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Full Frontal [DVD] [] [Region 1]

1 disc
Region 1 USA/CA (info)

Director Steven Soderbergh follows up his highly impressive string of big budget smashes (ERIN BROCKOVICH, TRAFFIC, OCEAN'S ELEVEN) with this self-proclaimed "companion piece" to 1989's hugely influential SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE. Written by New York-based playwright Coleman Hough, FULL FRONTAL concerns a day in the life of a series of confused, depressed, and neurotic Los Angeles residents. Ed (Enrico Colantoni) is a writer with a script currently in production and a play that is about to open. Ivan's writing partner Carl (David Hyde Pierce) is married to Lee (Catherine Keener), an unhappy Human Resources VP. Lee is having an affair with superstar actor Calvin (Blair Underwood), who is costarring with Francesca (Julia Roberts) in Carl and Ed's film. Lee's sister Linda (Mary McCormack) is a masseuse who is looking forward to an upcoming weekend rendezvous with a stranger she met on the Internet. That man just so happens to be Ed. Using this dizzying framework to explore the dysfunctional characters who inhabit the entertainment industry, FULL FRONTAL also works as a bold technical experiment. Incorporating muddy digital video (to capture "real life") mixed with 35mm film (to capture "the movie within the movie"), Soderbergh shows that even with an Oscar on the shelf, he's still an indie-minded director at heart.
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Credits

Julia Roberts, David Duchovny, Nicky Katt, Catherine Keener, Mary McCormack, Blair Underwood, David Hyde Pierce, Enrico Colantoni
Critic Reviews

"...There is a stripped-down feel to the proceedings that represents a return to an early filmmaking style for director Steven Soderbergh....See this movie for its humor and talented cast and you won't be disappointed..."
USA Today
"...Mr. Katt, as usual, is scarily brilliant playing an actor less smart than himself....Ms. Keener brings a crazed, cruel conviction to her role..."
New York Times
"...Fun....It keeps us admiring the director's talent for invention and excited by the liberated performances of so many favorite actors jazzed by Soderbergh's trust in their instincts..."
Entertainment Weekly
"...Ultimately FULL FRONTAL's pleasures reside in its freewheeling formal panache and restless playfulness..."
Sight and Sound