Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20615 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-10-12
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Running time: 102 minutes

From Amazon.com
Overlooked and underrated, Goodbye Lover is a tawdry, tasty film noir with a soft spot for its scheming antiheroine. With her platinum Lulu bob, a killer wardrobe, and a Sound of Music fetish that inspires her to "climb every mountain" of bad-girl ambition, Patricia Arquette is perfectly cast as Sandra, the sweet but lethal wife of Jake (Dermot Mulroney), who works in a top-drawer ad agency with his brother Ben (Don Johnson). Weary stud Ben falls prey to simultaneous affairs with Sandra and his devoted secretary (Mary-Louise Parker), and the cynical Detective Pompano (Ellen DeGeneres) unravels the murder-for-insurance plot while her clueless Mormon partner (Ray McKinnon) tries to keep pace. Combining mordant humor and rampant depravity, this deliciously dark comedy starts fast and never lets up, liberating director Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields) from the sobriety of his previous work. The entire cast is great, but it's DeGeneres who makes this a recommended sleeper. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD
Interactive menus
Production notes
Theatrical trailer
Scene access
Languages & subtitles: English & Fran�ais

Synopsis
A darkly comic whodunit about greed, deceit, and romantic deception, Goodbye Lover stars Patricia Arquette as Sandra, a seemingly moral and obsessively cheerful woman who sells real estate and is fascinated by the movie The Sound Of Music. But Sandra has a secret; while she's married to Jake (Dermot Mulroney), an ad executive who is having problems with both his career and his drinking, she's having an affair with his brother, Ben (Don Johnson), a successful public relations man. Ben, on the other hand, is already dallying with Peggy (Mary-Louise Parker), a woman on his staff who is beautiful but insecure, though she has a darker side few people know about. When Ben decides to break it off with Sandra so he can pursue his relationship with Peggy, Sandra is furious, and, knowing Jake would be just as angry, tells him about their affair. A vengeful Jake confronts Ben, which leads to a knock-down, drag-out fight -- and Ben's death, as he falls from a window. Ben leaves behind a hefty insurance settlement, and soon the surviving characters are scrambling over the money. Enter Police Detective Rita Pompano (Ellen DeGeneres), who has seen too much in her time on the force to not develop a deep cynicism about the people she protects -- or to not be tempted to get in on the payday herself. Goodbye Lover was directed by Roland Joff�, in something of a departure from his best-known work in high-minded dramas such as The Killing Fields and The Mission. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Customer Reviews

THE ELLEN AND RAY SHOW
GOODBYE LOVER is a tasty and original film noir featuring incredibly good performances from its entire cast. Director Roland Joffe (Oscar nominated for THE MISSION and THE KILLING FIELDS) puts his tongue in his cheek and helms a story of battling femme fatales.
Patricia Arquette (brilliant) stars as a ditzy, sexually overactive wife to headstrong advertising executive Dermot Mulroney (also very good). She is also having an affair with Mulroney's brother, played beautifully by an unusually effective Don Johnson. Also involved is Mary Louise Parker as an assistant to both Johnson and Mulroney, who has the hots for ..hmmm...both the brothers? Soon, we know it's BODY HEAT all over when a plot is hatched to bump off Johnson for the four million dollar double indemnity insurance payoff. It's no plot spoiler to reveal Johnson exits the movie early and we see that there is more than meets the eye to the romantic shenanigans of all involved.
Then enters Ellen DeGeneres and Ray McKinnon as the detectives investigating Johnson's apparent accidental death. Generes is awesome; her one liners with McKinnon are priceless, harsh and incredible. Not one of her fans, I find myself in awe of her talent, particularly after this and FINDING NEMO. McKinnon as her Mormon, idealistic, and quite unintelligent partner, is a find! He's perfect as Ellen's foil and he brings a sense of moral uprightness and comic relief to this marvelous movie.
Some great moments: Arquette and Johnson getting it on in the choir loft while the choir sings Handel. Arquette and Johnson are both highly respected members of their church and take up the collection plate. Mulroney goes to hire a killer to off his wife, and we see this man hanging upside down and don't know why! We see "what if" thoughts from both Johnson and Arquette that mirror what they'd like to see. While questioning a cook in a restaurant, DeGeneres (who always seems to be eating), is stealing food while McKinnon questions the cook. At one point in the movie, Ellen asks her partner if he's gay. (How's that for political correctness?). We never learn why she asks that particular question, and in a particularly joyous moment near the end of the film, McKinnon pulls a joke that has you riveted to your seat.
This is a real find...it's worth buying, it's that good!

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

The cast alone is worthy of 5 stars - Ellen Degeneres, Mary-Louise Parker, Dermot Mulroney, Don Johnson and Patricia Arquette. The plot is a superb blend of lust, deception, greed and murder. I agree that Ellen's brash detective steals the show, although the ending seemed kind of abrupt. It is still beyond excellent and highly recommended!

allcanadianguy@shaw reviews * *
Who would like this? : crime, drama & suspense fans

Worth seeing?...
-buy it : no
-rent it : maybe

Roland Joffe 1999

Cast:
Patricia Arquette
Dermot Mulroney
Mary-Louise Parker
Ellen DeGeneres
Ray McKinnin
Alex Rocco
Don Johnson

* not bad, a twist to the plot here and there but hey so many movies so little time so why bother with this one.