If your a U2 fan watch this film. If your a Trainspotting fan watch this film,(Kelly Macdonald has a small part). If your that 1 Lauren Holly fan out there watch this film. If your an average viewer, i advice you to watch this film but don't expect too much.I never heard of this film ,found it at the video store and was able to get it for free. it has really cool camera shots and has a fashionable groove to it however the script is the major disappointment in the film.The dialogue is somewhat cheesy if not pretentious.And the lead character played by Dorf seems to be an obvious replacement for Ewan Mecregor or that guy from Momento. Overall,if you don't have any expectations for this film you wont be disappointed. Don't buy it. Don't rent it. BUT if your buddy has it watch it.
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lime6inthecoconut25 April 2005
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rick-28923 September 2000This movie should have been better. It was an interesting story, well-acted, but cluttered with distractions, the most annoying of which was the main character's continuing narration, which never added to or advanced the story. The primary weakness was the writing, manifested by poorly-developed characters whose relationships were never credible and whose behavior was seldom coherent. I wondered finally if the initial edit produced such an uneven and difficult-to-understand movie that the director hastily shot all the narration scenes and cut them in to try to pull the whole mess together. But once into the movie, I couldn't quit it, mainly because of Judith Godreche, who I couldn't see enough of and whose performance was the most interesting of all.
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rthibes11 February 2004Here is an underrated movie that only some U2 fans had the opportunity to watch. It is a kind of autobiography of the director Phil Joanou, a great video director who had some success with U2 videos like "One" or "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses", but never had the same luck in the movies. "Three O'Clock High" is a very funny, "U2 - Rattle and Hum" is pretty cool, but that's all he made. When he went to big studios to direct Hollywood stars, he lost control. That's what "Entropy" is all about. Joanou finds himself in Stephen Dorff's character, and adds romance to the story. Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam, from U2, act like themselves and are the angels that guide Dorff through his mysterious ways. Dorff does a very good job, and the supporting cast has nice surprises like Lauren Holly, Kelly McDonald and Hector Elizondo. If you're an U2 fan, if you like Phil Joanou and Stephen Dorff and if you like movies that talk about movies, don't lose this one. You'll be surprised.
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dearinger21 March 2001I don't understand how people can say that this film wasn't good or lacked depth. The main character wrestles with career challenges, prioritizing work and friendship/love, abortion, etc.
And that's not deep how . . . ?
Secondly the directing was brilliant. The editing was more than interesting, very fluid. Great music and movement from scene to scene was always eye catching. I thought the narrator approach was original. Yeah it's been done before. But this was very tasteful and established a relationship between the audience and Jake.
Steven Dorff and and the beautiful Judith Godreche did an excellent and believable job as characters that I think anyone who's ever been in love could identify with. Or at least been in love and lost that love for whatever reason. The last line of the movie says it all.
So to Phil Joanou for this extremely under rated movie . . . Great job! The movie hit close to home and could not have come at a more appropriate time in my life. -
barberoux25 September 2001Entropy had some good scenes and could have been better if the director didn't do so much navel gazing. There were a lot of self indulgent scenes about an impulsive, immature, spoiled director and how he screwed up his life. His solutions to self-made problems were usually grandiose statements like flying to Paris to propose to a girl who dumped him. Childish! We also had to watch the obligatory Hollywood substance abuse. No wonder the movies are filled with the same old cliches, the residents live them. The movie was filled with technical flourishes, maybe too many, and the legacy of music videos was obvious. The movie may appeal to the short attention spanned, maudlined (Is that a word? Well now it is.) MTV crowd. On the plus side the narration was cleverly done and the director may someday make a notable movie if he decides to pull his head out.
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Stephen Dorff (Jake) takes us through an interesting and amusing narrative of a small-time director trying to make a childhood dream come true. Having written the story, Phil Joanou, obviously had a clear idea of how he wanted the visuals to work with not only the narration style but with the story and characters. These all come together to create some comic scenarios as well as visual feasts for the eyes. It's the kind of movie that is interesting to look at as well as understand, and maybe the visual effects could have been taken to the extreme, but nevertheless a successful piece of directing. As a U2 fan I was a bit apprehensive about the part that the band would play, but was pleasantly surprised to find them as important as all the other minor characters in the story. And therefore I didn't expect them to be anything other than themselves. Joanou obviously loves what he does. With work like this let's hope we can expect great things to come.
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I must say that I wasn't expecting much before I saw this film, but I ended up being very pleasantly surprised. I can't agree with another purely negative comment on here about it, because I think there were moments of brilliance in Entropy. It wasn't an all-around wonderful picture, but I'm certainly glad I took the time to watch it. What's most frutrating to me about the film is that, as far as both writing and visual elements, while it could be easy to say for a great deal of it that it's overdone or cliched, there are also some great moments in Entropy that I think have been overlooked. The visual style, while certainly not terribly original, is extremely cool at points. Unfortunately, it's also a bit too aware of itself. At the heart of the film is your basic neurotic lover syndrome and that message that "there's only one person like her," but there are just enough wonderful parts in the movie that set it apart from its less-than inspired foundations, that I found myself really enjoying watching it. For instance, the ultra-realistic talking/smoking cat part. It's the little surreal yet somehow relatable moments like that that make Entropy worthwhile viewing.
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Steven Dorff(Blade) as a filmmaker named Jake Welsh gives a good lead acting.It spans one year during the existence of a young director who narrates how he meets French model named Stella(Judith Godreche,starring with DiCaprio of¨Man in the iron mask¨)and emerges love at first sight.Then they live together but their employments frequently keep them apart.Welsh tries to make a balance among the demands of chairman(Hector Elizondo:Pretty woman)and producers(Paul Guifoyle:CSI,Frank Vincent)his first film and the pressures his new love.Welsh's immaturity eventually separates them and posteriorly a brief appointment is married a beautiful girl named Pia(Kelly McDonald:Finding Neverland)during a rapid wedding in Las Vegas.
This is a slow-moving film about a dull romance and emotional problems of an arrogant moviemaker.This clichéd film contains a slow-pace and it manages the tale down.The Steven Dorff-Jake Welsh character narrates this story of dull manner,retelling how his existence how goes astray and gets worse.Appears uncredited the singer ¨Bono¨ interprets as himself and his group U2 with concert scenes while the director Jake Welsh is shooting.Special appearance by Lauren Holly(Dumb and dumber,Turbulence) as an actress obligated to nudism and Kathryn Erbe(Law and order) as his sister,besides Drena DeNiro(Robert DeNiro's daughter) as a waitress .The best of the film is the sympathetic cat which bound and leaps on the shower's curtain,besides speaks and smokes. Colorful cinematography by Carolyn Chan with rapid images and split screen and atmospheric music score by George Fenton.The motion picture is regularly directed by Phil Joanou,a successful director(Gridiron gang,Heaven's prisoners,Final analysis) and filmmaker of video-clips and films for U2(Rattle and hum). -
robertogvg20 November 2005Fine almost-psychedelic-oriented comedy about romance, struggles in art work and just loosing your mind (and finding it back). The meaning of the word tells it all. Dorff offers a great performance. U2's performances in the movie are in the right spots and at the right time. Very experimental yet great results.
Entropy is a must for people who like the first stages of Tarantino, the visual experimentation of Olver Stone and the hilarity of Woody Allen (strange but rather great mix!).
I find it mind blowing that the plot begins with the narrator in an awful shape explaining the story and then gets to meet his own character and the movie goes on!
The ending leaves you with a melancholic feeling because all us who are still attached to this world have experienced the "Entropy" after an intense experience what ever it was.
See you in the journey to forever! -
smatysia2 June 2013At first, I was annoyed with Phil Joanu's direction of this film. I thought "Oh, no" when I first saw the narration style breaking the fourth wall, used as a framing device. But it sort of grew on me. Don't get me wrong, there were still times when it was badly overdone, such as the cat scene, but overall it actually worked. Stephen Dorff pulled off the role of an annoying film director of extremely average appearance, who yet has beautiful women throwing themselves at him. (Nice fantasy) I thought Judith Godreche was very good, and very pretty. And special kudos to Kelly MacDonald in a medium-to-small part. I ended up liking the film, when I very much did not expect to.
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cornfedthedog26 July 2002I watched ten minutes and forced myself to stop. I had so much hate for those who created and funded this movie, and I was afraid I would take it out on nearby innocent people who were not supporting the dissemination of this film. The script is horrible; while I cannot quote the dialogue specifically (mind clouded by hate and all), I remember cringing from the first line onward. And then there is the narrative style- which I think works when the character is extremely likable (Ferris Bueller) or extremely verbal (High Fidelity), but just does not go over so well when the main character is just self-obsessed and painfully annoying. I also saw the coffee shop scene, and agonized over what was causing me to poke at my eyes with a fork- was it the inane dialogue or the lifeless acting of that woman? Perhaps I will never be sure. I turned the TV off right after Dorff turns to the camera during their `love' scene, as it was the straw that broke the camel's back, and I think my remote control when I threw it at the television. Maybe it gets better.maybe it starts over after ten minutes? I only hope that there is a reason for other people liking this film. I love Bono as much as the next guy, but neither God nor Bono could save the soul of the writer/director responsible for this abomination.
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This is really a film that got me moved, amazed and demanded empathy without much effort. Joanou hasn't been my all time favourite director, but he managed to get himself at my list of favourites at once (along with Stone, Wenders & Luhrman). First of all, the story and the way it was brought pulled the right emotional strings with me. Above that, the fact that Joanou really has a superb eye for photography/cinematography, the fact that he uses different film stocks and mixes colour with black and white and a variety of film speeds, resulted in my enormous admiration for this movie. This is really the best movie I've seen in a very long time!
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Mikelito6 August 2007What a disjointed, contrived mess this is. So I'll style my review after the movie:
This guy talking to the camera all the time. I don't like being pandered to. This movie is like someone who did something bad to you (i.e. the movie) but he keeps talking and being in your face to you trying to convince you to like his movie and not to hit him.
How many clichéd personas exactly are in this movie? It even has a Soprano type guy, a European girl who shows her mammaries, et cetera.
Amateurish Acting (AA) - I love failed movies like this for the use of unknown actors you are glad never to see in any other movie again. Oh but let me put a word in about Lauren Holly - uh...not good.
The plot is irrelevant. It's probably a sort of autobiography anyway. The "hero" has directed U2 in the past - surprisingly the director has directed U2's "Rattle and Hum". Wow...
And lastly the title: "Entropy" - I don't care about why it was decided to use that title but it surely makes the target viewers (US college students) go back and check the meaning of the word they have decided to ignore in one of last year's classes. Heck - I'll go out on a limb and speculate that the true meaning of the title is this: A mess that keeps getting more and more of a mess.
An alternative way of being entertained would be reading the wishy-washy entry of entropy on Wikipedia. Enjoy and be "sillyfied". -
ezn4 April 2001I thought it wasn't a bad romantic comedy. It *was* hip, too, I don't know why the last guy slammed it so hard. The fast-forward driving sequences were cool and the talking/smoking cat had me rolling on the floor laughing. And the story was original and moving. An entertaining 2 hours, good for a date night in, and a lot better than the teenage romance drivel that abounds.
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richard_sleboe13 May 2008Is that really Bono? Heck, why not. He's everywhere, so he might as well be in this slow and uninspired b-movie. Not such a bad fit with his some of his other artistic accomplishments really. Working from his own experience as a former music video director, writer-director Phil Joanou simply can't decide whether this portrayal of his alter ego Jake Walsh is meant to be funny, grungy, romantic, deadpan, or all of the above. It wraps up on a romantic note, but with a different ending, it might as well be filed under "screwball" or even "pub-crawl". That's how random it is. The way the action freezes and Jake (Stephen Dorff) walks onto the stills to comment feels like a cool idea from a hundred years ago. The same goes for the split screen illustrating Jake's phone conferences with his producers, agents, lawyers and other freeloaders on the fringes of the period piece he is trying to make. "Entropy" is nowhere near as wild as the promotion suggests ("Booze, binges, broads"). Incoherently, some reviewers have compared it to Spike Jonze's masterpiece, "Being John Malkovich", which is about as far off the mark as it gets. If you want to see Stephen Dorff as a crazy director, I strongly recommend "Cecil B. Demented" instead. Oh, and just for the record: No way would a woman with eyebrows as bushy as Judith Godrèche's get work as a model in the real world.
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I thought the film was wonderful, the way the story progressed without ever bogging down, and the creative narrative asides were fantastic. I thought it especially clever that at the lowest points in the film, the director/writers/producers threw in the funniest parts i.e., the 'Russian Roulette' scene and the 'talking cat' scene. It, as well as the creative use of sped-up film in the driving scenes helped the story along and kept up the pace of the film. I think this would particularly appeal to anybody that likes artistic films, and enjoys watching the work of someone who isn't afraid to be creative.
Besides, Kelly MacDonald as Pia is hot. -
tomloew4 August 2006I've just seen this movie and it took me about ninety minutes to realize that the filmmakers were serious about what I thought must be irony.
There's Jake, a completely nice and normal guy who is a music video director. Since he lives in a Manhattan loft, I think he is meant to be the successful and kind of crazy artist, however he's just average. Jake falls in love with Stella, a french girl. Now, there has probably never existed a more clichéd version of a french girl apart from Amélie. Stella is soft and tender, has huge eyes, a beeping voice and is of course very difficult. They fall in "love at first sight" in which also Jake, the fancy artist appears to believe. But then things get complicated, because she wants to be a housewife and mother and starts to call him at work all the time, while he's busy messing up his first feature movie. The movie shooting is sort of the parallel plot, but there's not much to report from there, although the producers, the chairman of the studio and the two protagonists of his movie add at least some fun and distraction.
Later on, Stella has gone back to France and Jake, who drank himself to near unconsciousness at a typical (Irish ) U2-Party, somehow manages to fly to Las Vegas with Pia and to marry her. Now Pia is Irish, definitively clichéd as well, but at least she's cool. She too loves Jake, who seems to have this magical aura that lets women immediately fall in love with him upon first sight. Nevertheless, Jake has still only Stella on his mind, which is puzzling, because she's so boring, especially if you consider Pia, but then, Jake's boring, too.
And that's the problem with this movie: There are too many clichés and two boring people, whom the audience should like and hope that they manage to come together again. Well, I couldn't and I couldn't believe that the filmmakers really are serious about Jake and Stella, but they were and the movie ends up in bitter syrup. One more cliché. -
Tommy N26 August 2003It's refreshing to see a movie like this get made instead of some of the farces we seeing studio heads giving the green light to, today. Kudos to those who both greenlighted it and who made it.
Entropy had it all for me because it was funny, tragic (funny tragic) and dramatic. I felt good throughout the movie and I actually don't know why I didn't know more about it or Phil Joanou. I blame this on the modern day movie machine not being able to properly promote movies that are both creative and eye catching. The scenes from New York's waterfront are in bold and contrasting colors, and it enlivened me further during a recent visit there. Joanou did the right thing film makers are supposed to do, he inspired us to see more into life and art and be entertained in the process. Such is the personal story that is being told in Entropy. After all, I don't think there is a single soul out there that hasn't felt some sort of incident or disaster in our romantic lives, and can't look back at it and laugh at in jest. We are not the most perfect of people, us humans, and all the better we can share the experience!
I give Entropy an "8" just because it was so entertaining and visual, and while there will be many that will call this plainly over-rating, I don't care, I just really enjoyed the movie and could watch it again and again. -
Noah-77 June 2001I went into Entropy with an open and playful mind, trying not to impose my movie-snob sensibilities on it too quickly. After all, how bad could a movie be with U2 in it? (I mean, it worked for Blown Away...) Let me tell you. As the film wore on, I had no choice but to suddenly, violently hate it. Stephen Dorff's portrayal of a novice film director, "Crazy" Jake, is far from inspiring and quite un-likeable, and there is absolutely no hint of the "insane" or "crazy" nature (mentioned constantly) that he and his love interest, Stella (played by Judith Godreche), are supposed to possess. Both wander through their performances looking only slightly interested in each other. Their non-existent chemistry is the dull nougut center of the film (and Ms. Godreche's acting is the awful, unexpected bite of creme de menthe). Jake's self-declared decline into a "horrid" lifestyle of drinking and smoking (ooooh) brings no real change in his persona whatsoever. The character's downfall might have been interesting, had there been any remote change in his behavior and mannerisms besides constantly holding a beer bottle and cigarette. The director is obviously trying to add some hints of originality with film speed-ups, freeze-frames, and other surreal touches. But the pacing of these elements is horribly sporadic, at best, with long, boring interludes of "drama" in between. All and all, the film becomes everything it's trying to negate. At one point, Jake mockingly tells the audience he's a sucker for a cliche. This clearly was the filmmakers' view as well, as the movie is literally drowning in them (I immediately sensed something was wrong when early on Stella asks Jake quite seriously, "Do you believe in love at first sight?"). Even the movie's most interesting moment involving a talking cat seems blase, thanks to the worlds of Babe, Hocus Pocus, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, etc. Jake says his movie should be about characters, when all the producers want is tits. This, ironically, is a perfect summary of the depiction of Jake and Stella's relationship. Unfortunately, not even the sex or shower scenes rise any interest from the audience (or the actors, apparently). There are points where you can tell Entropy is trying to shine. There are interesting aspects of the story (Stella's abortion, Lauren Holly's mysterious cell-phone contacts, Jake's film...) but none of them are given much of a second glance. A script pops up from time to time with occasionally funny moments, only to sink back into an ocean of cliche. A world of illusion and hallucination tries to break through and is forced back by the blandness of the movie's reality. Ultimately, a stinker. Not even worth U2's small, funny appearance in it all. Then again, this was during their "PopMart" days. What's everybody else's excuse?
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superedna4 November 2000Okay, maybe I just have a sentimental attachment to this movie. It's not the best film ever made, but it's worth the time to watch it. This is a rather quirky movie, and it is quite slow in parts; but Steven Dorff is great as Jake, a film maker who is struggling with his career and his love life. His love interest, Stella, is charming. If for no other reason, watch this movie for the last line. It won't change your life, but if you've ever let THE ONE get away, you will appreciate this parting wisdom.
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"Entropy" is a principle of thermodynamics which has to do with the ever increasing randomness of the universe. It's also a mediocre cult-type flick which Dorff self-narrates in real time and in flashback as it tells about the increasing chaos in his life. A no nonsense, fast moving, get-to-the-point tongue-in-cheek drama, Dorff plays a film director who falls in love, begins to get his career on track, and then, through a series of bad decisions, slowly loses it all. This off-beat flick leaves the audience with one all important question unanswered. Why do we care?
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jojairus22 December 2006Lots of nice minimal jokes. Surreal amusing look at a young Hollywood director's search for the perfect partner. His life falls apart, in an affable way - he's likable. My scratched rental DVD jammed appropriately enough about half way, where there's a turning point. The picture blocked and jittered (almost a technique used in the movie) and ten minutes later the fun began, for me, with the introduction of the gorgeous Kelly Macdonald. If you've ever felt your work or love life's collapsing, and seen the irony of it, you might enjoy this film. It's a sweet story, nothing gruesome or sleazy. Music's minimal and appropriate. No sentimentality - not a trace. Just a nice bloke trying to find love.
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darren shan29 November 1999Awful, pseudo-hip misfire about modern relationships and the difficulties of film-making. Fans of U2 may get a kick from seeing Bono play himself, but surely even the super-cool pop star must have been left snoring after sitting through this dud. Director Joanou made a cracker at the start of the 90s, with STATE OF GRACE, and it seemed the decade was his for the taking. Since then it's been one disappointment after another, and with this turkey he seems to have hit bottom. Let's hope so - if this is the worst it gets, the only way is up, and maybe one day he'll again make a film which isn't a trial to sit through. This premiered on satellite in the UK, and it's not hard to see why!
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bluefish-420 February 2000I had never heard of the movie before but saw it on the previews to one of the movies i rented. I went out the next day and rented it. My roommates and I watched it a combined 8 times. It was that good. It wasn't a "Saving Private Ryan" good or a "Shawshank" good...It was a different kind of good. Hard to explain. I just know when you see this movie....it will definitely screw with your emotions. This will be one i recommend to everyone.
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jspratjr328 August 2002Had a chance to catch this on cable..started watching, fully intending to see what else was on, and before I knew it, it was over. Very original, very entertaining, and a terrific movie!...and I loved the smoking cat!!