Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary: Psychopathic couple goes on killing spree and is glorified by the media.
Biased, pithy comments: Stone's movies are nearly impossible not to have an opinion about. He makes intensely political statements through his own lens of drugs, obsession, and media. NBK is a culmination of several of his themes---a two hour orgy of media-glamourized violence. As a simple satire it is probably too long and gruelling, and the characters themselves are such awful parodies they are hard to take seriously. Still, compared to more limp media-bashing movies (like, say, ``The Chase''), this film has real teeth. Moments of visual brilliance are put up and tossed aside (perhaps the ``I Love Mallory'' sequence is the best), and the studied MTV feel of the film left my retinas blistered. Your mileage will definitely vary---for those who can see through the blood to the love story will find the movie exciting and interesting (though these people are so inured to gore that they are the public Stone is warning us about), and those who won't will be repulsed and confused.
Other Notes: Story by Tarantino was subsequently changed by other scriptwriters. R vs. NC-17 versions differ in over 150 shots; I saw the R version.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Sizemore, Rodney Dangerfield.
Directed by: Oliver Stone