Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
Mandeep Tyson
The acting in this movie is really good.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Scarlet
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
meddlecore
In this monologue, Spalding Gray has returned to exploit his incredible storytelling abilities, which he will use to take us on a psychological journey through his experience of attempting to write a book (which he calls "the Monster")- after having two previously successful monologues (that is, excluding his uber-rare monologues on LA and a Personal History of American Theatre), a minor acting career (most notably in Joffe's "The Killing Fields"), and the death of his mother.As always, he puts on one hell of an entertaining performance. I still like "Swimming to Cambodia" better, but he puts on an equally amazing performance in this piece. It's just that there isn't as much of a cinematic touch put on the film- as compared to "Swimming" and "Gray's Anatomy". The focus here is all on Spalding.Spalding Gray is truly a master storyteller that must be seen to be experienced. I regret not getting an oppourtunity to see him live...before he passed on and all. Thankfully we have these brilliant testaments, which he has left us with. 9 out of 10.
MarieGabrielle
in his descriptions of CAA, platinum card lunches in Hollywood, psychoanalysis, a vacation in Provincetown he never took, and free trips to Nicaragua, financed by Columbia pictures.It sounds narcissistic, but Spalding Gray (possibly because of his unusual personality) ropes the audience in, laughs at himself (perhaps because he did not take the Hollywood thing oh-so-seriously) and gets us to care.This monologue is not just about "The Killing Fields", or "Swimming to Cambodia"; it is more a pastiche of events, as he sees them. Some of the lines are classic, as when Gray meets with the esteemed talent agents at CAA. The conference table is ..."full of them, tanned, healthy, fresh from drinking blue-green algae from an Oregon lake...there are no drugs now in Hollywood".This was before the tragedy occurred. Many of us will miss his off-balance humor. 9/10.
Charles Watson
It isn't a movie but a monologue performance on film and a really good monologuist performance by Spaulding Gray. Anecdotes embellished for storytelling are patterned to fit in with flashbacks to the "Impossible Vacation" that sits atop the desk. Gray theatrically converses with the audience and other viewers of the performance, at times with the minimalist-synthesized score by Laurie Anderson to accentuate the mood. You will feel both the attempt for Gray to come full circle and the subtle depression Gray exudes through his retrospections well into the performance. Anyone who has lost someone close to mental illness or has lived a life like that of Spaulding Gray will empathize as they watch this series of strange adventures into writing, acting, relationships, society, and the simile of personal solitude to self-realization whenever experiences unexpected encounters through one's own ambling.
yeahman
Actor/monologuist Spaulding Gray sits behind a desk and spends an hour-and-a-half talking to an audience about the years he spent composing his autobiographical novel "Impossible Vacation." If this sounds remotely interesting to you, then you're probably gonna love it. Gray has a talent for being funny, sad, and insightful all at the same time; he's much more than a teller of witty tales. And he's rarely dull. After watching this film and his "Swimming to Cambodia" (also recommended), I can honestly say that I would pay money to listen to this man talk any day of the week.
