RyothChatty ridiculous rating

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

sol ***SPOILERS*** Bitter sweet and wonderful little movie about a change of identity when a person takes over the life of someone who died his arms.That in order to keep hope alive for dead man's prison pen pal who's to finally visit him and finally see what he looks like. It's when insurance salesman John Noland,Jeff Goldblum,went down to his local deli-liqueur store one evening to buy a bottle of his favorite wine that his life changed forever as well as the store clerk Auggie Rose,Kim Coates, who life abruptly ended. It was Auggie who was gunned down by a hold up man,Randall Slavin, while Noland was pined on the floor just trying to survive. As if something clicked in Noland's mind he decided to do everything he could for the dead Auggie Rose in feeling that he,in having Auggie get him his wine bottle, was somehow responsible for his death!Not being able to find a next of kin it's decided by the city morgue officials to have Auggie who was just released from prison, after serving a 20 year sentence for armed robbery,disposed of like a the morning garbage. Nolan going to Auggie's shabby apartment in the L.A slums find a letter addressed to him from his prison pen pal Lucy Brown, Anne Heche, saying how eager she's to meet him the following week. Going down to the bus station where Lucy says she'll be arriving Noland instead of telling her the terrible news that Auggie was murdered takes over Auggie's identity and claims to be him! Lucy not realizing that she's being shammed goes along with Nolan's masquerade and before you know it he ends up falling in love with her. Which leads to major complications back at work in the insurance company that he works at as well as with his live in lover Carol, Nancy Travis, who's been waiting for some five year for him to pop the question for her to marry him! What'seven worse ex-convict Roy Mason, Timothy Olyphant, tracks down Noland thinking that he's really Auggie Rose and tries to get him to pull a job with him on the L.A Highway & Transit Department!****SPOILERS**** Living the life of Auggie Rose Noland gets a job as a counter or sandwich man at the McDougall Diner at $6.50 an hour to make Lucy believe that he's game-fully employed. That in giving up his six figure salary as a top insurance agent or salesman. He also get's the pesky Mason out of his and Lucy's life by falsifying a insurance policy by the late Auggie Rose making him soul beneficiary.That in the really not to bright Mason not realizing that he'll end up behind bars when he ever tries to claim the money. ***MAJOR SPOLERS*** The heart wrenching ending is when Noland finally reveled the truth to Lucy about Auggie and his impersonation of him that has her break down in tears and take off to he nearest bus station to leave town and Noland behind. But alas Lucy in realizing what Noland did for both Auggie,in getting him a proper burial,and herself ,in keeping Auggie alive for her, has a sudden change of heart! As she shows up at Nolan's place of work the McDougall Deli to order a ham & cheese sandwich that he's more then happy to make for her. And not only that the tab's on him!

robert-temple-1 This is a truly superb film, and American TV director Matthew Tabak (whoever he is!) should be out there directing big Hollywood movies all the time, as he shows so much talent as the writer and director of this picture that he should be an icon by now. Is there no justice? His absence from the big screen for eight years is as puzzling as that of Gilles Mimouni, who after making 'l'Appartement' simply disappeared. This film is so sensitively and beautifully conceived and scripted, and so dazzlingly directed, that it is a real addition to the true cineaste's most select DVD collection. And all the performances are wonderful. The lead is Jeff Goldblum, in perhaps his finest performance ever. And most exciting of all is the fascinating Anne Heche, who has a face so full of character that she knocks any twenty other actresses into the shade without even trying and doesn't even need plastic surgery (please note, idiot-starlets!). The lighting cameraman has enhanced this by giving her face a mysterious and eerie glow, bordering on the supernatural. Her role is of a girl who seems to have dropped in from the sky anyhow. This film conveys a sense of the invisible forces at work in human destiny, and you can feel the spirits breathing down your neck. Old timer Joe Santos adds a superb character part to the mix. Richard T. Jones is outstanding. Everybody is good. This is a true ensemble success. The recipe for this wholly successful movie seems to have been: 'add some tabak and stir'. The story starts with a traumatic incident in which a man is killed by one of those disgusting little shits with a gun, robbing a deli to pay for his next heroine fix presumably. Jeff Goldblum is there at the time and the man dies in his presence. He becomes obsessed with this man, who was he, why does he have no next of kin who will claim his body, what is the mystery behind his life? This leads to a meeting with the amazing Anne Heche and a confusion of identities for Goldblum, who starts to lead the life of the dead man and abandon his own. It is weird stuff, but totally convincing. The original title of the film 'Auggie Rose' is the name of the dead man, whose identity ends up spanning two different men. If it were not for the intensity of Goldblum and the spellbinding performance by Heche, this film could have flopped. But the writer/director and the stars obviously completely believed in what they were doing, and therefore they pulled it off and have made a film which is really a minor classic.

chris-pchco I came across this movie on late night TV while channel surfing. Even though I missed the first 5 - 10 minutes I soon became so engrossed I watched it right through to the end - and enjoyed it enormously. It's an unusual plot - but a one that leaves you with a good feeling - about life and the simple things that really matter - love, truth, friendship and being real. Jeff Goldblum has played in a few offbeat movies and is convincing as a middle-aged middle class successful insurance salesman who suddenly realizes his life is boring and meaningless. The realization is triggered by a traumatic event he witnesses and is unwittingly part of. The rest of the film is about how he reacts to that realization and the people he meets along the way. A number of the minor characters are interesting as well. I particularly enjoyed the retired boxer. Well worth watching at any time of the day. Too good to be a late night movie rerun.

Memlets For whatever reason, the original title of this film, "Auggie Rose," was changed to "Beyond Suspicion" for the video. The video title is very misleading, hinting at a dark, film-noir, thriller sort of movie.It isn't. While there is one dangerous character who provides obstacles and intriguing possibilities for John, Jeff Goldblum's character, the film is populated by likable, interesting people. Auggie's still-incarcerated former prison cellmate is especially interesting. He's a criminal through and through, yet he has a world-weary wisdom about enjoying the simple things in life that makes him a tragic figure.Jeff Goldblum is, as usual, totally wonderful, and Anne Heche struck just the right note in her portrayal of a sweet, kind, but not naive woman who is open and accepting with her love. This is a very well-made exploration of one man's journey into an entirely new way of life.See it!