Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

dgcooper-72360 I wrote a review on this non-movie many years ago when IMDb was new but for some reason the review has been removed. A man sitting behind a desk in a garage talking about his bit part in another movie does not a movie make. I do not understand how this can be classified as a comedy / drama as it is neither. With the exception of some clips from The Killing Fields the entire movie consists of a humorless man babbling on and on about nothing. No entertainment value at all and very difficult to watch. My advise is that if you have the urge to watch this movie slam you hand in a car door instead, it will be less painful than watching this non- movie.

dna007 I was lucky to find a copy of Swimming to Cambodia many years ago at the public library. I felt this was lucky indeed because our next-door neighbor is Cambodian and a close personal friend of the man befriended by the reporter in the movie the Killing Fields.This was at a time in my life that I felt obligated to finish any movie I began watching. I have since learned that life is too short for such indulgences. Partly, or most likely, due to this film. You may have guessed that "lucky" is truly not how I now feel about finding this movie.In any event as I said I was compelled to watch the entire movie. This turned out to be a task that lasted nearly a week. Each day I would watch as much as I could stand. Others have praised this movie as having humor and insightful knowledge. My poor brain could not grasp most of what was being said. At times it required rewinding to see parts I missed upon awakening.I truly did not understand the movie. Actually I hesitate to even call it a movie. Really, even though picking up a glass of water to drink during the speech does require movement does that make it a move?.If you find watching grass grow too exciting you should give this a look, else my recommendation is, well anything else is time better spent. The only exception I can think of is someone smart enough to understand it.Rating 1 out of 10. I would go lower if possible.Just for the record, I review very few movies. This is my only negative review.

mirok First let me tell you -- Spalding Gray was a man who could mesmerize, as his numerous one-man shows are evidence of. This is a "short movie" -- only about 90 minutes instead of a full 2 hours -- but it's positively compelling and makes you wonder why you didn't hear about it, why it didn't get that much publicity in your neck of the woods, etc. until you were lucky enough to stumble across it.One thing I adore finding are movies that can be paired up as a double feature. An example would be Ed Wood's last film, Plan 9 from Outer Space, together with Tim Burton's homage work, Ed Wood. Watch them together and it's just great. I would also recommend watching The Killing Fields, in which Gray plays a minor role (as the U. S. Consul in Phnom Penh) and this movie, in which he talks about the making of said movie.Remember that this is a topical movie because it was made in 1987. By that time the infamous "killing fields" were gone and Pol Pot's regime had been driven out of Cambodia by rebels supported by the Vietnamese. However, the Heng Samrin regime was far from democratic and for some strange reason the UN continued to recognize the Khmer Rouge regime -- the one led by Pol Pot -- as the legitimate government of Cambodia in one of history's craziest throws of the cosmic dice. It was not until the early 1990s that peace and democracy finally came to that troubled country.For quite some years this movie was available only on VHS. I wondered when it would ever come out on DVD. Finally it's available on DVD so I say there's no excuse not to go out and get it.

mattbyrne69 Spalding's 'Swimming to Cambodia' defies the preconceptions often brought to a movie: we get to see one man at a desk, with a lamp and a glass of water, and a map of Cambodia with a pointer to help. And then Gray's amazing ability to hook the listener into his amazing free improvised anecdotes makes it worth a thousand blockbusters. Demme's film prior to this was 'Something Wild'... this is wilder and wittier. Do yourself a favour and watch. Spalding's tragic suicide last year brings a poignant edge to many of his existential observations, but this is uplifting, entertaining, funny and harrowing all in one. And it's a monologue. Sam Shephard once said it was impossible to compare anyone to Spalding, so unique was he. Here's the proof.