Splendor (1999)
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58% of critics liked it
(19 reviews) -
61% of users liked it
(2,281 ratings)
A struggling actress forges an unusual family unit with two separate boyfriends in this romantic comedy from indie auteur Gregg Araki. Veronica (Kathleen Robertson) hasn't had a decent date for a year, but one Halloween she meets not one but two perfect guys: Zed (Matt Keeslar), a rock drummer… More A struggling actress forges an unusual family unit with two separate boyfriends in this romantic comedy from indie auteur Gregg Araki. Veronica (Kathleen Robertson) hasn't had a decent date for a year, but one Halloween she meets not one but two perfect guys: Zed (Matt Keeslar), a rock drummer who does her on the floor of a club bathroom after his show, and Abel (Johnathon Schaech), an affable rock critic and would-be novelist, who seems more interested in connecting with her soul than her private parts. Unable to lie to either guy about her attraction to both of them, Veronica soon convinces them to share her. Eventually, the unemployed Zed and the underemployed Abel even move in with her, resulting in kinky sex and domestic bliss. Trouble comes calling, however, in the form of an unplanned pregnancy -- and in the person of Ernest (Eric Mabius), an aptly named TV director, who gives Veronica her big break and the chance to play house and raise her child in a monied, more normal environment. Its soundtrack filled with the director's trademarked mixture of shoegazer drone and electronic bliss, Splendor premiered at Sundance in 1999. Araki's first outing after the completion of his "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy," the film reunited him with two actors who had appeared in that series: Schaech (The Doom Generation) and Robertson (Nowhere). Both of those earlier characters participated in unorthodox romantic tableaux similar to the one documented in Splendor. Robertson, in fact, would return to the world of the ménage à trois with 2002's XX/XY. Offscreen, the actress raised eyebrows after beginning a romance with her openly gay director. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Directed By
- Gregg Araki
- Written By
- Gregg Araki
- Genres
- Comedy, Romance
- In Theaters
- Sep 17, 1999 Limited
- Studio
- Souvlaki Space Station
Critic Reviews
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Emanuel Levy, Variety
After makinh some significant indies about gay teen angst, Araki's point of departure is a below-mediocre romantic triangle picture that borrows heavily from Noel Coward, Hawks, and Cukor but without freshn insights or charm.
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Rob Nelson, City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Allow me to make a case for a controversial filmmaker despite his inarguably awful new work, and perhaps even despite the general course of his career since 1994.
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Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
An agreeable enough watch--that is, until the film is over, when you realize that not once did you care for any of these characters.
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Martin Scribbs, Low IQ Canadian
Splendor, purportedly a a sex farce, has had all of its joy and energy surgically removed.
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James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette
eye-popping, provocative love triangle
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Kathleen Robertson
as Veronica
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Johnathon Schaech
as Abel
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Matt Keeslar
as Zed
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Kelly Macdonald
as Mike
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Eric Mabius
as Ernest
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Dan Gatto
as Mutt
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Linda Kim
as Alison
- Matt Keesler
- Jonathon Schaech
