Rating: 
Summary: sans Mangold's ego, this could have been a classic
Review: Mangold did a great job at casting this true story. What he should have never been allowed to touch was the original script.He whittled many of the important supporting characters down to anecdotes, and focused much too strongly on the lack of story between Susanna(Winona Ryder) and her nurse, Valerie(Whoopi Goldberg), and therapists(Jeffrey Tambor and a wasted Vanessa Redgrave). The film should have been very much an ensemble piece. When not in one two-character relationship, the Lisa(Angelina Jolie)-Susanna duo being the strongest, he spits out one-liners and stereotypes for his incredible players to show. Jillian Armenante(Cynthia), Clea DuVall(Georgina), Angela Bettis(Janet), Brittany Murphy(Daisy), and Elisabeth Moss(Polly) are all better actresses than the script shows. Most are left as set dressing, standing in hallways as Susanna and Lisa cavort. The most interesting scenes occur outside the hospital, which is an oversight. The "normal" world in an ice cream shop shows the juxtaposition of insanity Susanna is choosing, with the world she is supposed to be within. Daisy's apartment is also a drama-packed den of emotion and catharsis as Susanna and Lisa spend the night. Mangold should have kept his mangling mitts off this one. potential: 10/10*
final product: 6/10 DVD notes: as per all recent Mangold releases, there is ample commentary by the director, giving insights into the film locations, casting, and motivation. There is a wonderfully rich set of deleted scenes (some of which should have been in the final cut), and the HBO special that was little more than an overlong trailer for the film. Still, a fine set of extras that flesh out the product. Well done.
Rating: 
Summary: Right on target.
Review: I can say that this movie is right on the mark. Being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder myself, I know what it's like and this movie shows Winona's character having the same thoughts as me..so if you have ever wanted to know what life is like in the eyes of a person with a personality disorder, this is the movie to watch. It is disturbing, but mostly because it's like watching reality play out in front of your eyes. This movie also shows that there is hope in recovering from this type of disorder, which is a good message to send out.
Rating: 
Summary: Girl, Interrupted - An exceptionally well told true story!
Review: "Girl, Interrupted" is a very well portrayed true story about a young woman who has lost her way in the sixties and ends up in a mental institution. While Angelina Jolie drew me to this film, what left me with the biggest impression was the overall story and the fact that it's a true story makes it that much more incredible. While it's a given that Hollywood adds and subtracts from the "truth" in stories such as this one; even if there is just a modicum of the truth left to this story, it conveys Susanna Kaysen's story with a true depth of feeling and character that is extremely compelling, resulting in a heartrending yet enlightening film. Given the fact that Angelina Jolie won and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this film for her exceptional performance, which again shows the incredible range of acting skills she possesses; Winona Ryder was the intended star of this film and she shines perfectly in this role. It has been some time since I saw a film of hers and I would definitely have to say that she's done nothing but get better! One cannot help but give acclaim to Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave for their outstanding performances in supporting roles. James Mangold deserves high praise for lending his directing and writing talents for the screenplay to this film and taking it in the direction that he did when considering how the original book was written. The Premise: As stated above, "Girl, Interrupted" is the true story written by Susanna Kaysen when in her tumultuous youth during the sixties, she brought herself to the brink where, despite her denial, she'd attempted suicide and ended up in a mental institution where her life was irrevocably changed... I highly recommend this film to any and all who are interested in extremely well told and acted dramatic stories that are intellectually and emotionally deep in the telling! {ssintrepid} Special Features: -Director's Commentary
-Deleted Scenes with Commentary
-HBO First Look: The Making-Of Girl, Interrupted
-Isolated Music Score
-Theatrical Trailers
-Talent Files
-Production Notes
Rating:
Summary: Closet Fan
Review: I am a closet Winona Ryder fan. I've seen all of her movies. She and Angelina Jolie tore up the screen in this psychotic rendition of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It may be hard for some to believe that for such minute indescritions many were hospitalized in the 50's 60's and 70's and deemed lunatics because they didn't conform to societies norm. This movie was touching and gives you insight into the thinking minds of those whose lives are INTERRUPTED. Quite enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Shocking, Sad and Extraordinarily Powerful!
Review: This movie is powerfully intense from the very beginning. When Suzanna (Winona Ryder) tries to ease her "headache" by chasing a bottle of asprin with a bottle of Vodka, she ends up in a mental institution. There she must learn the difference between sane and crazy, and in the meantime learns a lot of things the hard way. Lisa (Angelina Jolie) is the character everyone will simultaneously hate and empathize with. Consider a Sociopath, she definetly fits the mold. Angelina does an excellent job convincing us she is crazy. I believe Winona was an excellent actress for the part of Suzanna because like the character she is deeply intense and multifaceted. She plays the character as true as possible. This movie will break your heart, but it is soooo good. I recommend it for everyone, especially teenagers and of course all psych majors should watch this movie! You will never be able to listen to "The End of The World" the same again. P.S. The deleted scenes are great and lead you to a greater understanding of the story. The making of the movie is also intense and interesting! GREAT DVD.
Rating:
Summary: The Answer to Teen Trauma! ......Praise to Mangold!
Review: Never before have i seen a film to so intensely touched me on this sort of level. Proving to the world that infact, teenagers are not insane, nor do we believe ourselves to be! I feel a strange 'kinship' with Susannah Kaysen herself, the questioning, the reasoning. Ryder and Jolie alike bring superb performances to screen, and aside all actors alike produce astounding roles. Yes, not everyones 'cup of tea' but for the 99.5% of us it's a must see. I feel annoyed that the film has been branded 'Chick-flick' for it in most senses it is most certainly not. Try and combine a mixture of 'The wizard of OZ' meets the legendary 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest' and you've sort of got it, Ryder is Garland, Jolie is Nicholson- a weird cocktail, and its tasting fabulous! James Mangold has cooked up something truley amazing....true to the book, true to life, and most importantly, true to ourselves.
Rating:
Summary: A Female Version of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"
Review: Well, Wiona Ryder did a good job as the main character, and Angelina Joie did a better job as liza. This movie deserves two thumbs up. This movie starts out in the 60's when Wiona Ryder trys to commit suicide by mixing Vodka and Asprin. She is then recommended to go to a loony bin. When she gets there she starts to slowly get along with the other patients and although she doesnt realize what Liza (Angelina Jolie) is about she befriends her and has some real hard times. Like One Flew over this movie is mostly about life in the ward in the 60's and well mostly all of their lives. Whoopi Goldberg stars as one of the nurses A great movie, dont rent it or borrow it, buy it you wont regret it. Top notch acting and Top Notch cast. I liked this movie and I hope you will also.
Rating:
Summary: In the Loony Bin
Review: Great performances by the whole cast. I really believed Winona was borderline and Angelina as Lisa was superb. Angelina as Lisa is my favorite character she portrayed. Great story all the way around. Quite morbid but uplifting in the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely horrible
Review: In a movie that is 127 minutes long, we should be given a clear explanation of why Winona Ryder's character belongs in a mental hospital. Instead, we're thrown into the middle of everything, when her parents are considering the option of admitting her into the insane asylum. The predictability of "Girl, Interrupted" doesn't help itself at all. Of course, she doesn't think that she belongs in a ward, even though she admitted to her doctor that she swallowed an entire carton of aspirin, and that was before she drank a bottle of vodka, all because she had a headache. All movies in this category (and believe me, there are more than you would think) have the inmate going through a period of denial leading up to an eventual feeling of belonging. The character development behind almost everyone in "Girl, Interrupted" ended up being another very weak link, and, in a very dark drama that is based on a true story, this is a critical element that just isn't up to par, and that really hurts it. Like I said earlier, we need to know why Winona Ryder's character is going through this stage of depression, and we need to know what part of the phase is so unbearable that she can't handle it on her own. I remember the word "blue" being used when her feelings were being described, and that word falls short of description that would constitute someone needing to go to a mental institution. In a big world like this, there are people that aren't able to cope with certain things all by themselves, and that is what her character is supposed to evoke. In reality, I know of two people who have been through experiences in life that were too difficult to be dealt with alone, and, when the topic of the drama that they are going through comes up, the word "blue" wouldn't be enough to describe what they were going through. She is playing a 17-18 year old (even though she was 28 during the filming) in 1967 who is dealing with the problems that everyone faces at that age. Everyone faces those problems, and everyone deals with them. It's a little thing called the real world, and, if her character can't adjust to it, then I, as the viewer, don't care whether or not she gets over her problem or not, because it all comes off as a bunch of complaining. Acting wasn't good either. Angelina Jolie was supposed to appear to be insane, but her character was really just an idiot, which is completely different from insanity. Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" is insanity; Angelina Jolie in "Girl, Interrupted" is an idiot. At one point in the movie, an inmate told someone to call her a cab, and he called her cab, as it were a name, and she went bizerk, laughing. Insane? No. Idiotic? Very. So, overall, I have enough real problems and complaints now, and I don't need to hear the petty, superficial ones that are poorly portrayed in this movie. If I were anything like anyone in this movie, then I would go crazy every time I had the most subtle, unthreatening problem. Stay away from this movie. It is boring, annoying and without any strength of conviction.
Rating:
Summary: Growing up on the ward
Review: This is a movie about a teenaged girl who swallows a bottle of aspirin and then loses over a year of her life in a locked ward of a mental hospital. You're thinking this is a rip-off of "Cookoo's Nest", and why not? Seems like most movies these days are rip-offs: of comic books, of TV shows, of other movies. But not "Girl, Interrupted". This is the goods, the real deal, the truth. And how would I know? Just guess. Aspirin is not a suicide drug. Sure, you can kill yourself with aspirin, a lot of aspirin, but we give it routinely to little kids. How dangerous can it be, how dangerous do we think it can be, in our hearts? It can make you very sick but you won't die, right? It's a perfect gesture -- the threat without the danger. A real suicide uses a rope, or a gun. There's nothing equivocal about a hanging, no chance for rescue or second thoughts. When Susanna takes all that aspirin, it isn't because she thinks there's anything wrong with herself. It isn't herself she's trying to change -- she isn't self-destructive. Rather, she thinks the world and her relationship with it is wrong, and she wants to blackmail the world, with the threat of self-destruction, into behaving the way she wants it to behave. The ward is populated by the Lost Girls, determined never to grow up, and led by their Peter Pan, Lisa. Lisa is one of the few false notes in the movie, overdrawn and probably a composite (I must read the book), more a plot device than a character. (Angelina Jolie won an Oscar for the role, so mine must be a minority view.) Susanna, however, does grow up, eventually and at a cost, and leaves Never-Never Land in a taxi. "Girl, Interrupted" is a coming-of-age movie, about a teenager becoming an adult in extreme circumstances. Its presentation of the ward and its inmates is, with the exception noted, honest and true. Winona Ryder is brilliant as always -- neither she nor Whoopi Goldberg as the head nurse of the ward ever take a false step. Highly recommended.
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