I could talk about what's wrong with this movie but the most important thing is I laughed out loud several times. That makes it worth the time I spent watching it and I would do it again. Oh yes, don't expect there to be any point to what is going on - there is none.
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NaynJayOz7 August 2003
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gtown18 January 2003If this were a student film, I would understand, but it's not. The director takes a pseudonym because, well at least I believe, because it's an experiment gone very wrong. I'll make a list
1. The lighting, blunt, bullying, washout. It's almost unnerving to watch as if a science fiction.
2. No story served with a never ending plate of hit or miss bon mots. I call it self-indulgent. I won't lie to you and say there aren't flashes of wit and charm... there are, but I find that this film is very much like what it shows: a person who tries too hard and has you cornered at a party.
3. The set... it's soooo dark. Why? Do you want me to have a nervous breakdown instead of laughing which is the intent I assume.
4. Noah Bambaugh has made me laugh a lot in his other films. All the while, I felt that he had the potential to go off the rails into the realm of pretentiousness, banal, insufferable New York upper east/west side intellectual hipster dreck. In the previous films he created memorable, earnest characters and a plot. Not this time... without story you are left with nothing. -
james_oblivion27 December 2002Okay, now this is a very funny movie...if you can appreciate its brand of humor. If big-budget Hollywood comedies are your bag, and you need a bunch of sight gags and constant over-the-top situations in order to laugh, then you'll probably see this movie as a boring, poorly-made waste of time. But it's not...and if you're a fan of stage plays or older-style comedy films (before the attention span of the average film-goer plummeted), then you'll certainly get some laughs from this outing.
Filmed on a shoestring budget over six shooting days, this film is an impressive result. If it had been shot in three months, and had turned out the way it had, it wouldn't seem quite as impressive...but it would still be a funny movie. What I'm saying here is that not only is it a good comedy, it's also one of those rare films that's shot quickly, for very little money, and STILL manages to shine.
As a filmmaker, I would have never attempted to shoot a comedy on such a tight schedule, with so little money. Comedies are very tricky...by comparison, dramas are much easier...at least in my mind. But this little no-budget comedic gem packs in enough laughs to please fans of stage comedies and classic cinematic comedies. Truly an impressive film which delivered more than I'd expected it to. -
=G=7 June 2001"Highball" is a funny spoofy/campy/droll comedy about a bunch of friends at parties. This dinky little flick sports a good cast and some funny writing. Everything else is pretty much crap. If nothing else, this movie will make you wonder why so many good actors climbed on board this low budget dog.
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dwpittelli5 March 2001Ignore the blurb on the VHS box, the movie is not about a couple's hot parties with hip friends, it is about a couple's awful parties with jerk friends. Now, that might not be a bad thing -- in fact, I think it could be easier to make a good movie about bad parties than about good ones -- but the advertising is dishonest.
Much worse, though, is the the pointless and boring character of the movie, which is about a bunch of stupid or verbally sadistic "friends" who mostly don't like each other. While I've known cliques that keep getting together despite frictions between some members, it's inconceivable that these people would keep getting together for these abusive and tedious holiday events. Also, the couples' relationships, which come and go between these parties, are unexplained and mostly unexplored, as are some individuals' character changes, and indeed, almost everything that doesn't happen at the parties themselves. -
It might be creatively written, it might have been done a nice small budget, but I still can't give the movie much praise. While it tried its hardest to make the audience laugh, I kept waiting for a punchline that never appeared. Parts became monotonous, dragging so far as to invoke the fast forward button on my remote control. Possible it wasn't the script at all, it felt that the actors and actresses had little or no chemistry or emotion throughout.
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enigmann8 February 2004There is so much here to praise, where to begin?
Writing the equal of Woody Allen's sharpest urbanity. Story woven with understory interleaved with back-story. Non-stop desert-dry humor delivered with cutting but subtle irony. (E.G. the scene in which the subway girl at the Halloween party looks at Felix and says, "Are you always this funny?".)
Acting so natural it could not have been acting.
Photography and lighting primitive but perfect. Sound quality excellent. Editing expert and effective.
Like a layer of transparent frosting, in nearly every scene the filmmaker smears mockery over the film itself and its characters. And yet, after being immersed in a seemingly non-stop train wreck of sarcasm which eventually mildly sprained my sense of humor, at the final scene I cried.
Reality TV wishes it might maybe someday approach this level of authenticity.
I will always cherish this film and those shining talents who created it. -
A really bad movie. I never cracked a smile. I very rarely give a film a rating below 5, (gave this one a 3) not because there are no bad movies, it's just that I don't watch films that I think are going to be bad. I taped this one just because it had Justine Bateman in it, and I had liked some of her stuff on TV. She wasn't bad here, she just had nothing to work with. This one was painful to watch. I wasted 90 minutes, and the cast and crew wasted 6 days. Grade: F
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holterbarbour12 March 2000It's a nice surprise to see so many famous names get together for a (very) low budget film like this (the end credits celebrate its being filmed in just six days). Even nicer than that is the incredibly witty dialogue and situations that are so perfectly satirized at a party. This film follows a group of couples (and the permutations therein) and their friends at three parties- a housewarming, Hallowe'en, and New Years. You've been to one of these parties. You know these people. There's the insufferable prick that keeps getting invited, theres the Grudge between two guys, there's the ex-girlfriend dating someone else now... etc. It's a BRILLIANTLY funny movie, and there it gets funnier each time you watch it- too many of them go over your head the first time round.
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misterherzog28 February 2023A very low end independent film featuring some very notable players, many playing themselves. It appears to be lit by car headlights, and the camera tripod only had one height, and they might have used the on-camera shotgun mic for audio.
I would love to hear the full story of what caused this film to happen. Film students could learn a lot from this. How and why the funding was cut. How and why these actors signed on to do it. (Eric Stoltz was just 3 years after Pulp Fiction.) And how the director and editor decided each individual edit. The pacing is weird.
It has the look and feel of a film school student project working with no discernible budget. But Baumbach went on to do great work, so he had to start somewhere. -
bhodgman8 November 2001I originally rented this film because I am a big Anna Sciorra fan, and was extremely disappointed that she had such a small role. But believe it or not, this simple little film includes some of the wittiest and funniest scenes/dialogue I have ever seen. You need to watch it a couple of times to pick up on a lot of things, but it is well worth it. Felix's story about Phillip's child is as funny as it gets... And the one liners are amazing - seriously, check out this film, and let me know what you think. "Everybody Felix... It's Felix's Birthday!" It is spectacular!!!
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kayewarr11 May 2006It's an intricate piece of deeply disturbing fluff that hooked me at 3am on IFC and forced me to watch it over and over again. I want to marry Carlos Jacott just for being Felix. Look, I understand that some people have found this movie to be "pointless" and "frustrating", it's very hard for some people to let go of the need for traditional story structure and endless back story and meet cutes. Maybe you don't know people like those in the movie but I do and I hope to meet more of them. At the end of the day who would you rather hang out with: Felix or Federline? I thought so. Sometimes a little highbrow cynicism goes a long way and sometimes tuneless karaoke is more moving than that song they can't stop playing when they salute the exiting American Idols.
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I just watched this film and I was amazed at what an effect It had on me. It was very funny and weird, but most of all it was true. The writing was sharp and often hilarious, but the performances are what really pull it off. I often say that Chris Eigeman steals any movie he is in, but it doesn't happen in this movie. All the actors hit the right mark to create something that is rare in current independant films. No one in this film over or under acts. If you love dialogue driven comedies with some fine nuanced perfomances (ie Whit Stillman, kicking & screaming) you'll enjoy this flick.
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mangospider4 July 2002I can't believe how much I laughed out loud at this movie. The comic energy that they managed to capture is outstanding. I just saw it recently and keep laughing when I remember certain moments- like Justine Bateman's shifting while the girl is talking about how she "used to love a gay man." I almost peed myself.
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mccormicky26 September 2006Highball Director: Noah Baumbach
This is a really good movie for people who have an off beat sense of humor. 3 parties take place; a birthday(for grumpy Felix) a Halloween(2 people dressed in the same giant lizard costume,confusion ensues hilariously) and a New Year's Eve(Rae Dawn Chong comes dressed as a cat,naturally) I'm pretty sure no one had heard of Noah Baumbach when this movie came out but now that the Squid and the Whale did so well for him, he's going to be working more(I hope) You should do yourself a favor and see this indie film, if only to hear the excellent music by LUNA in the interludes. Cameos: Ally Sheedy,Rae dawn Chong and Dean Wareham of LUNA. -
fateslieutenant15 September 2003What a shame this movie was so dull. So many great actors, some doing a terrific job. Chris Eigeman, for example, is a master of this type of intimate, low-budget film which, with far less editing than is seen in slicker productions, is at times closer to theater than to Hollywood; his delivery is natural and his body conveys enough that the extensive cutting it takes to make some actors come alive can be safely dispensed with. For pure fun, the great Peter Bogdanovich spoofs the insider impersonations that are a well-known aspect of his conversation.
Sadly, such quality is not the standard. John Lehr starts out painfully over the top as Miles, and Carlos Jacott as Felix is barely believable until the bar scene well into the middle of the film - although he redeems himself with a strong and funny performance in the last ten minutes of the film. The couple whose apartment is the only setting are an unlikeable and unconvincing pair much given to excesses of acting that bring out rather than overcome the weaker points of the script.
In fact, unlikeability is at the center of the film: Felix, about whom what little plot there is revolves, is known to all but his 'best friend', Jessie, as a louse; Jessie's wife describes Felix accurately as an asshole. Unfortunately few characters are more sympathetic, and only Eigeman's Fletcher, who rarely appears, is pleasant enough to carry the viewer past the stilted dialogue and melodramatic hamming that are the movie's basic features. -
blackxmas22 January 2001That Ernie Fusco! What a character! He makes such funny films! HIGHBALL is no exception. I love this witty, underlit, six-day wonder so much! If you've seen any of Fusco's other films, then you know what you're in for. Just one question, who the heck is Noah Baumbach? See this movie. It'll make you want to be a big lizard next Halloween.
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msoolala8 August 2002Among my favorite dry comedies I would include movies by Baumbach and Stillman, from which much of Highball's cast is culled. This would, in theory, be the one and only kind of marketing strategy for this movie, though not a very convincing one. I also LOVE Chris Eigeman who is utterly invisible in his role as Fletcher. It bothers me that movies like this are made just as much as it bothers me that movies like Die Hard and Armageddon are made, because you notice not what they are and what they offer, but what they aren't and what they might have been.
The difference between a movie like Highball and a movie like Kicking & Screaming or Barcelona is the feeling of intimacy, genuinity and understanding. This group of actors is not de facto amusing or sexy or entertaining, only within a structure of good writing, (some kind of) cinematography, and a sense of integrity, all which are lost on this scrap of film that is also a waste of the $300 it took to make it.
This movie is a case of "we can doesn't mean we should". It doesn't even exist to be noted on a filmography. No actor in a sober state would venture to have this experience referenced in the annals of his/her work. I am chagrined. -
bukp15 August 2002After eight years of working in the film industry and a life time of watching them, I've finally found the worst film to date. This movie was horrible for a multitude a reasons. I've checked the directors background and saw that is was not his first. This came as a surprise to me considering the number of amature mistakes that I found, just after the first couple minutes. Not only was the lighting, acting, (outside of Eric Stoltz) and story line well below sub par, but the set was one of the worst dressed sets that I've ever seen. You might think that I'm nit picking a bit, but then again isn't that saying something within itself.
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Donny_Stay13 March 2003I actually read the IMDB user reviews of this film before I saw it. Many intelligent users had little good to say about the film, even those users who were very fond of Baumbach's other work. Despite this, I watched it anyway.
All right, so it's not a masterwork. Yes, the film was poorly edited, and no, there isn't much of a story. But the Baumbach wit is still present, and there are many hilarious moments in the film, enough that I rather enjoyed it. Ultimately, isn't that why we watch film? -Highball- might not make a great statement on the human condition, but at least it will make you laugh. -
movieman_kev3 May 2004A small group of friends attend three different parties spread months apart. Some funny bits, some funny gags, but the film feels incomplete. I choose to attribute the good parts to Noah Baumbach, not out of liking his other work, as I have yet to see his "Kicking and Screaming" film (heard nothing but good things though), but rather because I REALLY want "The Life Aquatic" to be great. And I pin the blame of the bad scenes on the shoulders of Christopher Reed, because..well because the man made "The Sixth Man" 'nuff said. The acting is good all around though. Kudos to that.
My Grade:C+
Where i saw it: Showtime