Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | December 08, 2004 | | Summary | Role Reversal | Content
 | Those folks that have watched the darkly quirky comedy, Mad Dog And Glory before, either "get it" and like the movie very much, or simply dismiss it as drivel--at least that's my experience when talking about it with people. While I will agree, the movie is not going to please some, there is enough there to enjoy and to be enjoyed.
Wayne "Mad Dog" Dobie (Robert De Niro) is a cop who wants desperately to be an artist. After interrupting a holdup and saving the life of mobster Frank Milo (Bill Murray), his life takes a dramatic turn. Milo, like Wayne is a gangster with the desire to be something else in life, a stand-up comic. He rewards Wayne for his good deed, by lending him his girlfriend, Glory (Uma Thurman), for one week, a week in which Mad Dog, who's initially put off by the idea of Milo's gift, gradually finds himself falling in love with Glory.
Directed by John McNaughton, known for his mixture of gory violence and grim humor in films such as Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer and The Borrower, plays against type, using a lighter touch here. The director takes that even further--what you have come to expect from the leads and turns things inside out. In other words, the running theme of characters wishing to be something they're not is elevated throughout the movie by strong playing against type performances by the two male leads. The ironic casting of longtime goofball Murray as a gangster and De Niro as a timid cop is hilarious and oddly compelling. Thurman is the center that balances out the extremes at both ends. The screenplay by Richard Price is free for all, somewhat skewed romp that also tackles the age universal questions of fate and destiny.
As a fan of the movie, I am disappointed that there are no extras on the DVD...The film may not be to everyone's taste, but I think it deserves better disc treatment. If you like Murray and De Niro and want to them do something a little different..Go for the Glory--keeping your options open it's worth a look. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 17, 2004 | | Summary | Mad Dog and Glory | Content
| Dont let the catchy title and blockbuster cast of robert deniro, uma thurman, and bill murray fool you, this is a bad movie from 1993. yes despite this talent of stars, the movie is a big let down for fans of deniro's and thurmans. however bill murray gives perhaps one of his comedic/dramatic performances ever. in fact not surprising as far deniro goes though, his performance is bloody awful. some people say an actor acts "effortlessly" when he gives a good performance, however in deniro's case that seems to be opposite as their is hardly any acting all. however, this stems from the fact that most of the characters in mad dog and glory are utterly weak and pathetic, with the exception of murray.
In fact i still found the movie hard to watch despite murray's performance. the plot of the movie is that bumbling cop (deniro) name mad dog doobie stumbles onto a robbery in progress. he sees a man holding up a liquor store with a tall man (murray) as the hostage. murray's character is a riot, telling mad dog to blow away the sucker like dirty harry.
Mad dog doesn't and the assailant escapes, though i believe he is captured later on though that isn't relevant here.
Murray's character as we learn is a top and tough mafia boss named frank milo. milo is quite a character almost larger than life, he demands respect and if you cross him your dead.
milo though loves mad dog as he has just saved his life in this holdup. milo knowing that mad dog is a cop (although not a good one) offers his services as a mafia boss to mad dog.
Dobie refuses using one of the few morals he has, however milo comes up with another proposition, he wants to be dobie's "friend". lol in fact he wont take no for an answer.
dobie accepts for the mean time, not seeing any harm in that.
Milo eventually introduces the lame brain cop to his new girl "Glory" (Uma Thurman) an attractive woman who we learn is Milo's main squeeze, however better put, she is a prostitute, she is one of many objects that Milo owns".
When Dobie sees Glory and Milo offers "Glory's" services (i.e sex). Dobie refuses. It seems this cop actually lives up to his mom of being clean unlike other corrupt cops or is he?
(Some possible spoilers)
Well not exactly, despite Dobie's claim that he is a good cop and he is sworn to upload the law, he breaks his own rules and laws and decides to "borrow" Glory. When he is through with the companionship, he agrees to give her up.
Trouble is he doesn't. When Milo comes looking for Glory an altercation erupts that basically sets up the conflict and what happens in the rest of the movie. Milo wants Glory back at any price. He is willing do anything including messing up Dobie's life to do it.
I actually made that sound more interesting that it really is. "Mad Dog and Glory" is essentially a part black comedy and part dramatic film. Problem is I wasn't really in the areas I should of probably because of the set of repugnant characters on screen no matter how dysfunctional and stupid they are.
A cop who despite his own morals decides to break them when it suits em, doesnt obviously appeal to me or audience. Glorys character despite being the "victim" of sorts doesn't always come out. In a couple of scenarios her reactions dont have the reactions that a victim would have.
However as far as performances go I definitely think Uma Thurman did a much better job and any good critic could see that as her character is much more complex that Deniro's.
A woman whose caught in the middle of the bad situation and whose life depends on what she'll do next is pretty interesting. However the Glory character despite isn't as well developed as that. She gives in too easily to intimidation and greed instead of firmly making a decision one way or other.
Now the Milo character (Bill Murray) is great, in fact this character is hilarious as hell, despite his presence of being a Mafia boss, who can kill anyone at will and get away with it, hes extremely funny and clever. During one point, he fools the donut eating precint where Dobie works into thinking that he is a "baker" and that he is an old friend of Dobie's. LOL During other instances, he sends it goons to do his dirty work against Mad Dog in such a vile pathetic way that it's almost a joke. Murray is great as this character, for his performance the movie is worth watching.
However again, "Mad Dog and Glory:" is still a heavily flawed film, you kinda what your gonna get in the film and Deniro's utterly, weak, spineless and hypocritical character almost leave you feeling dry and bitter by the end of the film. Hell you want this character to die by the end of the film. It's awful, one of a long string of weak characters that Deniro would play in the 1990's up until "Analyze This".
The movie was directed by John McNaugton if you never of him that's because he's not that good. Hes made a dozen or so films however only really two stand out in my mind "Wild Things" (1998) and "Henry Portrait of A Serial Killer" (1986) with Michael Rooker which is by far the scariest and best movie about serial killers in general (forget about that trash called "Monster" with Charlize Theron) this movie is the real thing.
Uma Thurman of course is hot , she's sizzling ever since she and Quentin Tarantino, did "Kill Bill" everyone seems to be hopping on the Uma Thurman bandwagon, yet a couple of years they were writing her of after she a couple of flops like "The Avengers". Hilarious
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| Rating | | | Date | September 06, 2004 | | Summary | Average Cops and Gangsters Vehicle | Content
| When a retrospective of Robert DeNiro's career is done, I seriously doubt this one will be mentioned. It's mildly engaging but slight entertainment. DeNiro seems to be sleepwalking through his role of nerdy cop. Bill Murray does not really stretch himself in the gangster role. We only view him as a menacing presence because the story tells us so. Uma Thurman is adequate in her role of DeNiro's prize for saving Murray's life, but there is nothing here to suggest the range that she showed in later work. Who does distinguish himself is David Caruso as DeNiro's no-nonsense partner. If Caruso were not so self-destructive he could have had a nice career in films. I would have been more impressed with this venture had Martin Scorsese taken the directorial reigns instead of just producing it. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 01, 2004 | | Summary | Mad Dog and Glory very disappointing comedy | Content
| "mad dog and glory" don't let the catchy title and blockbuster cast of robert deniro, uma thurman, and bill murray fool you, this is a bad movie from 1993. yes despite this talent of stars, the movie is a big let down for fans of deniro's and thurmans. however bill murray gives perhaps one of his comedic/dramatic performances ever. in fact not surprising as far deniro goes though, his performance is bloody awful. some people say an actor acts "effortlessly" when he gives a good performance, however in deniro's case that seems to be opposite as their is hardly any acting all. however, this stems from the fact that most of the characters in mad dog and glory are utterly weak and pathetic, with the exception of murray. In fact i still found the movie hard to watch despite murray's performance. the plot of the movie is that bumbling cop (deniro) name mad dog doobie stumbles onto a robbery in progress. he sees a man holding up a liquor store with a tall man (murray) as the hostage. murray's character is a riot, telling mad dog to blow away the sucker like dirty harry. Mad dog doesn't and the assailant escapes, though i believe he is captured later on though that isn't relevant here.
Murray's character as we learn is a top and tough mafia boss named frank milo. milo is quite a character almost larger than life, he demands respect and if you cross him your dead.
milo though loves mad dog as he has just saved his life in this holdup. milo knowing that mad dog is a cop (although not a good one) offers his services as a mafia boss to mad dog.
Dobie refuses using one of the few morals he has, however milo comes up with another proposition, he wants to be dobie's "friend". lol in fact he wont take no for an answer.
dobie accepts for the mean time, not seeing any harm in that. Milo eventually introduces the lame brain cop to his new girl "Glory" (Uma Thurman) an attractive woman who we learn is Milo's main squeeze, however better put, she is a prostitute, she is one of many objects that Milo owns".
When Dobie sees Glory and Milo offers "Glory's" services (i.e sex). Dobie refuses. It seems this cop actually lives up to his mom of being clean unlike other corrupt cops or is he? (Some possible spoilers) Well not exactly, despite Dobie's claim that he is a good cop and he is sworn to upload the law, he breaks his own rules and laws and decides to "borrow" Glory. When he is through with the companionship, he agrees to give her up.
Trouble is he doesn't. When Milo comes looking for Glory an altercation erupts that basically sets up the conflict and what happens in the rest of the movie. Milo wants Glory back at any price. He is willing do anything including messing up Dobie's life to do it. I actually made that sound more interesting that it really is. "Mad Dog and Glory" is essentially a part black comedy and part dramatic film. Problem is I wasn't really in the areas I should of probably because of the set of repugnant characters on screen no matter how dysfunctional and stupid they are. A cop who despite his own morals decides to break them when it suits em, doesnt obviously appeal to me or audience. Glorys character despite being the "victim" of sorts doesn't always come out. In a couple of scenarios her reactions dont have the reactions that a victim would have. However as far as performances go I definitely think Uma Thurman did a much better job and any good critic could see that as her character is much more complex that Deniro's. A woman whose caught in the middle of the bad situation and whose life depends on what she'll do next is pretty interesting. However the Glory character despite isn't as well developed as that. She gives in too easily to intimidation and greed instead of firmly making a decision one way or other. Now the Milo character (Bill Murray) is great, in fact this character is hilarious as hell, despite his presence of being a Mafia boss, who can kill anyone at will and get away with it, hes extremely funny and clever. During one point, he fools the donut eating precint where Dobie works into thinking that he is a "baker" and that he is an old friend of Dobie's. LOL During other instances, he sends it goons to do his dirty work against Mad Dog in such a vile pathetic way that it's almost a joke. Murray is great as this character, for his performance the movie is worth watching. However again, "Mad Dog and Glory:" is still a heavily flawed film, you kinda what your gonna get in the film and Deniro's utterly, weak, spineless and hypocritical character almost leave you feeling dry and bitter by the end of the film. Hell you want this character to die by the end of the film. It's awful, one of a long string of weak characters that Deniro would play in the 1990's up until "Analyze This". The movie was directed by John McNaugton if you never of him that's because he's not that good. Hes made a dozen or so films however only really two stand out in my mind "Wild Things" (1998) and "Henry Portrait of A Serial Killer" (1986) with Michael Rooker which is by far the scariest and best movie about serial killers in general (forget about that trash called "Monster" with Charlize Theron) this movie is the real thing. Uma Thurman of course is hot , she's sizzling ever since she and Quentin Tarantino, did "Kill Bill" everyone seems to be hopping on the Uma Thurman bandwagon, yet a couple of years they were writing her of after she a couple of flops like "The Avengers". Hilarious |
| Rating | | | Date | April 11, 2004 | | Summary | A strange but good movie | Content
| For people who have been walking around with a conception of Bill Murray as a funny nice guy, this movie is a wake up call. Those who would speculate that Murray vs. DeNiro would be a cinematic mismatch would be correct, but likely for the wrong reason. Murray steals the movie and DeNiro can't match him. The better actor is Murray. Slowly but surely people are starting to understand that Murray is a fine actor with an amazing presence. |
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