One of my all time favourite films, directed by Ted Demme with a near perfect cast by the legendary Margery Simkin. It’s not just the leads that are fantastic (Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman and a young Natalie Portman) but the supporting roles are all pitch perfect: Noah Emmerich, Rosie O’Donnell, Michael Rappaport, Martha Plimpton, Max Perlich, Annabeth Gish… the list goes on and on. Not a dud among them.
It’s an absolute gem – if you haven’t seen it please please do yourself a favour and try to find it. Even though it’s not a Christmas film it is perfect Christmas viewing. It expertly interweaves many themes: coming home, growing up, male friendships, love, youthful potential. And it’s damned funny.
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Download the script by clicking here.
Here are some scenes you can learn as part of your learning lines commitment – they are all pretty challenging, but Scott Rosenberg‘s dialogue is exquisite (he was quite the screenwriter of the late 90s):
PAUL – start at the bottom of page 14 all the way up to “What kind of life can she have with a man who stinks of brisket?”
SHARON – from page 32 all the way to the end of the scene – some pretty long passages there…
GINA – the rant, mid page 40 onwards… oh my… with a few tweaks this would make a great monologue.
PAUL – another incredible speech, start the scene on page 80 and go until “Only love can break your heart”.
Please – see this film and let us know what you think.
And again feel free to post any links to your versions of the scenes above.