Buffalo '66
"Comically Surreal. Touching and hilarious! Imaginative and provocative." -Premiere Magazine
C.I.A. agent, Billy Brown brings his wife home to meet his absurdly dysfunctional family. Only Billy's not really in the C.I.A., and his "wife," Layla is actually a young tap dancer he just kidnapped to impress his ridiculous and unloving parents. In reality, Billy's whole life is an empty lie. He's fresh out of prison and now on a deadly mission to hunt down and kill the Buffalo Bills kicker whose botched field goal he believes ruined his life. However, Billy's new hostage may ruin everything. Their crazy attachment blossoms into a desperate and oddly beautiful romance that may or may not be a sweet enough substitute for revenge. Vincent Gallo composed and performed the original music and also wrote, directed and stars in the film that The New York Times calls a "deadpan original."
Member Reviews
disturbing, thought provoking, but not a comedy - JT_Kingston
I had stopped watching this movie after 15 bleak mins but later did finish it. Unlike hollywood formula movies where good and bad are obvious, this movie takes a sympathetic and optimistic view of a disfunctional self-centered antisocial individual. The movie explores how he got to be that way, and eventually finds some possibility of growth. Like "A Beautiful Mind", it does provide some insight into the stark reality of a troubled life.Vincent Gallo at his most Approachable - Gregg
Skinny, ugly, unkempt and unlikeable Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) is released from prison after 5 years and decides to drop in on his uncaring parents (Angelica Huston and Ben Gazzara) who only truly love the Buffalo football team (carefully not identified as the Bill’s). Since he has told his parents that he is successful government employee with a loving wife he kidnaps the remarkably forgiving Layla (Christina Ricci) to pretend to be his wife. Unbeknownst to everyone Billy is out to kill the former field goal kicker for Buffalo whom he sees as being responsible for everything that went wrong in his life.
This is a very quirky and compelling film with some good performances and a lot of nuances, this seems to be very much a film about perceptions.
For Christina Ricci this one of a string of good performances that saw her breach that gap between child and adult roles apparently without a hitch,
The winter scenes of Buffalo are very bleak and really seem to ring true.
Despite his profoundly unenjoyable follow-up effort "Brown Bunny" Vincent Gallo is obviously a talented film maker and it is unfortunate that he has not contributed more.Ben and Angelica as the in-laws - RoddyPiper
Let’s prepare for this movie by starting from its centre pin, which is the mom and dad, the all-American parents who have invested their whole souls into laundry and karaoke, respectively. The loyalty of a Pro sports fan to a team, as Seinfeld has correctly pointed out, is an emotional investment in laundry (since the athletes themselves come and go) – so the sweaters and jock straps of the NFL Buffalo Bills team is what you would find if you opened up this mom’s heart. The dad’s heart is a hand grenade fully-compacted with the fantasy of being a Frank Sinatra clone, complete with regular explosions of tough-guy talk – “. . . DON’T you point that [dinner] knife at ME! Don’t you ever point a knife at somebody unless you intend to USE it!” [etc.]
These two maniacal parents (Angelica Huston/Ben Gazzara, both in great form), unfortunately generated a son, and naturally named him Billy. Their son (Gallo) is just being released from the joint as the movie begins – and he’s ready to take on mom and pop’s fantasies at full bore, countering them with his own. He is a CIA undercover agent extraordinaire, and his mission, should he choose to accept it, is to destroy the man who once occupied the kicking specialist uniform of the Buffalo Bills, because that man missed a last second field goal chance, thereby blowing the best shot at the Super Bowl in the history of Buffalo Bills laundry, breaking his mother’s heart, and making Billy lose his $10,000 bet.
So here we have the archetypal American dysfunctional family, with one last hope for survival and health -- son Billy is bringing home Christina Ricci, freshly-kidnapped, as his pretend wife, to meet the in-laws!
Now you are ready to sit back and enjoy this great satire of American family values. (With Mickey Rourke in a great cameo as the sleaziest drug dealer you have ever seen.) Enjoy!
Member Reviews
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disturbing, thought provoking, but not a comedy - JT_Kingston
I had stopped watching this movie after 15 bleak mins but later did finish it. Unlike hollywood formula movies where good and bad are obvious, this movie takes a sympathetic and optimistic view of a disfunctional self-centered antisocial individual. The movie ...Vincent Gallo at his most Approachable - Gregg
Skinny, ugly, unkempt and unlikeable Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) is released from prison after 5 years and decides to drop in on his uncaring parents (Angelica Huston and Ben Gazzara) who only truly love the Buffalo football team (carefully not identified ...Ben and Angelica as the in-laws - RoddyPiper
Let’s prepare for this movie by starting from its centre pin, which is the mom and dad, the all-American parents who have invested their whole souls into laundry and karaoke, respectively. The loyalty of a Pro sports fan to a team, as Seinfeld has correctly ...