious roles such as Tom in Millers Crossing or Keaton in The Usual Suspects I recommend you take a look at this film. Even if you are not a fan of Gabriel Byrne in particular, all the actors in this film give really great performances. If you've got about eleven bucks (that is close to nine quid) I say order it online, or rent it from you favorite movie rental place. Guaranteed to make you laugh, whether or not you normally like gangster type movies. Mad Dog Time/Trigger Happy is one of those movies you never forget, and find yourself watching over and over. You will talk about it so much your friends will be begging to borrow it.

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14 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
A rich Black Comedy, 30 April 2005

Author: walkerjh from Tanajib, Saudi Arabia

Not a movie for everyone, but this movie is in my top 10. I am a lover of black comedy. With a cast including Richard Dreyfus (Vic), Jeff Goldblum (Mick), Larry Bishop (Nick) and Gabriel Byrne (Ben 'Brass Balls' London) in the leads, the lines can't help but be dry. The supporting cast is nearly dead center. Counting the minor flaws in the movie: Ellen Barkin's make-up gave her face has a washed out look; there were a couple of gimme cameos by Joey Bishop and Richard Pryor that served no purpose, and Michael J. Pollard's screen time was too short. Over all, the cast was just incredible without egos to wreck a fine script. If you have seen Larry Bishop's (writer, director) film, Underworld (a dark crime flick), you will enjoy this one. His next outing (writer, director, actor) is Hell Ride with Michael Madsen and Quentin Tarantino.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Another Planet, 24 November 2006

Author: pantagruella (baltica@softhome.net) from London, UK

This a superb self-contained work that is unconnected with anything before or after. Brat Pack crooning and club exclusivity are not my biscuits of choice, but in this law-free world they make an alluring ambiance. The film is packed with Our Guys, distinctive actors who add distinction to this work with winning performances. The dialogue is a joy. In fact it's a new vernacular. One of the few films that can be watched repeatedly with deepening appreciation.

Highpoints include Billy Idol's British loutishness, Ben London's vulturine brassware, Kyle's squirmishness, and the survey of ad hoc philosophies.

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11 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Great fun..., 7 May 2001

Author: Peter Juul Rasmussen (yule@mobilixnet.dk) from Skanderborg, Denmark

The world is a terrible place. But this movie is farce and it's fun. And if you don't like it... you don't get it... and if you don't get... it doesn't matter. It's up to you if you want to play along. Every actor in this one had fun. It's only a joke. And that's good enough for me. Gabriel Byrne is priceless. Byrne and Paul Anka doing MY WAY is, as "Vic" puts it, "...the best version ever". Okay... it's no masterpiece, but it's not bad. I was warned against seeing it, but I'm sure glad I did...

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9 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
It stands out because it´s different. You like it or you don´t., 3 May 2004

Author: ferdiepojke

When seeing this movie you should take notice to that it´s not a normal movie. It has no real story just characters, a bunch of gangster characters who come together in a perfect harmony. The dialogue is wonderful, you can just lay back and listen. The movie stands out thats why it´s hard to find a right way of describing it.

Thats why the user comments on this movie is so mixed.

I for one love the movie and recommend it to all who love one-liners and things that differ from the "normal". You can´t really put the finger on what´s so wonderful about it it´s just a comical world where gangsters rule. A place of love and danger. A movie that you can see more than one time.

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
One of a kind, 19 June 2006

Author: Odysseus_Rex from United Kingdom

I don't know much about the Rat Pack, and Frank Sinatra always seemed a bit too self-consciously full of himself to me. So when I call this one of my all-time faves, it's nothing to do with a tribute-band mentality. As another reviewer says, Mad Dog Time is about symbolism, not realism. It's kafkaesque (a pity Kyle MacLachlan is probably the weakest of a very strong crowd, when he was so good as Josef K), it's stylish, knowing, sardonic and slick. Jeff Goldblum is navigating his way around a variety of characters, trying not to get shot and acting deftly rather than dorkily, trying to stay abreast of what he knows and others don't, whom he can outshoot and whom he can't. Gabriel Byrne and Richard Dreyfuss (his best performance) have a ball, and the supporting cast look spot-on. The symbolism, the settings (the one outdoor motion shot with Jeff Goldblum walking down the steps seems really weird after so much lounge lizardry), the dialogue (style, not practicality, is the order of the day), it's all about characters interacting, not really gangsterism. Fun to watch, must've been fun to do. What the critics were up to is really a mystery...

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Seeing the Levels, 23 February 2005

Author: Dimme_store from Ireland

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This movie is great. Simply. It is rare that you find a comedy with levels, and this is a bloody good example of such. When I saw this movie first, as the credit rolled, a friend and I looked to one another and asked... 'did you just catch that?' For those doubters, look at the levels. See the comparisons between Vick and the people in the club, the DNA! See the diverse characters, each jostling for position, and if you see nothing else, see the connection between the cure of Vick and the path through the film. IT'S ALL IN VICK'S HEAD! The opening line about Vick's world. The closing scene with the camera going into Vick's head, and inside, a whole universe! Thoroughly quotable, wonderful cartoon gangsters, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

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5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Outstanding, 22 July 2006

Author: pbreslin from Pensacola, FL

Most of the comments have been positive but I would like to add that viewers should also focus on the sets. The set designer used a lot of beautiful art deco treatments along with beautiful buildings, stairs, doors, furniture and so forth. It is worth paying attention to. The movie is driven by characterization and symbolism which is very rich. All the gangster actors were cast - it was like seeing old friends and it was a treat. The dialog was amusing at times but stilted at times and I suppose it was meant to be that way. This is a film buff's film. It was made by people, for people who love the medium. Don't miss this one.

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