Go - Why I Still Love It

DOUG Liman’s Go may not have ignited at the box office upon its cinematic release way back in 1999 but it drew deserved critical acclaim and has since attained cult classic status.

It’s a high energy film that tells an intertwining, multi-perspective story of a chaotic Christmas Eve split between LA and Las Vegas.

At the time of release, the film drew many comparisons with Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction for its multi-story arc, as well as its black humour and edgy, unpredictable narrative. The fact that it also opened with a scene in a diner also fuelled this perspective.

But Go stands up as a damn fine movie in its own right…

It’s consistently inventive, often very funny and sometimes ultra dark. It boasts a kick-ass soundtrack and a young cast of now familiar faces who consistently strike sparks off each other.

Liman, meanwhile, underlined his credentials as one of Hollywood’s most exciting new young directors, coming off the back of the equally excellent Swingers. He would go on to direct The Bourne Identity as well as Jumper, The Edge of Tomorrow and Mr and Mrs Smith.

From the outset Go exists to sweep you along in its drug-fuelled, booze addled, music driven excess.

The starting point is a supermarket where Ronna (Sarah Polley), Claire (Katie Holmes), Simon (Desmond Askew) and Mannie (Nathan Bexton) are making plans for their Xmas Eve festivities.

For Ronna, this involves trying to avoid a Christmas Day eviction, while for Simon it’s a trip to Vegas with his friends. Claire and Mannie just want to party at a big dance event being held on the outskirts of town.

When Ronna is approached by Adam (Scott Wolf) and Zack (Jay Mohr), two soap opera actors who are hoping to score from the absent Simon, she sees an opportunity to score some much needed funds and seeks out Simon's drug connection Todd (Timothy Olyphant) to sell them the drugs, leaving behind the reluctant Claire as collateral.

But when she realises Adam and Zack are working with a cop named Burke (William Fichtner), she’s forced to dump the drugs and run, opting instead to return some fake ones to Todd and sell some aspirin to unsuspecting club goers. But once Todd realises what has occurred, he heads to the club to hunt her down, prompting a chain of events that have unforeseen consequences for just about everyone involved.

In Vegas, meanwhile, Simon and his friends (including Taye Diggs’ Marcus) find themselves causing all sorts of chaos largely because of Simon’s reckless spontaneity - some of which will eventually follow them back to LA.

Here, Liman arguably has the most fun, using Simon as a vessel for all sorts of reckless behaviour - from seducing and sleeping with two bridesmaids at a wedding party, to setting fire to a hotel room mid-sex, right down to inciting the wrath of a couple of strip club owners thanks to his inability to keep his hands to himself when in the company of strippers.

There’s a car chase on the Strip (which reportedly used up a lot of the film’s budget) as well as a stolen Ferrari and some idiotic gun play.

But then Go is shot through with idiocy: from Ronna’s unwise decision to try and fool Todd to Mannie’s decision to take two ecstasy tablets (prompting a hallucinatory sequence involving a Macarena dance in the supermarket with a colleague, followed up by an imaginary conversation with a cat).

There’s also a third interlinking story that skilfully mixes unease with comedy as Adam and Zack are lured back to Burke’s home for a Xmas Eve dinner with his wife, during which they both initially appear to be coming on to the TV duo before then trying to enlist them for a pyramid scheme.

Their ensuing evening further incorporates a surprise early film appearance from Melissa McCarthy, before quite literally colliding with the main characters.

But there’s a cleverness to the way the stories interconnect that is really satisfying, while also resetting early perceptions of how scenes played out in the first place. It helps to keep viewers on their toes.

Perforamnce-wise, Go also delivers. The script was considered so hot at the time that its young cast were practically lining up to be in it and their enthusiasm translates to the screen.

Olyphant, in particular, makes an early impression as the drug dealing Todd, showing early signs of his trademark charisma with added doses of genuine menace, while Polley is a class act as Ronna - turning what could have been an unsympathetic character into someone really worth rooting for. She’s consistently plucky despite being in over her head.

Askew is suitably annoying and dumb, yet oddly likeable through all of his flaws, while Diggs is a nice foil for him - continually exasperated by the juvenile actions of those around him but the sole voice of reason and restraint on a rowdy boys’ getaway. His decision to steal a Ferrari, however, is one of several comedy highlights.

Also of note is Fichtner’s edgy cop, not averse to undressing in front of his house guests, as well as Wolf and Mohr’s TV stars, whose misadventures also expose the lack of fidelity in their own love lives.

The soundtrack, too, enlivens proceedings and infuses the film with its undoubted energy, propelling the action with some well judged needle drops - such as Fatboy Slim’s anthemic Gangster Trippin’, Len’s cool classic Steal My Sunshine, Phillip Steir and Steppenwolf’s Magic Carpet Ride and Massive Attack’s moody Angel.

Go offers a heady cocktail of guilty pleasure that has lost none of its potency with the passage of time. It’s ridiculously entertaining escapist fare that kind of makes you feel young again each time you revisit it.