The New Age

1994 "A shopping spree for the morally bankrupt."
5.7| 1h52m| en
Details

Peter and Katherine Witner are Southern California super-yuppies with great jobs but no center to their lives. When they both lose their jobs and begin marital infidelities, their solution is to start their own business together. In order to find meaning to their empty lives, they follow various New Age gurus and other such groups. Eventually, they hit rock bottom and have to make some hard decisions.

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Reviews

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.
Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
marymorrissey I'm very surprised that it's described as a "drama" in the ... place from which I downloaded it (I forget whether we're allowed to mention these places by name - the red envelope place, please). Anyway, it's definitely more a comedy/satire than a drama and as such it's rather heavy handed and obvious. Still it's somewhat amusing. Whether you liked it or not, if you even got through it I would recommend you check out, for something similar but much much better all around, Alan Rudolph's "Choose Me" which is actually one of my favorite movies both for its style and substance.Oh, and I will say some of the editing choices in this film really left me scratching my head and wondering whether they were desperate attempts to gloss over little accidents of some sort in the shooting or just kind of bad editing/montagerie.The acting was good in general Rachel Rosenthal was almost too real! Brava!
gsnoorky The response to this film was a little more negative than I expected. I liked the film better than Tolkin's "The Rapture." It's one of my favorites to watch for non-serious viewing.The film has a quirkiness, even a spookiness, that, apparently, many dislike and don't understand. I wanted to recount the plot; however, since that's not desired, I don't see why other reviewers think the plot is so implausible.Peter Weller's and Judy Davis' characters seem to be mismatched partners, but is that so implausible? This dissonance was probably intended, but disliked by many viewers. Anyway, the main characters compromise themselves in many ways: I think Peter and Judy do well in the movie.I also like Adam West in his small part, and the under-rated Patrick Bachau plays his part as a new-age guru with urbane spookiness. Corbin Bernsen has a small part at the beginning as the boss for Peter Weller's character (Weller's character is conveniently named "Peter.")Finally, I like the depictions of certain new-age ceremonies and personalities--this is rare in movies.... I think the movie is thoughtful. It does not have much action, but don't most action films today flagrantly violate the law of "suspension of disbelief?"This film will not be liked by the multitude in America with the attention span of a gnat.
moonspinner55 Michael Tolkin impressed me so much with his film "The Rapture" that it was certainly depressing to then see his talents go to waste with this absurd comedy of lost morals. A graphic designer and her Hollywood honcho husband are in big financial trouble: she has no clients and he just quit his job. Some of their solutions are quirky and interesting, but the characters are off-base right from the start. Tolkin is the new Sidney Lumet: everyone screams irrationally at everyone, but it's tough to discern whether or not we're supposed to laugh at their banal verbal matches--from opposite ends of their swimming pool! In the leads (another problem), Judy Davis and Peter Weller can't work up any semblance of chemistry, or to even convince us they're a high-powered married couple. A few of their marital predicaments are worked out amusingly (they separate within the house, and date others), but their jealousies and insecurities are a bore. Tolkin (the screenwriter of "The Player") pretends to know these people. He's pseudo-hip. It would be to his ultimate advantage if he broadened his horizons...or maybe made some new friends. *1/2 from ****
George Parker "The New Age" is deep satire which runs the gamut of things 90's. Using a Davis and Weller, a 40ish L.A. married couple, as a centerpiece, the film attempts to depict the emptiness of the hedonistic, materialistic, and morally bankrupt life style of the "new age" as it follows the principals from schmoozfests to open marriages to euthanasia to spiritual healing to spas and massages to orgies, etc, all the while portraying the characters as subtle exaggerations which are likely to go over with most audiences like a lead balloon. This unfortunate product by Tolkin starts like serious drama and slowly drifts in limbo somewhere between satire and realism so as to leave many wondering why the film was made and why they bothered to watch it.