Buffalo '66 (1998)

I have wrestled with whether to trash this movie for Gallo's or to recognize that I don't hate it and that it has an odd sweetness in Layla (Ricci)'s and Billy (Gallo)'s relationship. It doesn't make a bit of sense to me. He is abusive to her. She seems like a sweet girl without the sort of emotional hangups to tolerate the abuse of someone like Billy. Billy is a horrible person- egotistical and abusive. The script, to me, doesn't make a plausible case that Layla would stay with Billy. We don't know enough of her background to believe that she would tolerate such abuse and bad treatment. He kidnaps her. He berates her for being TOO good at giving a good impression of him. He is jealous of her involvement with guys before she'd even met him. Why she stays with him is a bit of a mystery. This is one of the major shortcomings of the movie. It's hard to believe that someone would tolerate such unsolicited treatment. If we knew a bit more about her background, we might find her acceptance of him more understandable. All that said however, for whatever reason, she does stay with him and there is the suggestion of love at the end of the movie. This makes the movie magical and really a little sentimental. It's ultimately a love story for hipsters. I can't trash this movie because I'm not cynical enough to do that. It is a sweet movie at heart and it is as though Gallo dares us to not like Billy. Well, I don't like him, but if someone does, then I wish he and the girl all the luck in the world.

I'm totally shocked that at the time of writing this review that this film has an average IMDb user rating of 7.3. Huh?? I really can't understand what the majority of people see in this film. Basically, Billy Brown (Gallo) is released from jail for a crime he didn't commit and is intent on getting revenge on the person responsible for putting him in jail. Before he sets out on getting his vengeance, he kidnaps Layla (Ricci) after telling his parents that she is his wife - this is something that he had been lying to them about whilst he was inside. He persuades Layla to go along with his lie and tell them how brilliant he is and how much she loves him etc. After this unnecessary filler, we get a little plot development as Billy makes a call to his prison friend called Goon to try and track down the whereabouts of the person he holds responsible for him being sent to prison. The rest of the film is basically Billy trying to track down the person he holds responsible for him being sent to prison.The main problems with Buffalo 66 (and believe me there are many) is that there are too many things that didn't make any sense or that weren't believable, Like what was the purpose of taking Layla back to his parents house? They didn't stay there, they didn't go there for money. Billy seemed to want them to think he had a wife for some reason. Also Layla had many opportunities to escape from Billy, but chose not to - this is a man that threatened her and was generally nasty to her, but yet she didn't want to leave him. Perhaps this is because she was a bit naive and perhaps she felt she could change him etc, but to me it all seemed a bit phony.The main plot itself was also quite absurd. In a nutshell, Billy bet $10,000 on the Buffalos winning a Superbowl game, but the game is lost due to a missed kick by Scott Woods. Therefore Billy loses the bet, but doesn't have the $10,000 dollars to pay the bookie. So the bookie (played with icy coolness by Mickey Rourke in the 5 minutes or so that he was on screen) tells Billy that the only way he can settle his debt is to testify to a crime that he didn't commit and let the guilty party go free - which he does and gets sentenced to 5 years. He then seeks revenge on Woods for missing the kick and making him lose the bet and for losing 5 years of his life in jail - he also believes that Woods was paid to throw the game. OK - a couple of things; 1) Billy shouldn't have bet $10,000 dollars if he didn't have the money to lose. 2) Why would he only target Woods when Rourke's character was ultimately responsible for sending him to jail? The above reasons make the whole revenge element seem rather flawed.Aside from script issues, the film was also boring and just seemed to drag on and there were many instances where there was just dialogue (most of which was uninteresting) with little to no plot development. The film also lacked any kind of suspense or tension. Also what was the need in Gallo repeating nearly every sentence twice? I realise that this can make characters seem menacing (which it does to an extent), but not in every single sentence - that to me was just overkill.The only positives I can really draw from Buffalo 66 was Gallo's performance (apart from when he was saying his sentences twice). He has a naturally menacing look about him and that helped in making him come across as 'convincing' in his role. Ricci was also good as his 'naive' pretend wife - she was really good at portraying a 'naive' innocent woman who wanted to do all she could to try and appease Billy. The direction and camera work were also pretty good (particularly towards the start of the film).I may have slightly forgiven the dodgy script and mind numbingly boring majority of the film if it would have at least had a good ending, but Gallo doesn't even manage to get that right. I understand the point that Gallo was trying to make about 'choices' but to me Billy's U-turn came out of nowhere and seemingly without any reason - considering how obnoxious he was throughout the entirety of the film.This was an astoundingly bad film which was only saved slightly by the 2 lead performances and fairly good direction, but I still wouldn't waste your time watching it.

Vincent Gallo's darkly comic, ultimately touching debut film, 'Buffalo 66', has a stellar cast playing unglamourous roles and a central turn from Gallo himself as insecure loser Billy, fresh out of prison and back in his native Buffalo, but with no real sense of home. The film departs occasionally from literal realism is a mostly effective, entertaining manner, but behind the quirkiness, this is a serious movie about the ability to be love and be loved. It is, however, all about Gallo: Christina Ricci's character presumably has some issues of her own (why else would she be hanging out with a loser like Billy?) but instead of exploring them, the film allows her at least a hint of the role of the forgiving angel, sent (or rather kidnapped) to rescue an otherwise doomed man. But it's still a successful film, one that visits some dark places, but brings the viewer out the other side.

Vincent Gallo. It's amazing how notorious some people can get for practically nothing. Buffalo 66, Gallo's directorial debut isn't, however, a complete 'nothing,' for it definitely has its moments. Some of the stylistic elements are interesting, the strip-club scene in particular is very effective, and there are entertaining and memorable moments throughout. The music too is a particular highlight. But this film oozes 'indie.' In fact it reeks of it. Made with all the skill of a film school drop out, the camera-work is uneven, the story is lopsided, and the entire experience is a mixed bag. If you know anything about Gallo, this entire film is one big narcissistic self-blowjob (the bathroom scene about how 'big' he is? Come on!). But let's just forget about that. The biggest problem is Billy himself. It's hard to like him. Despite being called 'sweet/kind' so many times by his 'girlfriend,' he never does a SINGLE thing that is actually 'sweet/kind' throughout the film. He is crass, angry, and bullying to everyone he meets. So this film comes off more of a 'whoa is me. Feel sorry for me' story for a jerk. Not a good base for a story. That very story, too, is weak. The whole kidnapping premise (which is the whole story) makes little sense (there's no motivation for her to do what he wants or to continue on with him). That said, it is a nice treat to see Ricci, Huston and Roorke. And there are a lot of funny scenes here (some intentional, some not). This definitely will not appeal to a large audience, but for those who like 'cinema,' art, or the indie scene, you might get a kick out of this.