Highly Overrated But Still Good

The first must-see film of the year.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Yes please, I want Tim Robbins with me everywhere I go. He will stop all those car alarms, building alarms, all the worst traffic noise, and keep me safe from being driven crazy by the noise of modern life. If only! This extraordinarily original film written and directed by Henry Bean utters the same sentiments of the vox populi as were expressed by Peter Finch in Paddy Chayefsky's script for NETWORK (1976): 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!' (You may remember if you ever saw that film that Finch used the medium of television to persuade tens of thousands of people all over America to throw open their windows and scream that protest into the streets.) The noise of modern urban life is clearly intolerable, and this wonderful comedic treatment of the subject is full of laughs tempered by the solemn realization that it is all, alas, too true. We have all been beaten down into passive acceptance of the intolerable, and that is the theme of this film: Tim Robbins is mad as hell and he isn't going to take it anymore. So he becomes 'The Rectifier', a kind of anonymous heroic Batman figure who goes round Manhattan disabling car alarms which have gone off on the streets, by smashing the car windows and cutting the alarm cables. This leads to a confrontation with the Mayor of New York, gauchely portrayed by William Hurt as a hectoring bully in a wig of the wrong colour and with an effete manner (amusing: where did that characterisation come from?) Tim Robbins is perfect, absolutely perfect, in the part of the rebel against the noise pollution. He is a master of that dreamy face of the idealist lost in his own quest for some unattainable perfection (in this case, silence). His wife, played by Bridget Moynahan, does not understand or tolerate him. Although she is a professional cellist and should know better, she is above all things a petite bourgeois and reacts as one: she commences an affair and throws him out of the house after saying of his crusade against car alarms: 'How can you do this to me?', with the emphasis on the me. Am I the only one who has noticed it, or are there others out there who have also noticed, that 95% of American movies over the past twenty years have contained angry young women? They are usually angry and vindictive ex-wives, but sometimes, as in this film, they are angry and vindictive wives. What they all have in common is an unquestioning narcissistic arrogance, total lack of rapport with any partner, and a contempt for all men, especially those whom they use as dispensable husband-toys. Is this really going on in life itself, or is it only in the movies? Surely this is a symptom of malaise in contemporary American society of a most troubling kind. It is more troubling to me than the urban noise, frankly. As a marital reject, living on his own in an even noisier neighbourhood (24th Street and Sixth Avenue, help!), Robbins is emotionally rescued by an extremely weird girl who hero-worships him (or at least does so temporarily), played scarily by the Russian/Jewish/American actress Margarita Levieva, who is sometimes a bit difficult to understand because of her accent. She is into sex in a major way and there is a threesome scene which is rather hilarious where she brings back to Robbins's apartment an even wilder creature, a Spanish gal played with droll panache by Maria Ballesteros, whose accent is even more impenetrable. The two gals have an interesting discussion about the relative merits of their private organs, which they take turns examining, while Robbins sits smoking a joint and speculating about the urban nose outside. Levieva is always pontificating about philosophy and quoting Hegel and being an aspiring hyper-intellectual. All of this is wonderfully funny satire, possibly based upon Henry Bean's private experiences, or should I suggest possibly his private parts experiences. There are numerous comedic characters and brilliant minor touches throughout the film where Bean succeeds in giving depth to minor players, with considerable success. Many 'members of the crowd', and even two irrepressible members of a jury, turn miraculously into hilarious characters, as the entire story is littered with the pathos of the multiple stories of the lives of countless supporting players. This is an amazing feat of screen writing and direction, and I wonder whether anyone has really appreciated the extent of Henry Bean's incredible talent and achievement. This film really is a classic, it truly is. Woody Allen ought to take a refresher course in comedy by studying the meticulous construction and realization of this film, which has a freshness and creativity about it which is lacking in, for instance, Allen's MELINDA AND MELINDA. What a pity that Henry Bean has made so few films. Perhaps he is too original, but thank God that he is.

I really enjoyed most of this movie. I identify with the main character's (Tim Robbins is delightful and capturing) complete and utter distraction by the car alarms and the horrific head splitting noise that they make. His vigilante antics were funny and inspiring, albeit illegal, but I understand how noise can drive you mad when there is no rest from it. I definitely was rooting for him. The movie stagnated when a menage a trois was thrown in out of nowhere having nothing to do with plot development or understanding the characters better. It didn't add anything to the movie. Instead it took away from the continuity and left me wondering what the point of it was. It seemed like it was from another movie altogether as filler for time purposes. Once that was over and the movie plot resumed, it had a satisfying ending.

Noise is about a man suffering a mid-life crisis, but this crisis doesn't play itself out as an affair or the purchase of a sports car or boat. Instead, David, our protagonist, exhibits his crisis in the form of an all-out attack upon noise.David and his wife, Helen are dyed-in-the-wool New Yorkers. She is a musician and he is a successful businessman. They love the city and would never consider leaving, but David is becoming increasingly aware of the noises around him. Sounds that one comes to accept as natural in city life have started to grate upon his nerves and his sense of right and wrong. The utmost villain in David's life is the car alarm.In New York City, there is an ordinance against car alarms sounding for longer than a couple of minutes, but the law is basically ignored by the police causing the public to be victims of the noise. David decides that he will no longer play the role of victim and goes through his neighborhood with a baseball bat smashing any car alarming. He is eventually arrested and goes before a judge who does not approve but is forgiving. David is warned that if he continues his crusade, he will be jailed.Just as it is difficult for a man approaching his later years to give up his beautiful lover or his shiny sports car, David cannot give up his obsession with noise. His campaign is eventually noticed by the press and the mysterious avenger soon becomes a champion of the people much to the chagrin of the unsympathetic mayor of New York. David's mania eventually leads to misfortune.Tim Robbins stars as David, and he is perfect for the part combining just the right amount of drama and humor to make you believe that his character is a real person. Movie fans are very lucky that Robbins and his partner, Susan Sarandon takes parts in little films such as this for their considerable acting talents certainly all to the value of films.The uptight mayor is beautifully played by William Hurt in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek performance that delights.It is interesting to note that Noise is fairly autobiographical of writer/director, Henry Bean's life. He is, indeed, a New Yorker who went on a smashing spree against car alarms and was eventually jailed.Noise is an enjoyable dark comedy with a valid message. The message is serious but the wit of the piece makes its delivery a very entertaining hour and a half.

I picked this movie because I like Tim Robbins. The premise of the movie sounded interesting. While conflicts make for good movies, this one left me somewhat hanging. If he HATES all the noise, move away. But as one character said: You LOVE to HATE the noise. what I didn't understand was the threesome with the other girl... What was that about and what did it have to do with the plot? I'm sure there could have been another way to introduce this girl and have her do her "inner beauty" monologue.... Maybe I didn't fully "get" the movie and all it's ideas. It was interesting, though for the most part and I liked the ending. But it's definitely a DVD rental kinda of movie.