Spliced in between Nolte rambling on and on about nothing with himself, are interviews with various film folk who’ve become close with him.  These include Alan Rudolph, Patricia Arquette, Ben Stiller, and Jacqueline Bisset.

While some of the stories told by the Noltes are somewhat interesting (his odd relationship with Marlon Brandon, his projects with Woody Allen, and Martin Scorsese), most of the things he mumbles about in an almost unintelligible voice, are irrelevant, and ridiculous.  At one point, no doubt due to the vodka in the 7up bottle, Nolte just starts making crazy animal noises and contorting his face–a great insight to this misunderstood actor.

When he asks himself how many wives he’s had, he answer in a faux-existentialist murmur, ‘how many wives can you have?’  When he asks himself about whether or not he believes in God, he mumbles something like, ‘sure, why not.’  The questions are left at that, like the viewer should be satisfied.

The question had to be asked eventually about his now infamous mugshot.  In response, Nolte starts a yarn about how he thanked the policeman for getting him off the road, that the mugshot isn’t actually a mugshot, it s a picture the officer asked permission to take.  Nolte claims he agreed to the photo, as long as the officer agreed to share the profit of the inevitable sale to TMZ or whomever, with his fellow policemen.  He then started to talk about how he wasn’t an alcoholic, that that is just the role that the public decided to cast him in.  The point of it all?  I’m not sure.

Even his friends didn’t really have much interesting to say about him.  And even if they did, who can ever really take what Stiller and Arquette say at face value?  Perhaps the most stalwart of Nick Nolte fans may find something of value here, but for the vast majority, this will be a very sad 70 minutes of a drunk old man remembering better times.

1.5 out of 4 stars

Fred Madison (Bill Pullman) is a successful jazz musician (playing songs oddly similar to Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ album).  He’s married to an extremely beautiful woman named Renee (Patricia Arquette).  Arquette oozes with sexuality, her performance is raw, and fantastic.  They receive a mysterious video tape on their doorstep, that shows they were filmed while sleeping (the connection between this aspect of the film and  France’s Cache is to large to ignore).  The police start surveillancing their house, with no luck.  Finally, Fred gets a tape showing him murder his wife, and he’s quickly arrested since Renee is in fact dead.

The plot then moves to a young car mechanic named Pete (Balthazar Getty).  He’s remotely connected to some very bad people, as he’s their mechanic.  There’s no trouble until he starts doing it with bad guy boss Mr. Eddy’s gal, Alice (also played by Arquette).  The two have an intense love affair behind Mr. Eddy’s back, and live in fear that the violent maniac will find out and kill them both.

Telling more of the plot would give away more than you want to know without actually watching the movie.  Lynch has proved once again that he is a master stylist, leaving nothing to happenstance.  He’s like the Frank Lloyd Wright of film, leaving nothing untouched in his shots, controlling every aspect of, well, everything (who else would cast Marilyn Manson in the porno seen in the film?).  I’ve said this before, but no one knows how to build an uneasy tension like Lynch.  The plot is so twisted, you’re mind will writhe around trying to connect the dots.  It’s like an erotic torture (which is the best kind), as you try and figure out what exactly happened, days after you’ve watch it.  This is definitely one of the top 10 creepiest movies I’ve ever seen.  There’s no shortage of violence or sexuality in this film, so be warned.

3.5 out of 4 stars