The Tao of Steve | | Cast : | Donal Logue | | Director : | Jenniphr Goodman | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | January 01, 2000 | | DVD Released Date : | March 20, 2001 | | Language : | French (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 01, 2005 | | Summary | "Chant all day, check out chicks and pretend to be holy." | Content
 | I've seen Donal Logue in a number of things (I first saw him in the mid 90's on MTV as a greasy cab driver), most notably the first Blade (1998) film and the TV show `Grounded for Life' (which is actually pretty good, although I'm unsure if it is still on the air), and he's always been a hefty fellow, but seeing him in The Tao of Steve (2000) set me back a little as it looked like he really packed on the weight, complete with distended gut and all. Was it for the film? Or just perhaps something due to his particular lifestyle at the time? I don't know, and I suppose it doesn't really matter, but what I do know is I liked this film, even if his character wasn't particularly likeable. Co-written by Duncan North, Greer Goodman (who also has a starring role), and Jenniphr Goodman (who is also the director), the film stars, as I already mentioned, Donal Logue and Greer Goodman. Also appearing is James 'Kimo' Wills (Buffalo Soldiers), Ayelet Kaznelson (Four Lane Highway), and David Aaron Baker (Kissing Jessica Stein).
First off I think it's important to mention there is no character in this film named `Steve'. The main character is named Dex, and played by Logue. Dex is an overweight, educated, intelligent, philosophizing, unattractive, part-time working lump of a human being with seemingly little ambition other than to get into women's pants. To this regard, he has developed what he calls the `Tao of Steve', which consists of three main aspects when it comes to dealing with women. As far as the `Steve' part, that relates to the `coolness' exhibited by popular cultural icons that are named Steve, like Steve McQueen, Steve Austin (The Six Million Dollar Man), and Steve McGarrett, from the Hawaii 5-0 TV show...in other words, the epitome of coolness, for some at least...anyway, back to the three main aspects...the first is to eliminate all desire, especially for those who don't have the physical attributes of say, an Adonis...this entails not letting a woman know how much you want to nail her. Apparently women can smell desperation, but if you show no interest in her, she may begin to wonder, being that she is really hot and way out of your league, why don't you want her? All women have insecurities, and this seems a roundabout way to capitalize on them...the 2nd aspect, once you've eliminated desire, is to be excellent...not in general, but do something in front of the woman you want to get with to show her you have a quality worthy of her giving `it' up. The 3rd and final aspect is to retreat...meaning, once you've hooked her, back off and let her come to you. This gives her the assumption that she has the power and is dictating when the time for the horizontal shimmy is appropriate. Using this simple philosophy, along with a whole lot of BS, Dex is able to score much more regularly despite his slovenly physical nature would normally allow for...and this is working well until he meets Syd (Goodman), a woman Dex begins to see as real, flesh and blood individual rather than just another possible conquest.
Okay, the character of Dex isn't particularly likeable to most of us, given his manipulative nature and seemingly superficial views on women and relationships in general, but he's still fun to watch. There is an underlying theme throughout of Dex utilizing the inherent complexities (and insecurities) of women in order to bed them, which is dealt with under the justification that since Dex is not, or will never be, a pretty boy, he must find some other tactics to achieve his goals. I don't think there are many of us who haven't employed any one of his theories at one time or another, the difference being Dex just happens to have developed and refined them to the point of actually being a workable system. Most important is how it is applied to the particular individual (in this case Dex), and that individual having an understanding of his own capabilities and/or limitations. The story is really nothing new, a somewhat slick BS artist set in his ways coming up against someone who draws forth feelings and desires that go further than what he is accustom to, and subsequently has difficulty in dealing with the revelation of his true, core being, that of someone who actually may be human, but the way the story is told is a little different than what I was used to...there's a realistic element involved, in that Logue isn't a Robert Downey Hollywood sort (Downey has done a number of roles like this), and the catalyst in the character of Syd is certainly beautiful, but not necessarily unobtainable. She's also intelligent enough to perceive a certain amount of BS when presented to her, and Dex realizes this very soon after he delivers his standard attempts, to which he quickly admits thus to Syd, perhaps in an effort to say, `Yes, I am a despicable fellow, but not so much with you as you're so different than any of those I've encountered before.' Dex doesn't really come off as an endearing sort throughout the film, but we do see sort of an `awakening', a self realization that life is not a series of simplistic encounters and a serious, complex relationship is something worth having and maintaining. Did I mention this is a comedy? Because it sounds, from my review, I am making this out to be something other than it is...overall I think this is a film comprised of a couple of different levels, one that works as a comedy, but also features the underlying aspects I mentioned above, both of which come together nicely at the end.
The anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) picture on this DVD comes through nicely, as does the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. Special features include a commentary track from director Jenniphr Goodman, actress Greer Goodman, actor Donal Logue, and writer Duncan North, along with talent files and trailers for other films Logue has appeared in, including Jerry McGuire (1996), The Patriot (2000), and this film.
Cookieman108
|
| Rating | | | Date | February 16, 2005 | | Summary | Quite simply a great movie. | Content
| This is one of the best, smartest movies I've ever seen. I've lent it to all my friends and everyone of them has fallen in love with it. I think it catches so much of the dynamic of that late twenties to mid-thirties single crowd. College is over, sure the same tricks work on college girls and unhappy housewives but you've got to grow up eventually.
Such is the story of Dex and Sid. Dex can still reel in the college girls, but come on that's like shooting fish in a barrel. That smart 30 something is a different story. I'm not going to spoil anything here just check it out for yourself.
Some reviewers seem to think it was a movie about frisbee golf, I guess if you didn't get it then the movie was way to smart for you. Who cares how Dex threw the frisbee Stu, Rocky had terrible form in the ring and Mojo didn't play for the Texas State title in 88. Get over it, pretend for a minute you're an adult and try to understand the story.
Anyway, I think you'd be a fool not to watch this movie. In fact buy the movie, buy the soundtrack, embrace the Tao of Steve. If for no other reason than it's the only movie I've ever seen that uses the word solipsistic. Might be hard for a Frisbee Freak to figure out but I'm sure all the grown-ups can kick back and enjoy.
|
| Rating | | | Date | December 16, 2004 | | Summary | Toa of Steve is idiotic spench | Content
| What an idiotic piece of drivel this movie is. The hero of the movie acts like he knows everything about women, but he's only interested in getting laid. He's never even had an actual girlfriend, never mind really loved anybody. He comes off like a Taoistic expert on women. Right, and Evil Kneivel is a Zen expert on motorcycle maintainance. All this guy knows about women is how to degrade them. He's a fat unlikable moron who needs a shave but in the movie he gets laid but in real life he would have no friends. He calls women "chicks" and somehow they drop their pants. Right. Sort of like calling a judge "wig head" and having him dropping the charges. Worst of all, he has a terrible frisbee throw, yet he makes a ace in disc golf with a weak, wobbly sidearm that would not impress my 7 year old son. Similarly, he seduces beautiful women with the manner of a rutting boar. The writer of the movie must have had the development of a 14 year old who just pleaseured himself over his first issue of Playboy.
Basically its the worst movie I've ever seen. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 29, 2004 | | Summary | Smart, funny and very original... | Content
| This film was obviously made by recent liberal arts graduates: it's chock full of references and quotations to Lao-Tzu, Buddha, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, and other philosophical heavies.
On one hand, it very deftly unfolds Taoism as applied to the realm of dating: the idea is that if guys didn't so blatantly lust after and work so hard plotting to seduce women, they'd bag a lot more of them. Dex recommends that men step back from their overwhelming physical desires and just FLOW with the women they're with in the moment and WHAM before they know it, they'll be boinking like rabbits.
Contrary to the marketing-driven advice of mens' magazines like GQ, Details, Esquire, Men's Fitness, et. al. you DON'T need to look like Brad Pitt, have perfect looks, muscles, clothes, cologne, car, schlong, or anything else their advertisers are seling. Of course these things don't hurt, but they're not ESSENTIAL. It's all about smoothness, a.k.a. FLOW.
All the above is good and dandy, and the directors say they've gleaned this info off of a real-life less-than-handsome Cassanova named Duncan (forgot his last name) who does appear briefly in a cameo. You find out all this when you watch the DVD again with the cast/director's commentary on---usually this bores me to tears but with this film it was well worth it, since you find out just how personal and intimate of a production this film really was, most of the cast is either related to each other or knew each other in real life beforehand in some way. Plus Duncan speaks on the commentary track too.
Where the film finally gets pulled back into the dreary confines of "conventional" wisdom is at the end, when the male protagonist decides that he's finally met The One woman for whom he'll abdicate his effortless womanizing habits once and for all. Why? For no other apparent reason than necessity---because that's the only way she'll have him, and he really really really wants to be with her, so he'll bite the bullet and get on the wagon.
This retreat into cliche was the only disappointment in the movie. It didn't have to be cliche---the same sort of philosophers that Dex used to inspire his womanizing genius could've easily been reinterpreted to inspire his cessation of womanizing. So this last minute conversion, while certainly not as drawn out and cheesy as a major Hollywood production would've made it, is still a bit unsatisfying.
All in all though, this is a richly entertaining film which deserves a much wider viewership. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 11, 2004 | | Summary | contrary to what they'd have you believe... | Content
| This movie really is not just for the boys. Women, you'll "get it" too...and I don't think you'll be nearly as surprised or enlightened as the male reviewers below would have us believe!
"Girls will watch the film in disbelieve[sic], while their boyfriends are quietly taking notes"? No, not really...I think another reviewer got it right when he/she pointed out that a major point of the film is that Syd also employs the 'Tao of Steve'. And that such essentialist definitions of male/female behaviour don't really hold up.
"It also reminds me that the film's core essense can only be understood by guys." Again - not so much. And let's keep in mind that this film was directed by...yup, a woman! She obviously understood the writers' vision well enough to bring it to the screen in a film that men clearly relate to. |
|
