Schizopolis (1996)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Writers:

Release Date:

9 April 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Come early! Come often!

Plot:

Fletcher Munson is a lethargic, passive worker for a Scientology-like self-help corporation called Eventualism...

Plot Keywords:

Exterminator | Dentist | Doppelganger | Assassination | Human Potential Movement

Cast

Scott Allen	...	Right Hand Man (uncredited)
Betsy Brantley	...	Mrs. Munson / Attractive Woman #2 (uncredited)
Marcus Lyle Brown	...	Corporate Mole (uncredited)
Silas Cooper	...	The Mysterious Couple (uncredited)
C.C. Courtney	...	Man Being Interviewed (uncredited)
Sonny Cranch	...	Pastor (uncredited)
Ann Dalrymple	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Darrin Dickerson	...	Photo Store Customer (uncredited)
Andre Dubroc	...	Corporate Drone (uncredited)
Ann Hamilton	...	Mrs. Schwitters (uncredited)
John Hardy	...	Talkshow Host (uncredited)
Coleman Hough	...	(uncredited)
Lori Jefferson	...	Dental Patient (uncredited)
Eddie Jemison	...	Nameless Numberhead Man (uncredited)
David Jensen	...	Elmo Oxygen (uncredited)
Rodger Kamenetz	...	Cardiologist (uncredited)
Katherine LaNasa	...	Diane (uncredited)
Margaret Lawhon	...	TV Newscaster (uncredited)
Mike Malone	...	T. Azimuth Schwitters (uncredited)
John Mese	...	Depressed Guy (uncredited)
L. Christian Mixon	...	Bad Guy (uncredited)
Linda Mixon	...	Schwitters Fanatic (uncredited)
Liann Pattison	...	The Mysterious Couple (uncredited)
Steven Soderbergh	...	Fletcher Munson / Dr. Jeffrey Korchek (uncredited)
Ronnie Stutes	...	Lawyer (uncredited)

Also Known As:

Steven Soderbergh's Schizopolis (USA) (video box title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese | Italian | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (Mono)

Certification:

Italy:T | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Company:

.406 Production

Trivia:

Was released without beginning or end credits, except for a single frame of copyright information at the end of the film.

Quotes:

Right Hand Man: Who's that... that moron, the one who used to work in your sector. The one who wears the brown shirt all the time?
Fletcher Munson: Oh, Nameless Numberhead Man?

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Scenic Highway (2006)

"Caution: This film makes wide turns. Following too close may result in injury."

I will echo a comment that someone made about -The Big Lebowski- (my #1 favorite comedy followed by this delightful mess). "Warning: this film transmits on a strictly limited wavelength." If you don't catch this curveball, you're likely to be bored. I won't say that if you don't like it on first viewing, then you're never going to like it. In my case, certain movies get more enjoyable on repeat viewings even after receiving a ho-hum response the first time around. This is one of those movies. With a narrative more fractured than your average David Lynch film, there are connections between one scene and another that jump out and take notice only on repeat viewings, sort of like "portals" from one part of the movie to another. Music that plays, pictures shown on the wall, one-sided phone conversations, that sort of thing. Aside from the already-limited-wavelength humor, these amplify the laugh factor. This is a movie destined for some kind of limited cult-following someday, but keeping to a murmur level when you're standing next to an air conditioner. The Criterion DVD has some good features and outtakes, like the "Maximum Busy Muscle" segment extolling the virtues of all products vinyl.

Update Nov. '06. Re-watching this almost on a whim, and it all comes together (such as it is) even more. This is truly hilarious, a comedy masterpiece reveling in all its many absurdities, which come one after the other at a highly accelerated rate. I'm upping my vote from 9 to 10.

"You will learn something from me here today." --Elmo Oxygen (Noooo!!! Oooogghghgh!!)