I went to see this movie having read several wonderful reviews. Unfortunately, i believe it to be one of the worst movies i have seen in recent years. The acting was quite poor, the storyline never really picks up and the ending comes out of nowhere; starting off very realistically and ending rather fantastically. It does not help that the lead actress, Anna Thompson, is incredibly difficult to watch onscreen in all her plastic glory. It is hard to take her seriously as a person, let alone as an actress. Her mouth is so tight that she appears expressionless throughout the film. Her character is barely developed and you never feel any sympathy for her or ultimately care what happens to her.
It seems as though the script was written in a stream of consciousness mode where storylines only barely interconnect and no theme is ever developed thoroughly. There are three groups of people, all in different age brackets, who seem to be searching for love. The senior characters are most thoroughly developed and the best cast. One at least feels something for them and their storyline is seomwhat interesting. The middle-aged characters, however, the protaganists of the film -Bruno and Bella- are all over the place and never really figure anything out. They never talk things out and we never really know what they're feeling for one another until we overhear Bruno speaking to someone about Bella. Then there are the small children, who seem to appear in the film almost accidentally since they barely have anything to do with the rest of the movie. They appear in only ONE speaking scene which leaves the viewer with an impression that they are completely superfluous.
All in all, i thought "Fast Food, Fast Women" was a poor excuse for a film. There were many untied ends or confusing elements throughout the various plots (eg: Bella's mother coming to visit toward the end or, SPOILER: Bruno's affair with Emily) and scenes that seemed unneccesary or made little sense (eg: Vitka's son coming to learn to use the PC, the bum living below Bella's apartment). For the tiny bit of entertaining dialogue the old men provide in their park and diner scenes, one is much better off watching old Woody Allen movies or Seinfeld reruns. Don't waste your time or money on this one.
It seems as though the script was written in a stream of consciousness mode where storylines only barely interconnect and no theme is ever developed thoroughly. There are three groups of people, all in different age brackets, who seem to be searching for love. The senior characters are most thoroughly developed and the best cast. One at least feels something for them and their storyline is seomwhat interesting. The middle-aged characters, however, the protaganists of the film -Bruno and Bella- are all over the place and never really figure anything out. They never talk things out and we never really know what they're feeling for one another until we overhear Bruno speaking to someone about Bella. Then there are the small children, who seem to appear in the film almost accidentally since they barely have anything to do with the rest of the movie. They appear in only ONE speaking scene which leaves the viewer with an impression that they are completely superfluous.
All in all, i thought "Fast Food, Fast Women" was a poor excuse for a film. There were many untied ends or confusing elements throughout the various plots (eg: Bella's mother coming to visit toward the end or, SPOILER: Bruno's affair with Emily) and scenes that seemed unneccesary or made little sense (eg: Vitka's son coming to learn to use the PC, the bum living below Bella's apartment). For the tiny bit of entertaining dialogue the old men provide in their park and diner scenes, one is much better off watching old Woody Allen movies or Seinfeld reruns. Don't waste your time or money on this one.