NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Lancoor A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Blake Peterson Seeing Uma Thurman play a genuine, sensitive woman is a strange thing for me. Everyone (including myself) knows she's a terrific actress — but as a Tarantino die-hard obsessed with "Kill Bill" (I've legitimately seen "Vol. 1" at least thirty times), I'm hardly used to her portraying a woman capable of carrying on a soul-baring conversation without cutting someone in half with a Hattori Hanzō sword. Perhaps I should see what else she's capable of before I start making assumptions — so I suppose "Hysterical Blindness", an HBO TV-movie for which she won a Golden Globe, is a good place to start.Thurman is Debby Miller, a thirty-ish, '80s bound, New Jersey bred, lonely heart in the process of sinking into the suppressed life of an old maid. She's desperate for love — she and her best friend, single mom Beth (Juliette Lewis), parade around seedy bars looking for potential suitors like a second job — but as her low self-confidence is more up front than her immense good looks, she turns most men off, finding herself in a plight of one-night-stands instead of meaningful relationships. She's torn between continuing her search for Mr. Right and completely giving up; she still lives with her mother (Gena Rowlands), and still holds onto a low-paying job she most likely got in her early twenties. Eventually, Debby finds a possible mate in Rick (Justin Chambers), a seemingly nice guy she met during one of her late-night escapades.The hysterical blindness of the title derives from a condition that causes its victim to temporary become visually impaired after a long period of unresolved stress. Debby, so mind-numbingly obsessed with her lack of a love life, experiences the bizarre phenomenon, twice in the film (once in the beginning, to develop her as a neurotic leading lady, and once toward the conclusion, as a dramatic high point that begs her to consider what the hell she's doing with her life). Directed by Mira Nair, "Hysterical Blindness" is a drama frustrating in its inability to stay earnest throughout its length. Most of the film is moving, well-acted, but Nair, against good judgment, feels the need to include "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" repeatedly in the soundtrack as if to make the impression that we're watching a sappy woman's world drama more spurious than sincere, to render Debby and Beth as stereotypically New Jersey as possible to make their desperation even more desperate. Thurman and Lewis are so broadly drawn that it's a relief that they stir our emotions during their more dramatic scenes — there, the acting school vulgarity disappears and we finally feel like we understand these women.It's irritating that "Hysterical Blindness" is so regularly prodded by fakery, because, at its realest, most truthful, it momentarily turns into a movie rich in its passion. It's at its best when focusing on the relationship between Virginia (Rowlands) and her new boyfriend, Nick (Ben Gazzara). Both in their sixties, both numbed and used to their discontent, the love they find together is unexpected and exciting; Rowlands and Gazzara, in a mini Cassavetes reunion, are deeply touching. The side-plot makes for a good contrast between that of Debby and Beth — they would do anything to have a meaningful romance, and while they wander around various taverns, Virginia, who has been a waitress the majority of her adult life, simple finds someone by being herself. The scenes between Rowlands and Thurman are palpably wistful, their mother-daughter bond so thick that it's less of a familial pairing and more of a friends-forever partnership that guarantees the other that when the going gets rough, sticking together will hardly be an action in question. "Hysterical Blindness" is mostly a mixed bag, a sometimes poignant, sometimes obviously calculated comedy-drama that hits home at its best moments but feels like leftovers from an actor's previous vie for an Oscar nomination that didn't quite make it at its worst. But the cast does well with the uneven material, especially Rowlands, making "Hysterical Blindness" decent enough to make even the most cynical of viewers take a look at the world around them and wonder just how many people live to love, throwing their happiness away when they can't quite find it.

joandjosh An excellent and accurate portrayal of lower-middle class 20-something barflies in the 80s, desperate for affection and attention, and willing to do anything for it. Uma Thurman and Juliette Lewis are the quintessential trashy girls of the 80s. Uma Thurman plays "Deb", a self-centered secretary who doesn't want anyone to be happy unless she's happy, including her best friend "Beth" (also expertly played by Juliette Lewis) and her mother (Gena Rowlands). Tragically flawed with low self-esteem, she covers it up with fantasies of happily ever after, even fooling herself, while the more level-headed, but also flawed Beth tries to do her best to stay happy with her absent-fathered daughter and inject a little reality into Deb's world. If you were of age in rural or suburban 1980s, you must see this film.

jotix100 Mira Nair, the talented director of this film keeps surprising us. She gets excellent acting from the different casts in all her movies. "Hysterical Blindness" is no exception. Ms. Nair working on the screen play by Laura Cahill, and based on Ms. Cahill's own stage play, takes us to a town in New Jersey, so close to Manhattan in geography, but far away in the way these people seem to be living in another planet.Debby Miller blames her mother for whatever is wrong with her life. Her father left her when she was quite young. Her mother, Virginia, makes ends meet by working as a waitress in a local diner. Both daughter and mother have been cheated out of happiness because of the loss they have experienced. While Debby dwells on her unhappiness, Virginia seems to have adjusted quite well.Debby is a woman that is desperate to find a man. Obviously, she is quite capable to give her best into any relationship. It's sad how she goes after the one man she should have avoided in the worst way. It will be too late before she realizes the mistake she has made.Throughout the film, Debby and Beth, share their hopes and aspirations. While Beth is grounded, Debby is flighty, hoping for things she can't have. On the other hand, Virginia meets a nice man, Nick, at the diner. They begin a friendship that unfortunately is cut short by tragedy. All in all, the film final scenes tells us that Debby realizing her mistakes goes back to her roots and to her friendship with Beth.The strength in the movie is the great performances Ms. Nair gets out of the four principals. Uma Thurman is good as the Debby. Gena Rowlands, as the mother, makes an appealing Virginia, who makes us care about her. Juliette Lewis, as Beth, is also endearing. Ben Gazzara makes a short, but effective contribution as Nick, the man who finds love with Virginia.This is a film that shows Ms. Nair's talents perfectly.

julschir This movie can't quite decide what it wants to be: 1. A serious coming of age sort of profile of two direction-less young women who are trapped in working class neighborhood without any future ahead of them, looking for love in all the wrong places, who ultimately find some sort of enlightenment about love and themselves. OR 2. A lighthearted look at two girls in the 80s who just wanta have fun and/or Mr. Right but trip and fall a few times on their way towards that goal. Another problem is that the movie fails to significantly define its setting either in place or time. We figure out NJ from the accents and 80s from the clothes and snippets of music but these elements could have been played up more. You spend time trying to figure out what sort of direction the movie is taking and never get quite satisfied as it fails to produce in either direction. You do feel for the characters but the Uma Thurman is so over the top that you are repulsed by her character which is so heavy handed that it seems out of place with the rather sweet lightness of other characterizations in the movie - her mother, her friend, her friend's daughter etc.