I really wasn't planning on watching
Hard Eight today, but having watched
Boogie Nights last night, I was kinda still in the mood for another
Paul Thomas Anderson flick and since I wasn't in the mood for
Magnolia, I went with this one. And no, don't let the title
Hard Eight fool ya into believing it's another p o r n - based film. This was actually
PTA's directorial debut about.....well about something. Okay, I'm purposely being deceptive here.
If you have never seen
Hard Eight before, it's going to seem rather strange to follow a bunch of characters around with no clear objective. The movie starts with a "chance" encounter between
Sydney (Philip Baker Hall) and
John (John C. Reilly) at a roadside diner. After that, we are pretty much following these two, along with
Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow) as things 'happen' to them. You will be saying to yourself as you watch this "something better happen at the end or I will be p*ssed". Stick with it and you will find out that the 'chance' meeting has a purpose and what
Sydney's chosen profession is. But up til then, it's basically a conversation film with lots and lots of dialogue. I don't mind this at all. I actually like the movie and I think the reveal at the end justified the road traveled to get there. But I can see the movie rubbing other people the wrong way if they are more about having clear plot points and motivations.
Definitely give this a
Rent if you've never seen this before. Also joining the cast are small roles by
Samuel L. Jackson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robert Ridgely and
Melora Walters, with the latter three also joining
PTA for
Boogie Nights and
Magnolia. And if you haven't already seen any of the other movies, you should know that
Hall and
Reilly join in on the
PTA fun as well. Sh*t man, I think I may just have to watch
Magnolia after all. Correction,
Boogie Nights was
Ridgely's last movie as I remember it.