Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating in-depth portrayal, Beautiful Acting
Review: This film is the sad and hauntingly true story of Valerie Solanas, a tortured woman, writer, lesbian,intelligent thinker, and last of all a human being. Lili Taylor attacks the role of Solanas with such fervor, that the viewer becomes enraptured with the story weeks after seeing the film. It is very rare to see an actor embody a character so that their movements and tone of voice become so human, giving you the feeling that you are no longer watching a movie, but getting a lucky glimpse into someone else's life. The directing on this film is marvelous because of the simple but beautiful shots of Candy Darlings room, Taylor's glimpse toward the camera, and the hospital nurse showering Taylor in the mental hospital. This movie tells a moving tell but unlike other films, you can not brush it off because you know that the story you are hearing is true. It shows us the frantic quality in Solanas toward the end, and you feel the need in her to somehow fit in. Perhaps this film is simply saying, "Everyone is human, no matter what". Candy Darling was crying to fit in, and so was Solanas. Warhol was the only person that offerd Solanas the feeling of fitting in even if the only place to fit in was with other "degenerates". when she thought he betrayed her she became pannicked. I highly recommend this film if you are ready for some real-life drama, and a view into someone else's life completely unlike your own.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating:
Summary: Lili and Stephen: Thespiens Extrodinaire
Review: This film only gets better after a second or third viewing. You begin to disect the brilliant acting by Lili Taylor and Stephen Dorff, showing off their incredible skills. The story is also interesting, even if u don't know who Valerie Solanas is. Did i mention the great acting?
Rating:
Summary: valerie solanas, poor soul............
Review: This film was on a Women's Film Festival of sort in Korea a few years ago. I didn't see it then, but heard from several friends how it's "weird" but in a rather funny and engaging way. I thought it would be an "experimental" indie film with parts that are hard to grasp for an ordinary movie viwers. (Oh, I didn't know who Valerie Solanas was back then, and as for Andy Warhol, I know little more than his name. So, as a matter of fact, I couldn't guess the story line, or how good Lily Tayler's performance would be.) Over the years, I came to know Valerie's life as reconstructed by some researchers, read her SCUM manifesto, and read some books and writings about Warhol, too. And, I saw I Shot Andy Warhol. As for my guessing that it would be somewhat 'pedantic' experimental film, how was I wrong! It was rather a sit-back-and-enjoy type of movie. Although I knew most of the stuff dealt in the movie, it was never boring. The performance of Tayler, Dorff, and others was excellent, and putting in lines from the manifesto in between narrative scenes was also a quite effective way of delivering Valerie's thought.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent film
Review: This film wisely makes no value judgements about its subjects. It just portrays, as best as it can, the late '60s icon that
was known as Andy Warhol. Some things are unfortunately left out, such as the fact that the insane Solanis considered Warhol a vampire and spraypainted her bullets silver. She tried to wrap them in foil, but it made her gun jam. It jammed anyway, which
is why she was unable to shoot the third man. An excellent
portrayal of a bunch of nuts, even though the movie never explicitly says they are.
Rating:
Summary: Tom Keogh is WRONG!!!
Review: This is a great movie. What "clear stand" was the director supposed to make, that she was FOR S.C.U.M.? Its obvious in the movie that Solanus was a nut. The movie delves into her psychology and motives, and gives a great depiction of Warhol and the Factory. And the supporting players are fantastic, especially Michael Imperioli as Ondine.
This movie RULES!!
Rating: 
Summary: I Shot Andy Warhol
Review: This is an excellent flick with great performances by Lili Taylor and Stephen Dorff. Fans of indie-rock will enjoy seeing Yo La Tengo performing as The Velvet Underground at Warhol's Facory, which was perfectly depicted in this film.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm sorry to say it, but I HATED THIS MOVIE!
Review: This movie was the most disgusting and odd movie I've ever seen. My only regret is that it stars my favorite actress, Lili Taylor. To all you Lili fans out there, I apologize deeply. This was the only movie I think I've ever totally disliked.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, I'd recommend it to anyone
Review: This movie was very interesting. I've always been a big fan of Andy Warhol's as well as a HUGE fan of Stephen Dorff's acting, and this movie brought the two together in what has to be one of the greatest performances of Stephen's career. He plays drag queen Candy Darling, an up-and-coming Warhol superstar who befriends Valerie Solanas, a lesbian feminist who believes that men are far inferior to women. Candy introduces Valerie to Andy Warhol who unfortunately gets on Valerie's bad side leading to a tragic end to her feminist career when she shoots Warhol. Few people know the true genius that Warhol possessed, or about the tragic story of his superstar drag queen Candy Darling who died of cancer after recieving illegal hormone treatments for years as well as story behind the shooting of Andy Warhol. This is a very unique piece of cinematography and although it contains some controversial themes, I think it is definately a worth-while movie to watch, the acting is superb, with Jared Harris perfectly capturing Warhol's trademark whine, and Stephen Dorff doing a breathtakingly superb stint as tragic transvestite Candy.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent cast, unbelievable story
Review: Valerie Solanas was a young girl who endured sexual abuse at the hands of her father. Is it any wonder she grew up despising men? As a teen, she studied psychology and decided that the Y chromosome in males was basically an incomplete X chromosome. This only added to her opinion that men were scum, and women were genetically superior.
Years later, we find Valerie (Lili Taylor) panhandling and prostituting herself for cash and places to live (taking a job is "against her principals"). She has a set of friends she hangs with, but eventually finds refuge with a gentile drag queen named Candy Darling (played superbly by Stephen Dorff), who introduces her to the famous Andy Warhol (Jared Harris). Valerie gets it into her warped mind that Andy can produce a play she's written, and Andy, although not unkind to her, is quite obviously not interested. In fact, many maintain (and indeed, the movie seems to say)that Andy basically used her for her hard edged writing, even giving her bit roles in two of his movies (for which she got paid 25 dollars for each). This doesn't stop Valerie from following him around everywhere. She continues to prostitute herself for cash while she writes her "S.C.U.M Manifesto" (Society for Cutting Up Men), which, despite its acerbic content, to this day is considered one of the most famous feminist tracts of our generation. Andy, in the meantime, allows her to attend his party with all his "Superstars" and the famous "Chelsea Girls" (Brigid Polk, Edie Sedgwick, Ultra Violet, etc.), and because of this, Valerie truly believes he will publish her play. She badgers him constantly, but he is non-commital. Eventually, Valerie meets up with the publicist Maurice Girodias (who published "Lolita" and Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer"), who dupes her into signing a contract that pretty much gives him the rights to the "S.C.U.M. Manifesto". Valerie is distraught when she finally reads the contract she herself signed, realizing what a horrible thing she's done. Too add insult to injury, Andy cannot locate the copy of Valerie's play that she gave him, and Valerie goes through the roof.
Now Valerie is psychotically enraged at both Girodias and Warhol. She meets up with an underground revolutionary, whom she steals a gun from. Her first intent is to find Girodias at his office and kill him, but he is out. So, she goes to The Factory (Warhol's studio) and waits outside for Andy. As the film title obviously states, she shot him (but not fatally, although at one point, Warhol was pronounced clinically dead for 90 seconds before surgeons massaged his heart and got it going again).
Disturbing? No doubt. And yet the only thing more heartbreaking than Valerie's dementia is how she got to it in the first place- being molested by the one man she should have been able to depend on. The movie doesn't spend much time discussing her past, and only gives a few on screen statements about her life after the Warhol incident (Solanas spent 3 years in an Institute for the Criminally Insane; after her release, she was often homeless and ended up dying in 1988 of pneumonia at 52 in a hotel room). All in all, this film is an interesting story about one of the biggest polemics of our time.
Rating:
Summary: You got to go through a lot of sex to be ready for anti-sex.
Review: When I first found this film I wasn't sure whom it was about. I recognized the name from the title, but I was pretty sure that it wasn't all going to be about Andy Warhol. I was perplexed and ready for yet another adventure down the path of our nation's undiscovered history. When I first started watching this movie I knew nothing about Valerie Solanas. She is not in the history books labeled next to Andy Warhol, or is she one that oozes sympathy. Solanas is a trash talking, independent thinker that somehow found herself next to one of the most modern men of our century, Andy Warhol.
Lili Taylor helms this unbridled beast Solanas like no actress I have seen before. I honestly felt as if Taylor had transformed herself into this brutal feminist. After the first ten minutes, I didn't even recognize Taylor because she had successfully transformed herself into this insane (?) character who carried this film on her shoulders. Taylor plays this woman who, for reasons unknown, constantly seeks Warhol's attention and approval. When Andy refuses to devote his entire attention to her, her mental stability begins to fail. In hopes to bring her back into the spotlight, and hopefully demonstrate to the world her manifesto, she does what the title of this film suggests. Sadly, this has the opposite effect and she is forced to live with the act that she committed instead of the words that she has written.
Taylor was phenomenal in this role. She stole the scene from everyone and was never afraid to take Solanas to the next level. Thankfully, she has some help from some amazing back-up stars to only help boost her performance. Jared Harris is superb as Andy (one of the best reincarnations of him) and Stephen Dorff blazes onto the scene as Candy Darling. Oscars should have been handed out for their parts in this film, but unfortunately this was yet another film the Academy ignored.
Outside of the acting, director Mary Harron does a fabulous job of setting the scene and building the image of this era. Warhol was a genius, and because of his fame and notoriety he somehow attracted some of the most interesting people in the world. This is one of those stories of a woman that wanted to attach herself to this great man, yet somehow couldn't. Harron directs these actors to show this with perfection. Her brash cinematography and direction seem to blend perfectly in this boiling pot of history. Her mix of documentary and biography genres works well in this film. She commands attention behind the camera, and her actors react with positive responses. This was a gritty story not for everyone's tastes. It was a very true story that is more than just Andy Warhol, but also develops themes of feminism and women's rights. Was Solanas crazy? I don't think so, I just think she was ahead of her time and not afraid to be herself.
Grade: ***** out of *****
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