Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #59 Go
Box Office: $16.9 Million
Oscar Nominations: None
Oscar Wins: None
MovieRankings.Net: 80/100
Available To Stream: Apple TV ($4)
When Go came out, it was dismissed by some people as Pulp Fiction Lite. It's not an entirely unfair complaint. Both movies have three main stories, intersecting characters and play with time. They both even begin and end in a breakfast restaurant. Having said that, is being compared to Pulp Fiction the worst thing in the world?
Pulp Fiction came out in 1994 and many filmmakers spent the rest of the decade trying to emulate that magic. It didn't work for most movies. They seemed dispassionate and couldn't touch the energy of Tarentino. What Go had that those other movies didn't is director Doug Liman. This was his second movie after the brilliant Swingers. That was much more of a point and shoot movie where you didn't need an exceptional director. The genius in Swingers lied in the script and the casting. Go allowed Liman to flex his muscles as a director.
The other thing that sets Go apart is the soundtrack. It's a great snapshot of the late 90's with No Doubt, Fatboy Slim, Eagle-Eye Cherry and Natalie Imbruglia. Even with all of those bands, Steal My Sunshine by Len was probably the biggest hit on the album.
Another great element of this movie is the casting. It featured some young TV stars at the height of their coolness with Katie Holmes and Scott Wolf. You also have Timothy Olyphant in his breakout role as a drug dealer who while evil is also uniquely fair. Mix in good actors like Jay Mohr, Taye Diggs and William Fichtner and you have a very strong ensemble. It's even Melissa McCarthy's first movie.
But it's Olyphant and Sarah Polley that are the real standouts of this movie. Watching it now, it's no surprise that among the leads (McCarthy is only in one scene) that they had the best careers. Olyphant is in everything now from Justified to Once Upon A Time In Hollywood to The Mandalorian. Polley just won the Oscar for Best Adapated Screenplay for Women Talking. It's her second nomination and she's become in demand as a director as well.
They are the best parts of this movie. It's why the first sequence (of three) is the strongest. Olyphant is wildly charismatic and the most exciting person in the movie and Polley's character is the one you relate to the most. That's a more difficult role than you may think with her doing some lousy things (ripping off people, putting her friends in harms way) but you root for her the entire way.
Columbia TriStar. Getty Images.This movie has some pretty sensational action sequences with the highlight being a car chase on the Las Vegas strip. The entire movie is shot like an action movie that makes you feel like you are there. Much more than Swingers, it's Go that is the movie that shows what Doug Liman would become. You can see the future director of The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Edge Of Tomorrow in this movie.
I liked this movie a lot when it came out but I might like it even more now. Having distance from all the other movies out there that also used Pulp Fiction as a template makes Go feel so much more fresh. Movies like Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead and Albino Alligator are best left forgotten. Go is so much better than those and should be remembered.
59. Go
60. The Firm
61. Magnolia
62. The Talented Mr. Ripley
63. Tommy Boy
64. The Usual Suspects
65. In The Line Of Fire
66. My Cousin Vinny
67. Awakenings
68. JFK
69. Toy Story
70. Home Alone
71. Jerry Maguire
72. Titanic
73. Billy Madison
74. Apollo 13
75. Braveheart
76. Edward Scissorhands
77. Cape Fear
78. The River Wild
79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
80. 12 Monkeys
81. Stir Of Echoes
82. Mission: Impossible
83. Total Recall
84. Quiz Show
85. For Love Of The Game
86. Being John Malkovich
87. Men In Black
88. Scream
89. Alive
90. Three Kings
91. Glengarry Glen Ross
92. Die Hard With A Vengeance
93. The Blair Witch Project
94. Twister
95. Dirty Work
96. Election
97. Tremors
98. Any Given Sunday
99. The Wedding Singer
100. Clerks