‘I need a favour.…’
If The Ice Storm has the most 90s cast ever (and it does, dear reader), then Go is probably the film most influenced by those that came before it. Dropping in 1999, Go is absolutely dripping with Tarantino, it is positively drenched in the remnants of Run Lola Run, and in Katie Holmes, it features the most 90s screen siren of all. And just like Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, that other composite of great 90s movies, Go struggles to find its own identity.
As with Pulp Fiction, we have a number of stories and characters here that intertwine in a way that is only occasionally interesting. Ronna Martin (Sarah Polley) instigates a drug deal that ultimately goes horribly wrong. Next, Ronna’s British co-worker Simon (Desmond Askew) goes to Vegas and finds that Sin City holds nothing but bad times. Finally, Zak (Jay Mohr) and Adam (Scott Wolf), a pair of actors on a soapy cop show, are coerced into helping an actual detective (William Fichtner) attempt to bust a small town drug dealer (a constantly shirtless Timothy Olyphant). Elsewhere, Breckin Meyer shows up as this is the 90s after all and Katie Holmes… well Katie Holmes just sprinkles her inimitable stardust around the place whilst looking faintly bored.
Despite critical success and its status as a cult classic, Go is too entrenched in its influences to really stand on its own two feet. Director Doug Liman (responsible for another 90s cult classic in the shape of Swingers) cribs from Tarantino, Luhrmann and even Terry Gilliam but never manages to say anything original.
Go is certainly not a bad film, it’s well written and competently acted, but it’s also not a great film. There are many better films from that era that we should all probably spend the rest of our lives watching over and over again. I know I will.