Rating: 
Summary: Buy it, you'll like it!
Review: This is one of my favorite movies. I first saw it in the movies years ago. It''s one of those movies you can pick up and watch over and over again. In this era of special effects overkill its great to see a movie that is well written with great charactars.Peter Sellers is great. Shirley MacLain and Jack Warden are also great. As a matter of fact, this movie has no bad performances.
Buy it, you'll like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Silly
Review: The title of this movie may be "Being There" but the plot isn't there at all. Shirley MacLaine and Peter Sellers team up to form the story of a man who has been a gardener all his life that suddenly shows up on Maclaine's doorstep. Maclaines husband, dying from aplastic anemia, likes the man, and so they take him in. His name is Chance, but Shirley mistakenly mistakes if for Chauncy, hence the name, Chauncy Gardener becomes this man's own. No one seems to realize the man is a simple minded child, and he even gets to meet the President of the United States and go on a TV show. It is obvious to the most casual observer that "Chauncy" is simple minded, probably even retarded, but not obvious to anyone in the film. Because of this, the film lacks reality and the acting is flat.
Rating:
Summary: Required Viewing!
Review: This film should be required viewing for everyone in this year of presidential politics. There is an eerie similarity between Chauncey and our illustrious president. A hollow man, just a shell, in whom everyone he comes in contact with sees what he wants to see. A perfect metaphor for our time. A frightening metaphor for our time. One has to wonder if Lincoln was right in saying that you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Rating:
Summary: A NICE MOVIE
Review: SHIRLEY MACLAINE IS ALWAYS WONDERFUL TO WATCH.PETER SELLERS IS ALWAYS FUNNY TO WATCH.THIS IS A FILM YOU MUST SEE EVEN ITS NOT A MOVIE TO OWN IN YOUR LIBRARY AND WATCH IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.
Rating:
Summary: "I like to watch"
Review: I was BLOWN AWAY when I first saw this movie. This movie is the best movie I've ever seen that I've never heard of before watching. I guess it had a buzz in 1979 when it came out. Chance (Chauncy), the protagonist, is a functioning retard. His understanding of the world is completely based on television. He is thrown into a world of high class Washington d.c. elites after his previous master dies. As the court jester, dandies seek his company and he comes across as remarkably insightful. It would be like Ronald Reagan making presidential decisions based on the advice he received from fortune tellers. The humor is dry, super subtle but almost slapstick in an intellectual way. I've laughed heartily every time I've ever seen this movie.
Rating:
Summary: great movie
Review: With amazing foresight, Peter Sellers captures the essence of Bill Clintons's rise to ascendency through the Arkansas governership to the Presidency. The potrayal of the simple-minded but likeable Chauncy Gardner reminds us that being at the right place at the right time, backed by gobs of Chinese and Soros money, can result in the snookering of an entire nation.
Rating:
Summary: one added note
Review: i'd like to be brief as possible. a pretty brilliant american film to say the least. and I'd like to echo the ending as one of the most fulfilling I've ever seen, and the thoughts that seller's may not represent a christ figure. I agree partially with one reviewer who says that chance can do what he does at the end simply because he has not been told he cannot. however, some pretty obvious religious symbolism is overlooked in denying any jesus-like actions. three particularly converge. first the beginning starts out with the old man dying and second we discover chance is a gardener. He is, after the death, let out of the garden - God, and eden, and then he meets a lady named Eve. I think these cannot be overlooked especially with the unfolding of Chance's character and how he learns or remains static. not to mention he has no self-developed ego. oh, this film is just a marvel.
Rating:
Summary: A thinking man's Forrest Gump
Review: Being There is the story of Chance (Peter Sellers), a slightly retarded man who has been gardener all his life, and is only interested in television. When the house owner dies, Chance is forced to go out in the real world. One freak accident involving a television later, he enters the life of the Rand family. His dress and demeanour makes everyone believe him a patron of industry, and soon his mundane and rote gardening pronouncements are revered as profound statements. Being There is the story of a cypher who becomes popular because he appears to be powerful, and not despite but rather because of his pronouncements (such as "I like to watch TV", perhaps the most wildly interpreted of Chance's statement in the entire movie). As such, it is mostly reactive : everyone bounces on Chance, his appearance and his pronouncements. There are many scenes to talk about : although it rarely deviates from its main theme (the wish-fulfillment of people who interpret banalities as profound, both politically and socially), this movie is very interesting philosophically. For instance, Also Sprach Zarathustra with modern rythms superimposed on it plays throughout Chance's first forays in the "real world". Chance tries to "turn off" a gang member with his remote control, or enters a car for the first time. But the story doesn't dwell too much on Chance's inexperience : he doesn't know how things are supposed to feel, but he does know things from television. Being There is suppored by Peter Sellers' performance. It's not a hard role, but he plays it perfectly. The movie is about interpretation of the mundane and the limits of semantics, about our limited views of the world, and has often been interpreted as a shot against politics and "a thinking man's Forrest Gump". Interestingly, one review I read compared Chance to the Buddha - he certainly sees the world through "new eyes", and is perfectly at peace with himself. He is incapable of thinking far beyond what he can perceive, like most people, but that is due to his retardation, not his will - in that sense at least he has an excuse ! Indeed, it seems a strong analogy between Chance and the people around you can be drawn as well, and that is because Chance's retardation is shown clearly enough that it can withstand very interesting analogies. Should we consider mindlessness as a mental problem ? The story doesn't make everything tidy (for one thing, it doesn't clearly explains Chance's early life or his mental problem), and in that respect it provokes reflection in more than one aspect. Movies shouldn't explain everything or tie loose ends : that's boring. Being There is not only intellectually satisfying and interesting, but it's also not boring. Chance : "In a garden, growth has its season... as long as the roots are not severed, all is well, and all will be well in the garden."
Rating:
Summary: That famous ending
Review: All I can say is the final shot is a masterpiece of cinema. To convey the entire theme of a film in one single shot, in such an understated and almost off-handed way, is nothing short of filmmaking genius. The film would have been memorable without it, but it's this final icing on the cake that just floored me. I can only wonder how long it took director Hal Ashby to dream it up, because I read the original script and it only ends with Peter Sellers walking away from the funeral and tending to a broken tree. Ashby must have had a brainstorm on the set and it was a brilliant one. Watching Peter Sellers walk on water -- as we hear the President end his eulogy with the words: "Life is a state of mind" so effortlessly sums everything up it's almost frightening. When I saw it, I had to rewind the DVD at least five or six times just to savior the meaning. You just don't see that kind of thing in movies anymore. And to those who think it's some sort of Christ metaphor, I take exception and I think the President's dialogue supports me. The final shot is simply saying that Sellers' character was never told you couldn't do all these amazing things; his childlike innocence was never diluted by doubts about what can and can't be accomplished in this world -- even impossible things like walking on water. He doesn't know it's impossible because no one told him. Indeed, life is a state of mind, and I think thats a mighty powerful idea all on its own.
Rating:
Summary: Sellers at his best!
Review: I love this movie! I remember the first time I saw it, I was in high school, and after I left the theater I was entranced. It is such a beautifully simple movie, but can be viewed on a host of levels. Ashby did a fine job of directing a superb cast, and he made sure the movie was full of wonderful satire, true humor, depth of emotion, and political awareness. Definately a DVD for the collector of great film!
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