Rating: 
Summary: Tra la la
Review: This was a great movie. I read the book a while back and this movie did it's justice, although there were some parts that were exagerated and lef out. Angelina Jolie performs the character of Lisa perfectly. It's a good movie. Yeah.
Rating:
Summary: Oscar-worthy! Beautifully Acted!
Review: Girl, Interrupted very much changed the way i look at films. It has all of the elements that make up a superior movie, and i am truly shocked it didn't win 'Best Picture' at the Academy Awards (let alone get nominated).I first saw this movie on t.v. late at night as i was flipping through channels. I had looked it up in the t.v. guide and read that Winona Ryder (my fav. actress) was in it. I was debating between it and "Saturday Night Live". Thank GOD i chose "G.I." This movie is my all time favorite in the midst of my comedy collection. The book is good also, but i enjoyed the movie far more. It hits on a lot of subjects that you normally don't find in movies. The acting was incredible. Not only Winona, but Brittany Murphy, Whoopie Golberg, and Angleina Jolie. The suicide scene was amazingly acted. Right after that scene, it went into a commercial, and my jaw was hanging open for all of it. if you were looking for a recommendation, you can probably tell already that im going to give it a good review, but hear (read) this: "Girl" is not for the timid. Although it is a masterpiece, i can almost guarentee it'll have you shaking a few times. I strongly recommend it for people with a "fine" taste in films, Ryder/Murphy/Jolie fans, and just anyone who needs some excellent entertainment. I've also found that it's not just a girls movie. Many men were also touched by it also. So do yourself a favor. See my favorite movie ever, "Girl, Interrupted." And don't just see it, BUY it! ~Candace
Seattle Reviewer
Rating: 
Summary: The Movie doesn't Come Close To the Book
Review: Maybe I am too biased to write this: I read the book first. I know many people read the book and then see the movie, but in this case it colors my viewing a little too much. So just know I come from that orientation. The actors in the movie are wonderful. They portray their characters with honesty and are believeable. Whoopie Goldberg does a great job as Nurse Val, who is both stern and compassionate to the all-white women in her ward. Angelina Jolie is very conviving as Julie, the sociopath bad-girl (Jolie's real life reputation didn't hurt either). And Winona plays the confused, young writer Susanna Kaysen, but is often upstaged by Joile. So, sounds pretty good? The movie viewed just as a movie is quite enjoyable and is, in turns, humorous and sad (we're dealing with a pysch hospital; it can't be all laughs). However, the last 45 minutes are not from the book. The book _Girl, Interrupted_ is a memior. Winona Rider, who also produced the movie, said that memiors don't have climaxes so they had to write one in. Fair enough, but the climax is so ridulously out of step with the book, and I dare say, betrays the whole idea of "psychiatric confinement" (I don't want to give any spoilers, so I'm keeping it vague). I sat in the theater, in horror, at what they had done to a book I loved. It was too unrealistic. But, nonetheless, I have a VHS copy of the movie. It was good movie but a poor adaptation.
Rating: 
Summary: Girl, Interrupted ~Winona Ryder~ ~Angelina Jolie~
Review: other then the movie taking place in a mental institution, I dont see how anyone could compare the two"girl interrupted" and "one flew over the cuckoos nest". If you go into this movie with hopes of it being as good as "one flew over the cuckoos nest" your going to be very dissapointed. Unlike "Cuckoos nest" this takes a look into the world of the womens mental institution. The intitial premise is great, but the film really lacks the reality of the horrors that went on when the institutions were up and running. If you visit any of the old state wards, you can still see blood on the bars and walls. Stories of ghost are very common; stories of them unable to rest in peace after the terrible experiments and other things that went on. Sure it wasnt that bad all the time, but movies have to be able to have the guts to go a bit over the top to stir emotion. This movie failed to do that the majority of the time. For the most part, the mental institution was more like a girls only country club. The actors did a beautiful job in the film, but the screenplay itself failed to deliver powerful and defined characters like we saw in "cuckoos nest".
This movie deserves almost 3 stars. I give it credit for trying to do something really special, but it fails to capture emotion and enough attention to want to watch the whole movie. Angelina is great in this film and she has great eyes. Some actors like Jack Nicholson and Gary Busey can play strong characters simply with their eyes; I see some of that in Angelina. She is a wonderful actress and I see big things for her in the future. Its a shame how beautiful women like her are exploited in films that hold her back and dont show her true talent. I give this film credit for letting Angelina show her true talent without getting naked.
The extra features in this film are excellent and make the movie better. Great deleted scenes and directors commentary. The VHS version of this movie is deffinetly not worth purchasing, but the DVD is pretty cool. I actually think this film could have been better if they left some of those deleted and symbolic scenes in...oh well(should have could have)rent before you buy
Rating: 
Summary: Don't let them take you to this film!
Review: My girlfriend talked me into seeing this movie. I went willingly. I should have gone kicking and screaming. For a film, it was a real evening-killer. We didn't talk for the rest of the night because the veiwing experience (at least for me) was sort of like sitting through a series of weird television commercials between periods of intense drowsiness. To put it bluntly, this is a film for the intensely disaffected, or anyone else who has a reason to be interested in mental illnesses. How anyone could have envisioned "Girl Interupted" as a vessel to present to mass audiences is beyond me. To wit, the film really isn't even a very good adaptation of the book, either. Forget about seeing this piece of pointless garbage. You'd be better off throwing your money in the gutter.
Rating: 
Summary: Great performance by Jolie
Review: While I normally would not have picked to watch this type of "chick flick" on my own, circumstances lead to me watching this movie and I wasn't disappointed. I recognized instantly that Jolie had stolen the show and wasn't surprised at all later when she won an Oscar for her performance. I am a fan of Ryder and she does not disappoint here at all, but Jolie really nailed her character. For those that enjoyed her performance here, check out the movie Gia. It is another outstanding job by Jolie (before she became "famous"). I give a strong recommendation for this movie, even to fellow guys that really would rather watch action filled guy movies, this movie is entertaining and thought provoking as well as featuring excellent acting.
Rating:
Summary: Read the Book, See the Movie, & Compare
Review: The movie is pretty good, I think, but the book is much better. It seems the movie is "looking" for a theme or a plot with a moral. I think sometimes a story based on an excerpt of one's life is just a story and to try to assign a plot can make the story seem simple and contrite, so I would've prefered to see more of a "documentary" type movie with fictionalization, rather than a good "story". I'm confused, also, by what the writers are trying to say. Craziness is just an exaggeration of "you or me"? I'm not sure... Beware also, that the movie contains a gory suicide scene which I was not aware of as being actually in the book version of the story... it seems some situations were altered to make a "better" movie. This incident was merely mentioned in the book.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Movie
Review: The movie is awsome.Cool Soundtrack.The movie shows what it might be like to be in a mental hospital in the 60's with a bit of Hollywood.It is a drama with humor and nonstop action.If you like exciting movies you should see this one.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Glimpse Into The World Of Psychosis
Review: Girl, Interrupted is a movie based upon the novel by Susanna Kasson. After graduating high school, Kasson went through a difficult and confusing time. She attempted suicide and was persuaded to sign herself into a psychiatric institution. We are drawn into Susanna's world as she desperately tries to understand and get control of her problems. Winona Ryder does an admirable job of portraying Susanna Kasson. In fact, this movie was toted as Ryder's baby. However, Angelina Jolie steals the movie as the psychotic Lisa. Lisa is a strongly written character and Jolie does a splendid job. She makes the role of Lisa so important to the viewer, that you find yourself wondering not whether Susanna will overcome her borderline personality problem, but what happened to Lisa after Kasson's stay at Claymoore Institution.
This movie is definitely different from the novel it is based upon. However, it's been a while since I've seen such an insightful look at what goes on within a psychiatric center. Someone really did their homework here. I work in an older psych center - it's been around for over 50 years. The older buildings have tunnels underneath which were used to move patients, food carts and linen from building to building. People were often institutionalized for things no longer considered psychosis, such as homosexual tendencies. Often times people are released from the institutions, considered cured, when they are not ready to interact with the world. And often times, patients become institutionalized and, although jealous of anyone who finally gets discharged from the hospital, do anything they can to remain hospitalized because they are fearful of life outside of the institution.
Strong storyline, strongly acted. You truly believ that the actors are the characters they portray. You care about them and waht happens to them. Susanna's thoughts about her psychosis and her life in the institution are truly insightful. This movie is very well done. Truly worth seeing!
Rating:
Summary: an uncomfortable observation about truth...
Review: girl interrupted was a disturbing movie on several levels. the first is the movie's allusion to the idea that people in mental health institutions may in fact be more sane than the rest of the world residing outside of such settings. the second is that a person confined to such settings can be 'awarded' the previlege of residing in the 'real' world only if she/he is good at pretenses and behaving within prescribed indices of 'normalcy.' the third is that some mental health specialists may in fact simply be specialists in keeping up appearances (acting and sounding 'smart') to their patients rather than genuinely working with the patient to achieve balance. and the forth, is that a person's healthy response to unhealthy social conditions warrants a lengthy stay in a mental institution and the perpertrator of the dysfunctional act remains among the 'normal', freely roaming through society...
these four levels although appearing cynical, do in fact ring a heavy dose of truth and this is what is most disturbing yet fascinating about the movie girl interrupted. the actors did a nice job with their characters. i felt a great deal of empathy for daisy and disgusted with the level of complacency used to deal with her horrendous situation....lisa was not responsible for her death, her father pulled the trigger and the mental health profession did nothing to resusitate her. susanna did not resonate very well with me. perhaps as the narrator she had to maintain a dispassionate stance necessary to objectively comment on the occurrences in that setting. in any event, she appeared more of an annoyance and at times an irritating distraction in the movie. i'm not sure if that was the intention of the author of the book. lisa was the most stunning of the characters. she was the most honest, real, and in touch with all dimensions of reality. somehow i felt that there was much that this character could teach both the other characters in the movie as well as the audience privy to seeing her multi-dimensional behaviors. the raw truth is that lisa could not live in the outside world not because she was insane, but because she was far too sane for an insane world, a world ill prepared to deal with truth and sanity.
kudos to angelina jolie once again for her dynamic presentation of a very complex character. it is owing to this actress' sensibilities and energy that lisa resonates so strongly. a very provocative movie.
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