Protraph Lack of good storyline.

HeadlinesExotic Boring

Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Naomi There is this continuous misuse of the word "comedy" as a substitute for quirky, off-beat, different, strange, weird, etc. This is the case here.The film is not funny. It is not a comedy in any way. Comedy means inducing laughter. There are very few laughs here, not because this film tries some jokes that fail to hit the mark - the film doesn't try because it's not a comedy. The film is a light-hearted take on a wannabe rock star - his financial problems, love life, band issues and music career. It attempts to be light-hearted but it is actually sad and depressing. Abject poverty, terrible, dirty apartments, hopeless music career, you name it.The story itself isn't that interesting and the film is not really fun to watch. It's really low-budget, apparently $500k, but I think they spent it all on celluloid and actor salaries, because it looks like it was filmed on a $5k budget.The music is good, but it's not enough to save this dud of a film.

RainDogJr It's been quite a while since filmmaker Tom DiCillo came to my radar. Once his LIVING IN OBLIVION was a must-wanted for me, and the searching for it was damn worthy. I remember being better informed of everything DiCillo when the Anchor Bay DVD of his debut film JOHNNY SUEDE was released than today. It wasn't available in my city and then as time went by I lost track of DiCillo. A couple of years ago his documentary about one of my all-time favorite bands, the Doors, wasn't a blast for me, actually I began to think again in his first one only until recently and it was thanks to Brad Pitt. I'm not one of those who watched -or will watch- this film just because of the appearance of a young Brad Pitt, as the title character. But definitely the recent buzz for Pitt and his Oscar nomination made me ran across an article dealing with Pitt's evolution as an actor, or something like that, and also some really nice drawings of many of his characters, including Johnny Suede. So I realized I still had a pending encounter with DiCillo's debut film; and unlike four years I have now an ebay account so the DVD came in my mail some weeks ago. After watching this film I read about filmmaker Jim Jarmusch's involvement in it. According to wikipedia, Jarmusch's involvement wasn't anything more than giving to his good friend DiCillo positive feedback on the fourth draft of it. With this, JOHNNY SUEDE sort of reminded me Jarmusch's very own first feature PERMANENT VACACTION. And not just because DiCillo himself was the cinematographer of that film, but also because my approach to both debut films is quite similar. Both are strange films and not fully successful. I have seen only once PERMANENT VACATION; that happened years ago and I don't really plan to revisit it soon. I'm pretty sure the same will happen with JOHNNY SUEDE. Still I must say this is much less of an "experimental" kind of film than Jarmusch's. It's a more accessible vehicle, but nevertheless there is some really strange stuff going on here; the actual tone of the film is quite strange, just like the hair of Johnny Suede and that character played by Nick Cave – having a musician like Cave acting here is certainly pretty darn cool (just like having original music by Link Wray) and it also makes me think in Jarmusch, because of his collaborations with music legends like Tom Waits and Iggy Pop. It's a character film. One would think of this as a film about music; seeing Pitt in the DVD cover, for example, with his guitar and his pompadour hair can make you think that. For me it's really nice in that regard. The character Johnny Suede, a not-really-extremely-talented young guitar man who loves musicians like Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley (here I think again in Jarmusch, thanks to his MYSTERY TRAIN!), will be sort of appealing to anyone who wants to be a full-time musician. For Johnny many things interrupt his guitar playing, like finding money for the rent. The film is actually more about all of this than about music. Johnny's relationship with two different women has the most important role in the film to be more precise (Catherine Keener is here playing one of them). It was definitely good to finally check this one out even that, and just like its title character, sometimes is not quite likable. Pitt was a really nice choice for this role as he, like Johnny, was still very naïve. In the end, it's really not the best way to begin checking out DiCillo's bodywork, so if you don't really know this filmmaker I recommend you to begin with LIVING IN OBLIVION. *Watched it on March 04, 2012

Michael O'Keefe A black comedy from Tom DiCillo about a troubled young man, Johnny Suede(Brad Pitt), with a an attitude piled as high as his pompadour. Johnny desperately wants to be a rock n' roll star like his idol Ricky Nelson. He thinks he has the voice, the threads; but he lacks any outstanding talent and most of all...a pair of black suede shoes. One night like out of a dream, a pair of black suede shoes falls from the sky and they fit. Almost immediately Johnny's life becomes very complicated with women, money and forming a band with a guitar fresh out of hock. Maybe a gun and a liquor store could jump start a future. But there is the lack of a bullet. Just like Johnny's life becomes aimless without a true direction.Filmed mainly in Brooklyn makes for a great atmosphere correlating with the action. This movie comes before Pitt is to be known around the world, so he can afford taking chances. He often plays with whats in his underwear and even dares to sing as the guitar work of Link Wray twangs throughout making a cohesive story. If you are one that finds interest in the formation of life inside original rock n' roll you'll find JOHNNY SUEDE funny, sympathetic and fun to watch. Fascinating soundtrack.Others in the cast: Alison Moir, Catherine Keener, Calvin Levels, Nick Cave, Tina Louise and Samuel L. Jackson.

bkoganbing Johnny Suede finds Brad Pitt in a character study of a would be rock and roll superstar who just can't quite get his career off the ground. In a homage to a famous Twilight Zone episode He finds a pair of classy suede shoes that seem to complete the look he keeps trying to obtain. Unfortunately it takes more than just a look and some talent to make a star.Brad's Johnny is a likable if shallow character. He can't seem to get a career goal in focus and some things beyond his control seem to be defeating him. Nevertheless he persists and even finds some true love in the end in the person of Catherine Keener, though he nearly blows that situation.That exaggerated pompadour was absolutely unreal, it must have been close to a foot high. It so obviously a wig yet it did seem to match Brad Pitt's natural coloring. He must have gotten a migraine headache just wearing it around.Johnny Suede is a film made on the cheap. I will say I liked the choice of location shooting in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Around that time the area was starting to become gentrified. Now some of those loft apartments and reconverted brownstones are starting to match the more swanky sections of Brooklyn if not yet at Manhattan levels.In the supporting cast I did like Calvin Levels performance as Pitt's best friend and confidante who finally decides to leave him because he's tired of waiting for Pitt's dream band to become reality.Johnny Suede is not a great film, but it does give full display to Brad Pitt's natural charisma and talent and clearly shows the star he was to become.