Hysterical Blindness
Hysterical Blindness
| 16 January 2002 (USA)
Hysterical Blindness Trailers

Two friends lament their unhappy single lives while searching for Mr. Right in 1980s New Jersey.

Reviews
RyothChatty ridiculous rating
Mjeteconer Just perfect...
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Doke Uma Thurman, Juliette Lewis, Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara all give wonderful performances. Unfortunately, a great performance of a boring character is still uninteresting. When the movie is a largely plot-less character study, dull characters are fatal.Uma Thurman is particularly good as Debbie, a painfully neurotic, almost psychotic twenty-something girl. She's desperate for love, and stalks it in all the stupidest ways possible. She repeatedly throws herself at men, only to be disappointed. She's exactly the sort of barfly that you can find in every local bar. Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara give amazing performances as an older waitress and a retiree in a budding romance. Unfortunately, they're secondary characters, and don't get enough screen time to properly develop.
Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) Being single is always frustrating, but letting that unhappy feeling get the better of you would only make things worse. That's what's all about in this movie. The 80's is always something and this movie sets back in that decade. And I'll say, this movie was excellent. Uma Thurman, Juliet Lewis, and Gena Rowlands were astounding. Uma Thurman, is a heavy hitting actress from "Pulp Fiction" to The "Kill Bill" movies really played her part well as Debby. She goes to the doctor when she temporarily goes blind. It can be scary. At least she's trying to take it easy. Her friend Beth, a wild child had a daughter whose father didn't keep his end on the relationship. Debby's mother Virginia(Rowlands) is strong, yet her daughter's resentment to her new boyfriend lead to her own remorse when the boyfriend died of a heart attack. The resentment was caused when her father left the family. The movie has everything, laughs, cries, wonder, curiosity, and a sense of direction on showing on how important life should be. And it's not too late to catch the big one! A very good movie, and a major keeper in the video library.
joandjosh An excellent and accurate portrayal of lower-middle class 20-something barflies in the 80s, desperate for affection and attention, and willing to do anything for it. Uma Thurman and Juliette Lewis are the quintessential trashy girls of the 80s. Uma Thurman plays "Deb", a self-centered secretary who doesn't want anyone to be happy unless she's happy, including her best friend "Beth" (also expertly played by Juliette Lewis) and her mother (Gena Rowlands). Tragically flawed with low self-esteem, she covers it up with fantasies of happily ever after, even fooling herself, while the more level-headed, but also flawed Beth tries to do her best to stay happy with her absent-fathered daughter and inject a little reality into Deb's world. If you were of age in rural or suburban 1980s, you must see this film.
benymil Movies have made us believe or want to make us believe that "special people" or "special events" are what is worth showing or telling while in reality, we all, the non-heroes, the gray people of the world, live our day-to-day life and deal with our day-to-day problems and the way to cope with that reality is what this film is all about.Uma Thurman and Gena Rowlands are both great by depicting normal people. Not super heroes.So is no-questions-asked friend Juliette Lewis. Pity that both men, Justin Chambers and Ben Gazzara look so superficial and hollow.The greatness of the film is, again, translating a day-to-day situation, we can all pass, into a flawless flow of events which are a lot easier for the viewer to recognize as flaws that to the people in the screen. I just wish we could see ourselves as we can see the actors.
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