Rating: 
Summary: Is Johnny For Real?
Review: "Johnny Suede" is a wonderfully refreshing off-beat comedy that blends surrealism and a critical pop-culture sensibility while challenging film conventions in a playful, entertaining way. The story follows would-be retro rocker "Johnny" (Brad Pitt) though his adventures in love and music. Katherine Keener plays Johnny's "real" love interest as the girl who rescues him from his shallow ambitions. This is an extremely unusual film that mixes magical events and dream sequences energizing the work with a highly surreal feeling. Set in a decaying and spooky section of Brooklyn, the relationships between characters take on a greater, more universal significance. If I didn't know better, I might consider Tom Dicillo a cinematic genius, with a touch of Beckett for good measure. But, funny enough....In an interview years later, Tom Dicillo said that "Johnny Suede," his first feature film, was the product of a "shooting nightmare." According to Dicillo, Brad Pitt (Johnny Suede) played the character as if he recently had a "frontal lobodomy." There was even a suggestion in the interview that Pitt willfully dumbed-down the character despite Dicillo's direction to play him as an ordinary mixed-up guy "just trying to figure things out." There was even a hint that Pitt was intentionally sabotaging the shoot as buzz began to circulate that he was destined for stardom (think Thema & Louise). However, I believe he was simply too good an actor to take a character like Johnny without irony. Dicillo considers the movie a failure and said that he was forced to leave in strange, awkward scenes because he simply had no choice (read money) to shoot them again. "Johnny Suede" remains forever a puzzle. Is Johnny brain-dead or really a perfect symbol for a fallen and lost humanity? Nobody knows...Perhaps, the wasteland in which the action takes place is merely a sign of low-budget, low-awareness-film-making, or is it a deeper, more spiritual wasteland, one in which we all inhabit? Do we, like Johnny, need to have a shoe tossed into our face to understand the true nature of love. Is Tom Dicillo just writing about himself, or did he really intend to make one of the dreamiest, way-cool films about love and art? Nobody knows...
Rating:
Summary: Is Johnny For Real?
Review: "Johnny Suede" is a wonderfully refreshing off-beat comedy that blends surrealism and a critical pop-culture sensibility while challenging film conventions in a playful, entertaining way. The story follows would-be retro rocker "Johnny" (Brad Pitt) though his adventures in love and music. Katherine Keener plays Johnny's "real" love interest as the girl who rescues him from his shallow ambitions. This is an extremely unusual film that mixes magical events and dream sequences energizing the work with a highly surreal feeling. Set in a decaying and spooky section of Brooklyn, the relationships between characters take on a greater, more universal significance. If I didn't know better, I might consider Tom Dicillo a cinematic genius, with a touch of Beckett for good measure. But, funny enough.... In an interview years later, Tom Dicillo said that "Johnny Suede," his first feature film, was the product of a "shooting nightmare." According to Dicillo, Brad Pitt (Johnny Suede) played the character as if he recently had a "frontal lobodomy." There was even a suggestion in the interview that Pitt willfully dumbed-down the character despite Dicillo's direction to play him as an ordinary mixed-up guy "just trying to figure things out." There was even a hint that Pitt was intentionally sabotaging the shoot as buzz began to circulate that he was destined for stardom (think Thema & Louise). However, I believe he was simply too good an actor to take a character like Johnny without irony. Dicillo considers the movie a failure and said that he was forced to leave in strange, awkward scenes because he simply had no choice (read money) to shoot them again. "Johnny Suede" remains forever a puzzle. Is Johnny brain-dead or really a perfect symbol for a fallen and lost humanity? Nobody knows...Perhaps, the wasteland in which the action takes place is merely a sign of low-budget, low-awareness-film-making, or is it a deeper, more spiritual wasteland, one in which we all inhabit? Do we, like Johnny, need to have a shoe tossed into our face to understand the true nature of love. Is Tom Dicillo just writing about himself, or did he really intend to make one of the dreamiest, way-cool films about love and art? Nobody knows...
Rating:
Summary: Johnny Suede is, perhaps, the best movie ever.
Review: A great movie. Simultaneously surreal and so real, heartbreakingly funny and uproariously sad. Johnny Suede is a love story of grand proportions; whether it is his shoes that he loves, that bring him love, or make impossible the only real love he may ever attain, Johnny Suede will not stray. A tale of love and affectation, how the two coincide, and are also mutually exclusive.
Rating:
Summary: Brad Pitt Sparkles as a Surreal Anti-Hero
Review: Brad Pitt is obviously the main draw here, and although he brings his great physical beauty to the role, as in every role he plays, it is not all he brings. He is able to capture the essence of Johnny "Suede", a quiet, disconnected young man whose dreams of being an idol are much more real to him than his aimless and odd real life. You hear Brad sing too! This movie is completely weird and wonderful and Brad is so captivating. It's a wonderful hybrid of Twin Peaks meets Melrose Place. A must see, for both men and women, I think.
Rating:
Summary: "These shoes are 100% suede...my name's Suede, by the way."
Review: By far the coolest, most bizarre movie ever. Backed by a simple, but eerie guitar soundtrack, this movie makes you feel a little strange. It is hysterical, but also touching. Quite unlike anything I have ever seen. Johnny, played by an ultra-glamorous Brad Pitt, idolizes Ricky Nelson and envisions himself a teen idol. Surrounded by empty cans of beans, aqua-net, and an occasional iguana, Johnny plays his guitar in his appartment and hopes to have more than carrots to eat. I love this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Big-pomped, not big-headed, Brad Pitt
Review: Cool little movie that came out about 8 years ago or so. Back when Brad Pitt was not a household name. In this flick Pitt plays a pomped out Ricky Nelson worshipper. Ever hear the Ricky Nelson song "Lonely Town"? That's the jist of this movie. It's kind of a darkly funny movie, that leaves you feeling slightly uneasy. Wait for it on DVD, or go rent it at the vid-store. It's worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Big-pomped, not big-headed, Brad Pitt
Review: Cool little movie that came out about 8 years ago or so. Back when Brad Pitt was not a household name. In this flick Pitt plays a pomped out Ricky Nelson worshipper. Ever hear the Ricky Nelson song "Lonely Town"? That's the jist of this movie. It's kind of a darkly funny movie, that leaves you feeling slightly uneasy. Wait for it on DVD, or go rent it at the vid-store. It's worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Suede is groovy man
Review: filled with great direction and sparkled together with the likable performance of Brad Pitt as Johnny Suede. Suede wants to make a band and he does but then things fall apart as he spirals into relationships and conflicts. Catherine Keener is also great. Samuel L. Jackson and Calvin Levels also star, though Jackson has a small roll as Pitt's band bass player. a great movie
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining in Parts
Review: I dont think its the best film I've ever seen, but the parts that were funny, made me laugh out loud. The best part of the film is when Johnny Suede (Brad Pitt) and Freak Storm (Nick Cave) meet in an alleyway. Nick Cave had a small role, but it was unforgettable... he was an albino lounge singer, with a huge platinum pompadour... not the typical look that Nick Cave goes for (except for huge hair & pointy shoes... but Nick tends to have a large black coiff!) Brad Pitt was sporting the ever high tower of breadloafhead as well. I like some of those early Brad Pitt films as opposed to the later ones (with the exception of "Snatch" which is a great film) and Johnny Suede is a good one. The scenes between Pitt & Catherine Keener were quite amusing, and the ones with "Deke" were hysterical... but nothing was as funny as eating bad chicken in the alleyway with Freak Storm singing "I'll be a Mama's Boy... since my daddy got the Electric Chair!"
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining in Parts
Review: I dont think its the best film I've ever seen, but the parts that were funny, made me laugh out loud. The best part of the film is when Johnny Suede (Brad Pitt) and Freak Storm (Nick Cave) meet in an alleyway. Nick Cave had a small role, but it was unforgettable... he was an albino lounge singer, with a huge platinum pompadour... not the typical look that Nick Cave goes for (except for huge hair & pointy shoes... but Nick tends to have a large black coiff!) Brad Pitt was sporting the ever high tower of breadloafhead as well. I like some of those early Brad Pitt films as opposed to the later ones (with the exception of "Snatch" which is a great film) and Johnny Suede is a good one. The scenes between Pitt & Catherine Keener were quite amusing, and the ones with "Deke" were hysterical... but nothing was as funny as eating bad chicken in the alleyway with Freak Storm singing "I'll be a Mama's Boy... since my daddy got the Electric Chair!"
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