Rating: 
Summary: Award Worthy Biography!
Review: I don't know if I Shot Andy Warhol won or was nominated for any film awards but it certainly deserved some. Lili Taylor ( the princess of offbeat roles ) and Stephen Dorff were at their best. If Hollywood was smart enough to recognize talent over looks then Taylor should have won an Oscar. Taylor once again delivered a wonderful performance showing she can make any role her own. Dorff not only played a convincing drag queen but was so realistic you'd actually think he was a woman. The film is a todrey, strange look into the life of writer Valerie Salinos ( sp? ) a feminist, man-hating butch that took feminism to the highest level. This film may be uncomfortable and at times socially disturbing but it gets the job done by telling Valerie's life realistically. It's nothing short of entertaining as well. Highly recommended especially for fans of Lili Taylor.
Rating:
Summary: Award Worthy Biography!
Review: I don't know if I Shot Andy Warhol won or was nominated for any film awards but it certainly deserved some. Lili Taylor ( the princess of offbeat roles ) and Stephen Dorff were at their best. If Hollywood was smart enough to recognize talent over looks then Taylor should have won an Oscar. Taylor once again delivered a wonderful performance showing she can make any role her own. Dorff not only played a convincing drag queen but was so realistic you'd actually think he was a woman. The film is a todrey, strange look into the life of writer Valerie Salinos ( sp? ) a feminist, man-hating butch that took feminism to the highest level. This film may be uncomfortable and at times socially disturbing but it gets the job done by telling Valerie's life realistically. It's nothing short of entertaining as well. Highly recommended especially for fans of Lili Taylor.
Rating: 
Summary: Alternative film hits alternative bull's-eye
Review: I suppose "I Shot Andy Warhol" is different things to different people. I have argued vehemently with friends whose opinion I respect about the extraordinary merits of this film. I think "I Shot Andy Warhol" was one of the finest films of 1998. I also think this film is blessed with one of the most intense performances of any era by Lili Taylor, unforgettable in the lead role of lesbian-prostitute-feminist-deranged-Warhol-groupie Valerie Solanas. Hers is a brave, utterly believable portrayal, wrought with desperation, loneliness and a creative need chained by conventions of American society.To expect a by-the-numbers retelling/recreation of the true events portrayed in this film - Solanas' assault of Andy Warhol - is entirely missing the point. I believe film director/writer Mary Harron was trying to reveal a type of exploitation of women that existed during this time, and certainly hovered in the shadows of the pseudo alternative arts culture of Andy Warhol's Factory - a dream-like warehouse littered with black-clad artists/writers/filmmakers instinctively creating against-the-grain works while rebelling against the conservative conventions of 1950s-1960s American culture. Harron's version of Solanas, who would go on to publish the frightening though fascinating work "SCUM Manifesto," is a lonely, out-of-place soul. She initially appears to have found a comrade haven in Warhol's Factory. But her rage, plus her radical feminist views, eventually causes her "excommunication," leading to her assualt of Andy. The shooting itself essentially ended Warhol's artistic career, leaving wounds which would never entirely heal. I like the contrast Harron makes several times throughout the film between Warhol (well played by Jared Harris) and Solanas - with Warhol as the effeminate introverted male and Solanas as the masculine extroverted female. These two are definitely opposite sides of the coin. I was also impressed by Harron's pointed observation of the women-hating exploitation that existed in much of the Factory's art. It has always been cool to admire Warhol and the legend of his Factory. Harron's recreation of several of the warehouse parties, including a memorable Velvet Underground concert, are some of the many highlights of this film. But eventually in Harron's film, Solanas' radical views are too counter culture for even Warhol and company. And once again Solanas is an outcast, lonely and adrift within the confines of the New York art scene of the 1960s. "I Shot Andy Warhol" is such a sad film in many ways, detailing lost souls void of acceptable identity. Solanas' rage is the angst of all struggling outcasts, cursed by a need to create, but unable to find the proper forum or audience. That she took her rage to the ultimate extreme should not be applauded. But to place her into the conventional (and safe) category of demented psycho is not entirely accurate. It's a brave stance "I Shot Andy Warhol" makes, and perhaps it is just another form of the emotional truth of this story. Harron's "I Shot Andy Warhol" is an alternative examination of alternative lifestyles. It's stance is disturbingly unique, with a creative style undeniable.
Rating:
Summary: this move was the bizzy bizomb
Review: i thought this was a crazy tribute to the life of a crazy man. da man was as wild as they come and it truly showed me the life of a pop artist in the era of pop culture. the recreation of emotions and pain was uncanny. its a must see for any warhol lovers or anyone who just likes wacked out movies
Rating:
Summary: an exceptional drag
Review: I thought this was an outstanding film. The persons it portrays are done perfectly. The most outstanding character was Candy by Stephen Dorff. His work in this demonstrates what an exceptional actor he is. If I hadn't seen his name in the credits I'd never have known it was he who played Candy. He portrayed that drag queen exactly like that type are. It's hard to believe that anyone who isn't a drag queen of that variety could depict one so precisely.
Rating: 
Summary: odd stance
Review: I thought this would be a straight telling of the assassination attempt. But it actually lit Valerie Solanis in a favorable light, giving some credence to her "philosophy." It's the most bizarre film, morally, since JFK, where Oliver Stone painted a psychopathic attorney general as heroic. Lou Reed disallowed the use of his music for this movie, telling NEW YORK MAGAZINE, "How would people feel about a film titled I SHOT JOHN LENNON?" I will say, I was good friends at school with Reg Rogers, who played Paul Morissey, and didn't know it was him until after seeing the movie. So my hats off to Reggie for burying himself in a character so effectively that I could not recognize him. And if this were a straight fiction film, with which I had no moral qualms, I would rate it higher. But Andy Warhol was almost MURDERED, and to paint an attempted murderer as sympathetic--regardless of what she's been through herself--is troubling. Andy Warhol said in his PHILOSOPHY book, "I never found violence sexy, and could never understand people who do." The people who made this film--regrettably--seem to find violence sexy.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible movie, even for a Warhol and Lili Taylor fan!
Review: I've always been interested in Warhol and the Factory, and think Lili T. is a terrific actress. But the character of Valerie Solanas is such an annoying bore, with absolutely no redeeming or sympathetic qualities, that this is a real drag to watch. The reennactment of Solanas's play about turds (!!) was especially stupid and pointless. And the movie makes the Factory seem totally boring and Warhol totally talentless, too, even though I think they did occasionally do interesting work.
As others may have mentioned, Michael Imperioli (Christopher of The Sopranos) has a small role, and John Ventimiglia (the restaurant owner on Sopranos) has a TINY and rather pathetic role as a guy who gets off on watching lesbians have sex! Makes you realize how many turkeys an actor has to be in before he gets into something good!
Rating:
Summary: Drag Queens, Dope Fiends, and The Manifesto...
Review: If you want to see a tour de force performance--well, two, actually--buy, rent, borrow or steal this vid. Taylor as Solanus is amazing as well as Dorff as Candy. Recall those old WB cartoons in which there's the big Bowery bulldog prancing down the street with his little dog protege?--"Hey, Spike, let's chase some cats! Yawanna? Yawanna? Do ya?". Well, that's a bit how hustling street girl Solanus comes off as sometimes. Her line is "For 'you,' a quarter--fifty cents"..The way she cocks her hat and smokes tons of cigarettes while spewing forth her rampages about how men are genetic mistakes is priceless--she totally gets into her character. There are hints at the infamous Warhol subversive videos and cinema, the Underground and the Swinging Sixties--Yeeeah Baybaay! And the genius of the fringe and near fringe. And Noo Yawk Citay! Was Warhol exploiting the poor for his art? Or did he have a certain kinship because he was the ultimate outsider? Who's to say? Anyway, this is a great production that slipped by many movie goers when it was released. Enjoy it, now!
Rating: 
Summary: SCUM
Review: Lili Taylor is a mysterious actress, gifted and almost chameleonic. She plays manic so well that you cannot tell if it is real or pretend. Of course, you see her in a "normal" role and she is perfectly normal. So you have to determine that the woman is just gifted beyond what talents actors normally have. Would I say that Taylor is underrated? No, she receives raves for the work she does. Does she choose to appear in every movie that comes along? No. She appears to be extremely selective about her projects, which is why, to this day, half the people I ask, will have no idea who Lili Taylor is.
This film, though, is definitely a one woman show. There are peripheral characters (and even a stunning turn in drag for Stephen Dorff as Candy), but Taylor as the progressively more troubled writer and feminist Valerie Solanas IS the movie. The performance is both repulsive and compulsive... and compelling. I found myself sickened with Solanas's life as portrayed in the movie. She begged on the streets, prostituted herself, and lived on the edge of poverty because she did not believe in working. She wrote and wrote and wrote. And she pestered. This endless and manic pursuit of people-the pestering-is what bothered me most. I don't want to have people in my face bothering me, and this appeared to be Solanas's specialty. She somehow managed to endear herself to the bizarre Andy Warhol, and although the rest of his crowd could have done without Solanas, Warhol (at least at first) took a liking to her. Once he and his fickle friends tired of Solanas's intensity and-maybe-insanity, they ignored her. But Solanas was never one to be ignored. This, ultimately, is probably why she shot Andy Warhol. She did not kill him, but she did indeed shoot him.
The film is quite well done, and the acting from Taylor is superb and makes the film quite worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: UGLY
Review: Perhaps Valerie is supposed to be a feminist icon, or perhaps this film is supposed to be a no holds barred biography. It makes absolutely no difference what the makers of this film intended it to be because its full of sad pathetic hanger on type creatures, who not only have nothing of substance to say, but whose company makes you wish for the biggest dumbest hollywood movie as a life saving anecdote. The title of the most pathetic must surely go to Valerie herself, she rants and rants and rants for the entire running time of this film saying basically the same thing that all men are scum and that they would swim through a river of feaces for sex, kind of ironic since she is wiling to provide that sex for a couple of bucks. The fact is that she is deranged, and although films and books about deranged people can be brilliant(Check Irvine Welsh's Filth), the company of this particular nut is unbearable especially when the film-makers are trying for a social message, one that I obviously missed. I had the misfortune, for reasons to complicated to explain, of seeing this movie twice. The opening credits are extremely promising but I wouldn't wish the ensuing two hous on my worst enemy.
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