The Keanu Reeves Project: My Own Private Idaho

MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO (1991) - Scott Favor

Welcome back to the Keanu Reeves project, an on-going movie watching project where I'm sitting down and watching Keanu Reeves' entire filmography from start to finish.  Why am I doing this?

Well, everything is closed due to COVID19, and even though it's not like I'm frequently out partying on the town, I've found myself with more free time than normal.  Also, I love Keanu Reeves, which you can read more about in my previous posts and despite my long-time fandom that dates back to 1989, he has quite an extensive filmography full of movies I've never actually seen.

So, even though I've got a Google Sheet with over 100 movies I plan on watching one day, I've resigned myself to watching (and rewatching) approximately 80 movies that in some way, shape, or form feature Keanu Reeves.  This can lead to some interesting and new experiences of movies I've never heard of, like my first ever viewing of Permanent Record, and it can also lead me down roads I've chosen not to take before for any given reason, like disliking the filmmaker in this post about "My Own Private Idaho," Gus Van Sant.

I've only seen a handful of Gus Van Sant films and now that I've watched "My Own Private Idaho" I think I can safely say that I don't need to see anymore.  I watched "Good Will Hunting" against my will as an assignment for a college "class" I had to take my freshman year which probably colored my views on the movie and while I barely remember it, I don't need to see it ever again.  

That summer, while working at a video store (that's a thing that used to exist and one of the best jobs I ever had), my friend Russell and I watched an earlier Van Sant movie called "Drugstore Cowboy," another movie that I've completely forgotten so it clearly left no mark on me.  And for some reason, I also once rented "Elephant," which is less of a movie and more of an art piece about the Columbine shooting.  I am appalled by its 73% Rotten Tomatoes score.  

Based on this picture, you'd think this movie might be interesting or even good.  You'd be wrong.

So it was with a minor sense of dread that I sat down and watched the 1991 movie, "My Own Private Idaho," starring Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix as a pair of street hustlers willing to have sex with just about anyone if the price is right.  

Very loosely based on the Shakespeare play "Henry IV," the movie follows the travels of Mike (River Phoenix) and Scott (Keanu Reeves) as they go between Idaho, Portland, Seattle, and even Rome as they search for Mike's long-lost mother.

Getting some grub after a night spent running a train on Susan's mother from Seinfeld.  No really, that happens in the first 10 minutes.

Look, I'm not an arthouse cinema guy.  I can appreciate a good artsy movie but there's a reason I hated "Elephant" and a reason why I'll never watch the Brad Pitt movie, "The Tree of Life," even though Brad Pitt is my second favorite actor after Keanu.  This shit is just not for me.

I just felt...bored for a good chunk of "Idaho."  It was hard finding any sympathy for the two main characters, particularly Keanu as we find out he's a trust fund baby who hangs around all of these street people, killing time until he turns 21 and inherits a big chunk of money.  Mike, at least, suffers from narcolepsy which often puts him in very dangerous positions particularly as he makes money by having sex with random men he meets on the street for money.  He's also in love with Scott even though Scott claims to really only be gay for pay, which again, makes little to no sense to me since when we meet him he's about a week away from becoming rich.

Not even gonna touch this one.

The pair spend most of the movie aimlessly wandering around from city to city, interacting with all of the street rats they seem to know, including Bob, an older, wiser (?) street person who seemingly taught the two of them the ropes when they got started.  I couldn't help but be distracted both by the fact that Bob looked way too much like Tommy Wiseau as well as the fact that the movie often and for no seemingly clear reason continuously jumped back and forth from regular language to Shakespeare-esque.

The most entertaining street rat

There are just too many odd choices in this movie for me to appreciate it.  For example, there are two sex scenes that are shot in a montage of stills, except they're not actually stills as you can see the actors breathing or blinking.  It reminded me far too much of Arrested Development and while it might have worked for some viewers, I absolutely hated it.

Imagine this, except with less clothes and having sex with other men and women

A few other observations just to note - 

Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers is in several scenes as Bob's buddy and another street person.  He's actually pretty good and oddly, this makes the second movie of the last three that had a member of RHCP in it (as you'll recall, Anthony Kiedis had a small role in "Point Break").  Just something to keep in mind should you find yourself in a rousing game of Keanu Reeves Trivia.  It's still TBD if any other members show up in later films but I could definitely see Dave Navarro fitting in perfectly in Bram Stoker's Dracula.  Also, both Keanu and Will Ferrell were in the "Between Two Ferns" movie and as we all know, Will Ferrell and Chad Smith are the same person.

Come on McFly, what are you, chicken?

This is the first film that featured Keanu on a full-on motorcycle.  He rides around in a fancy scooter a bunch in the very forgettable "Prince of Pennsylvania" but unless I missed something, this was the first true motorcycle on film for him.  Very exciting.

Way more fun in John Wick 3

Toward the back half of the movie Scott and Mike head to Rome in search of Mike's mother (they never find her).  This really annoyed me - Scott clearly comes from money so it wouldn't surprise me for him to have a passport and the ability to travel.  But Mike has been a street person for what is implied to have been at least a few years, he has no fixed address and no money.  How'd this dude get a passport on short notice?  Plus they travel from Seattle to Rome with no luggage.  Even pre-9/11 that's gotta raise some red flags for someone, right?

Thankfully, this is the last Gus Van Sant movie I'm ever going to watch.

BEST PART: Good enough performances by Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix.

WORST PART: How fucking boring this is.  All of the unnecessary Shakesperian dialogue.  

Box Office Mojo Information: $6.4 million/$13.8 million inflation adjusted, 128th highest grossing movie of 1991 on a $2.5 million budget.

Rotten Tomatoes: 81% Critics, 80% Audience - honestly, this doesn't particularly surprise me.  Maybe it's not a bad movie, but it's just not for me.

IMDB: 7.1

My Movie Rating: 4/10.  I was mostly just bored for long stretches of this and constantly taken out of it every time they fell into and subsequently abandoned the Shakespearean dialogue.  The more artsy parts of the movie, like the dream sequences Mike's character has when he has a narcolepsy spell and the bizarre sex scenes just didn't do it for me.  

Keanu Rating: 6/10.  Keanu is totally fine in this but River Phoenix gives a much stronger overall performance.  As many of us know, Keanu was very good friends with River Phoenix and even drove across the country to hand deliver this script.  Just one of the several tragedies that Keanu Reeves has been through in his life.  

Up next: Bram Stoker's Dracula.  Oh boy.  I've never seen this one either but this is one of the movies used by Keanu haters as evidence of what a "bad" actor he is.  Hoping this is so bad it's good!