Chiara Caselli, Grace Zabriskie, James Russo

Two street hustlers from the Northwest, one abandoned as a child, the other rebellious scion of a wealthy and powerful family, travel as far as Rome, Italy in search of the former''s missing mother.

Flixster Users

80% liked it

10,729 ratings

Critics

84% liked it

32 critics

R, 1 hr. 42 min.

Directed by: Gus Van Sant

Release Date: October 18, 1991

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: March 1, 2005

Stats: 1,691 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating

Flixster Reviews (1,691)


  • July 11, 2009
    Interesting movie about two guys from different backgrounds.
  • March 24, 2009
    Mike Waters (River Phoenix) is a handsome drifter and a male prostitute - a victim of a dysfunctional family and a painful youth. To add to his problems, he has the rare disorder known as narcolepsy, which means that he will simply fall asleep when confronted with any stressful s...( read more)ituation. He depends entirely on the kindness strangers to pick him up off the road or nudge him awake on the sidewalk, and in that way he's extraordinarily childlike and vulnerable.

    His friend, Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves), is his direct opposite in every way but his profession. His childhood was much more rewarding having been born the son of the future mayor of Portland. Scott is in line to inherit his fortune, and although he's a lonesome drifter like Mike, it's clear that he has a way out. Scott's "father" away from home is Pigeon (William Richert), a drug-dealing poet, and the Falstaff to Scott's Prince Hal.

    I'm not exactly sure how to rate "My Own Private Idaho". I found the first hour or so to be nearly unbearable - with the Shakespearean dialect being a good idea in theory, but awful and awkward in execution. It reminded me of "Brick", a film that I found to be just about as appalling as the support of it. Also, for a film that's supposed to be about drifting, much of the beginning is largely about sex. While it doesn't make me uncomfortable in anyway, there's simply not much left to explore about fetishes and the comparison of love vs. sex - atleast not enough to hold my interest. We've seen it all before, and in the first half of the film I felt like I was treading water and investing in characters that are one-dimensional and simply not worth caring about.

    Then, in the second half of the film, things turn unusually great. Starting with the famous campfire scene, all the way up until about the last twenty minutes or so, I found the material to be extraordinarily compelling. I'm not entirely familiar with River Phoenix, which is surprising as I was a child of the 90's, but his performance here sold me on River Phoenix the actor as opposed to River Phoenix the teen heartthrob. A troubled youth with narcolepsy seems like a boring gimmick, however his performance is equal portions welcoming and withdrawn, tragic and heroic, man and woman. His performance in the second half is one of those great powerhouse performances that simply demands your attention at all times.

    In the end, I can only give a mild recommendation to "My Own Private Idaho" despite a very good second half. It's too inconsistent to be a great film, however it's certainly worth seeing for River Phoenix alone.
  • February 14, 2009
    [My favourite film in the whole entire universe!]
    Gus Van Sant's masterpiece, My Own Private Idaho, is a surreal character study/road movie that follows the lives of two street hustlers - Mike Waters (River Phoenix), our narcoleptic hero on a quest to find his mothe...( read more)r who abandoned him as a child, and gay-for-pay swashbuckler, Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves), the mayor's rebellious son, who chooses to live on the streets and whore himself about town. Set in Portland, their days of wandering aimlessly around the city consists of a little recreational drug use, picking up a few johns, (no matter how repulsive), and not to mention quoting healthy paragraphs of Shakespeare. Personally, I've never been really big on Shakespeare, but what Van Sant has taken from his play Henry IV, (which is fairly minimal), creates a sort of dream-like atmosphere that becomes very hypnotic at times, but not over the top.

    The one person who makes this film really come to life is none other than the brilliant River Phoenix, who was essentially the James Dean of his generation. (And my favourite actor of all-time!) His portrayal of Mike Waters is so raw and moving, that the film actually becomes terribly depressing to watch. Mike's earnest search for his long-lost mother leads the pair to his childhood home in Idaho. Along the way, Mike declares his love for Scott during the classic campfire scene, in which River Phoenix actually wrote. Scott, who insists he only has sex with men for money, brushes him off with a hug, and the two remain best buds. That is, until their pilgrimage lands them in Rome, where Scott falls in love with a nice Italian girl. The two of them get married, Scott reforms himself, inherits his father's fortune, and wants nothing more to do with Mike or his old life.

    What makes My Own Private Idaho so marvelous is the fact that it is truly one of a kind. I guarantee you will never see another film like this.

    Have a nice day.
  • August 16, 2008
    Filled with great performances both by Keanu Reeves and late River Phoenix, through a world of hustling and futility, we see the lives of two men who have no idea what they want out of their life. This is by far one of the most poetic, greatest gay-related movies and one of Gus V...( read more)an Sant's best. Absolutely stunning, but it could do with a different ending...
  • July 26, 2008
    Great performance by River Pheonix and Udo Kier. There's this distinct Americana feel to this film that evokes the character's longing for home. The main problem was that I don't think hobos recite and enact Shakespear and quote from Chimes at Midnight for fun. While it's beau...( read more)tifully shot, I prefer the Bela Tarr influenced aesthetic of Paranoid Park more.
  • November 8, 2009
    Il faut aimer le genre sombre et pathétique
  • November 3, 2009
    Poetic, strange, but sexy.
  • September 25, 2009
    Poetic and surreal movie about an emotional journey of a narcoleptic male prostitute who is in search of "home", or more specifically, his mother whom he has not seen since his abandonment during childhood. Phoenix gives an intense performance as the lead (often credited as his b...( read more)est ever performance) and alongside his real life best friend, Reeves, the two manage to generate a subtle beauty from a truly dark tale of unrequited love and friendship.
  • September 18, 2009
    Nice cinematography, interesting characters and well-thought story. I like the strangeness of it. Neat.
  • August 16, 2009
    The music and the scenery is what also gets me to watch this movie. Van Sant has a great eye for ambience which is a quality that this film emits.

Critic Reviews


January 25, 2006
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

A quite stark, poetic rumination on the unyielding desire for home. full review

May 12, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

An essential testament to the beauty and chops of the late River Phoenix... full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The achievement of this film is that is wants to evoke that state of drifting need, and it does. full review

View more My Own Private Idaho reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • mapleonline11
    March 7, 2009
    hello dear i like hollywood movies, my favorate movie is 300

    idaho drug rehab-idaho drug rehab

  • rachiebabe2005
    October 30, 2006
    outstanding movie......river give a tramendis performance!

    after watching stand by me a few yr bk i was obsesed with river [ totaly not me eiter im not the obsesive sort] so i watched all his movies off amazon and this is defo my fave. briliant.
    if u havent see this film u have to go rent it its defo worth it.
  • mollyweiland22
    July 15, 2006
    yeah i want to see it really bad too. i went through a stage after watching stand by me for the fist time where i was completely OBSESSED with river. i'm not that obsessed anymore, but i still love him. i've heard that this movie has a lot of parts that...my parents would never ever ever let me watch haha. so i guess i'll have to wait till i'm older to see it. right now i'll have to be satisfied with running on empty and stand by me (great movie).
  • theusedrawks32
    June 12, 2006
    i want to see this movie relaly bad because i am a die-hard river phoenix fan!!!

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Official Trailer

More Like This


Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Campanadas a medianoche (Chimes at Midnight) (Falstaff)
    Campanadas a medianoche (Chimes at Midnight) ... (100%)
  • Last Days
    Last Days (67%)
  • Speedway Junky
    Speedway Junky (100%)
  • Sugar
    Sugar (100%)

Theater Showtimes & TV Listings


My Own Private Idaho Trivia


  • Who starred alongside Keanu Reeves in "My Own Private Idaho"?  Answer »
  • What connects an argentinian in Moulin Rouge with a Husler in My Own Private Idaho?  Answer »
  • Which River Phoenix movie is also a B-52's song  Answer »
  • Which member of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers was good friends with River Phoenix, starred alongside him in My Own Private Idaho, and was there when he died?  Answer »

Recent News


No recent headlines. Got one?

Most Popular Skin


No skins yet. Interested in creating one?