World Famous Comics: Jason Cutler (II) The Velocity of Gary
Jason Cutler (II) The Velocity of Gary
Starring: Danny Arroyo, Jason Cutler (II), Olivia d'Abo, Elizabeth D'Onofrio, Hakan D'Onofrio Directed By: Dan Ireland Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Sony Pictures Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 99 Release Date: April 13, 2004 Running Time: 101 minutes Theatrical Release Date: July 16, 1999
Description: Gary, a young hustler, finds a kindred spirit in Valentino, a bisexual adult film star to whom Gary is instantly attracted. Standing in their way is Valentino's dedicated girlfriend. They put aside their differences when Valentino is diagnosed with AIDS, creating a makeshift family to mutually love and support him to the tragic end. Stars: Salma Hayek (Frida, Dogma, Once Upon a Time in Mexico), Vincent D’Onofrio (The Cell, Men in Black), Ethan Hawke (Reality Bites, Before Sunrise), Thomas Jayne (Magnolia, Bookie Nights).
Amazon.com: Life in New York City, apparently, ain't what it used to be. In director Dan Ireland's "slice of life," Vincent D'Onofrio is a former porn star named Valentino (how's that for subtle metaphor?) who is slowly dying of AIDS. That's the least of your worries. He's also one third of a symbiotic ménage à trois that includes waitress girlfriend Mary Carmen (an obnoxious Salma Hayek) and fetishistic gigolo boyfriend Gary (Thomas Jane, strutting like Madonna on valium). The movie comes across like some Midwestern housewife's salacious idea of what life is like "on the edge"--teeming with drugs, wild dancing, and drag queens. There's even a deaf, transgendered, Patsy Cline-wannabe who, no kidding, gets hit by a car while trying to call for an ambulance. Ireland and screenwriter James Still make such an embarrassing show of being outrageous that it's almost offensive; everybody is so busy being dangerously fabulous that nobody is even remotely human. --Steve Wiecking
i love this movie YOU MUST LOVE VINCENT... TO WATCH THIS MOVIE. IT IS NOT FOR THE HOMOPHOBE. THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS IS MOVING AND BELIEVABLE. I WAS ANGRY I LAUGHED I CRIED AND WILL WATCH THIS MOVIE AGAIN AND AGAIN. ITS A RARE FIND TRULY A HIDDEN TREASURE FOR ANY VINCENT FAN.
real This picture was like being tarnsported back to 1974-76 when I was bottomed-out and people in the Village saved me. These characters seemed alive and beautiful and touching. It hurts not to be loved, but lovers have no real choice. Sometimes being annoyed or selfish or distracted can do real harm, but again there is no real decision to hurt involved.
Why Is It Named After Gary? A good cast wasted. Poorly written, filled with every cliche of "life on the edge", the film never gives depth to the three characters whose lives are so deeply intertwined. Their feelings for each other are never illuminated, so we don't know why they are together. They yell and fight and act outageously, but they give us no reason to care about them. For this I blame not the actors, but the director who seems to have no idea how real life happens or how real people talk to each other. Salma Hayek comes off the best, though her charcter is unrelentingly irritating. Vincent D'Onofrio is good as always, a very intelligent actor. Thomas Jane is pouty and intense, but has the least well-written character to work with. And why is the movie named after him, when the center of this drama is not Gary (Thomas Jane) but Valentino (Vincent D'Onofrio)?
One of the worst movies ever made...yes, I'm serious Where to begin? Cliched. Pretentious. Flat. Static. Maudlin. Melodramatic. Homophobic. And finally, just plain BORING. Start with an over-the-top caricature of a deaf-mute Patsy Cline young drag queen arriving the big city, pile on cardboard "colorful" characters like typical AIDS patient, porno star, and loud-mouthed Latina hot mamna, and whaddya get? An amateur film populated with some of the most UNLIKABLE, UNATTRACTIVE characters ever, all spewing some of the unbelievably BAD dialogue ever written - and to think the (formerly talented) director made THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD also with D'Onofrio? Go figure. Nice cover art, though.
The one that got away It's a travesty that this film is not available on DVD. Travesty.
This is the kind of movie that is not what it seems. From the cover jacket, you expect it to be about the harshness of city living, full of darkness and anger and seedy characters, but it's not. It's about three people and a world that most of us (thankfully) haven't experienced in our lives. The three lead characters are: Valentino, a bisexual ex-porn star dying of HIV; Gary* (not his real name), a gay hustler who falls hard for Valentino; and Mary Carmen, Valentino's spitfire girlfriend who is jealous of her lover's relationship with Gary but who has no choice but to share him. The world they inhabit is the underbelly of NYC, but director Dan Ireland never looks down on the characters, nor does he put them on a pedestal. It's a fine balance, but one that is achieved. The result is that it is impossible to watch this film and not feel the affection that Ireland has for the characters and their world, and that transfers to the viewer. It's reminiscent of Boogie Nights, another film set in the world of porn,drugs and hustlers, and a film that also makes you care for its characters and the alternative family they create.
The three leads did amazing work. Vincent D'Onofrio is mesmerizing as the center of the love triangle, a character so full of life even as he's dying that he can't be contained. This was a brave role for the respected character actor, and it deserves to be seen. Salma Hayek turns in another great performance, and one scene in particular, breaks your heart. Valentino is dancing in a club with Gary and Mary Carmen, and when he turns his back on Mary Carmen for a second to bump and grind with Gary, the slow-motion shot of the pain, longing and jealousy in Hayek's eyes will rip your heart out. And Thomas Jane has never been better. For anyone who's only seen his work in Deep Blue Sea and that raunchy Cameron Diaz "comedy", brace yourself for an actor whose potential hasn't been tapped in his subsequent projects.
This film has more than enough heart to spare, and that is what is truly so great about it. It defies expectations and cliches, yet it leaves you feeling renewed and hopeful. I only saw this film this past week, and I can't believe it escaped me before. Don't make the same mistake I did. See Velocity of Gary. It will haunt you, but in a good way.
D'Onofrio also produced the picture with Ireland, along with a previous collaboration called The Whole Wide World, and these two should continue their work together. They've created two wonderfully different films about passion and love and the human condition. And that's something that's sorely lacking in today's cinema.
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