It's hard to fault Oliver Stone for finding a way to make a movie that takes place mostly inside a single radio studio visually interesting. But, like a lot of Stone's films, the stylizations are less a form of storytelling and more an indicator that he doesn't trust his audience to not get bored. But Oliver Stone generally doesn't trust his audience with anything, really. But well-utilized or not, it does keep the film entertaining.
I mostly liked Eric Bogosian's bug-eyed crazy performance. He plays at an intensity that often skirts the line between riveting and stupid, but more often than not lands on the riveting side. The themes and story are kind of muddled by a pointless flashback sequence and it's often hard to tell what kind of talk radio show it's supposed to be. I'm probably just exposing my own ignorance, but are there really shows with literally no theme, no topics, and no guests? Occasionally they try to make it sound like a liberal political show, but mostly it's just Barry making fun of crazy people for two (!) hours. How did this show become so popular?
This does lead to the best scene in the movie, where a burn-out fan of Barry's is invited into the studio and he realizes exactly who his audience is. His audience doesn't care about his ideas, his beliefs, they mostly don't even like him. They mostly just listen because he gets them angry. I like the questions it raises but I'd like them even more if Stone didn't try to answer them all in a fiery (almost hilariously) on-the-nose closing monologue in which Barry condemns his audience. It's not horribly written or performed, but it's the kind of on-the-nose "I am making a statement and you are going to be blown away by it" writing that turns me off a lot of Oliver Stone films.
I'd still recommend it. It's definitely entertaining and even Stone can't kill the interesting questions it raises, no matter how hard he tries to beat you over the head with them.
I mostly liked Eric Bogosian's bug-eyed crazy performance. He plays at an intensity that often skirts the line between riveting and stupid, but more often than not lands on the riveting side. The themes and story are kind of muddled by a pointless flashback sequence and it's often hard to tell what kind of talk radio show it's supposed to be. I'm probably just exposing my own ignorance, but are there really shows with literally no theme, no topics, and no guests? Occasionally they try to make it sound like a liberal political show, but mostly it's just Barry making fun of crazy people for two (!) hours. How did this show become so popular?
This does lead to the best scene in the movie, where a burn-out fan of Barry's is invited into the studio and he realizes exactly who his audience is. His audience doesn't care about his ideas, his beliefs, they mostly don't even like him. They mostly just listen because he gets them angry. I like the questions it raises but I'd like them even more if Stone didn't try to answer them all in a fiery (almost hilariously) on-the-nose closing monologue in which Barry condemns his audience. It's not horribly written or performed, but it's the kind of on-the-nose "I am making a statement and you are going to be blown away by it" writing that turns me off a lot of Oliver Stone films.
I'd still recommend it. It's definitely entertaining and even Stone can't kill the interesting questions it raises, no matter how hard he tries to beat you over the head with them.
