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Beautiful Joe (2000) More at IMDbPro »

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21 comments in total

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13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Not great, 15 April 2004
Author: jlon from Dublin

One of the biggest mysteries in the last few years is comedian Billy Connolly's success as a screen actor.

An Irishman in America unfortunately gets entangled with a crime mob and fortunately gets entangled with Sharon Stone.

There's one scene at the start of Beautiful Joe which I never see in movies - someone taking out money from an ATM machine. Stone is incredibly beautiful. She's far more attractive than any Hollywood teenage star. Overall this movie is strange. The story is slight, the locations are unglamourous, the smaller roles are badly acted, the comedy is uncomfortable to watch and Holm is in another movie. But unlike better made movies Beautiful Joe is a likeable. Watch this at the right time and you could enjoy it. But the funniest thing about the movie was Connolly's Dublin accent, it was dreadful!.

Beautiful Joe is a low average but harmless movie.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Not a bad flick at all, 11 March 2005

Author: ejon49 from Cleveland, OH

I passed over Beautiful Joe at the video store for more than a year as I went through titles of non-first run films that I had not watched. After a year, I grabbed this one off the shelf and was pleasantly surprised by it. I thoroughly enjoyed the warmth that Billy Connolly gave his "beautiful" Joe character in his "adventures" with Sharon Stone and her two children. He seemed to genuinely enjoy the kids. Stone's "Hush" character kept the film consistent and on track. I enjoyed her sex appeal in her youth. I now appreciate the depth she brings to the roles she's been playing as a mature woman. I also liked how the director and screenwriter didn't bury Jurnee Smollett or Dillon Moen, Stone's two children, in the script. They had a closeness about them that made them feel like real brothers and sisters. Not a bad film. It's one I'd watch again.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
I wonder what might have been., 12 May 2002
Author: Carcuss from Gold Coast, Australia

Due to a special affection for Scottish comedy legend Billy Connolly, I saw Beautiful Joe. I love low budget film and I love a good heart tugging story. Connolly's Joe is a charming character that one can't help but like from the films opening. A Scot playing an Irishman amused me, particularly that the extent of his Irish accent was to say "Tanks" instead of "Thanks", but Connolly's charm sees this of little annoyance. Sharon Stone, who I normally don't care for, hits all the right notes in a very good performance as the tough as nails barhopping single mother. The two leads play off each other wonderfully without being drawn into the sentimentality of the piece. The two child actors are also first rate, particularly in their scenes with Connolly. Ian Holm, Dan Florek and Gil Bellows provide some lovely touches in their small roles. The problem? The script is quite predictable and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put it together. The unforgivable aspect however, is the constant view of the boom microphone in the shot. This doesn't happen just once, it happens several times and so obtrusively that it detracts from the viewers ability to get stuck into and believe the film (at least with this viewer it did). That aspect tainted the film badly, which is a shame because the work of Connolly and Stone is truly first rate. Visible boom microphone aside, Beautiful Joe is well worth seeing as a nice feel good film with some top notch acting.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
enjoyable little film, with a few flaws, 15 September 2002
Author: ivana2804 from Belgrade, Serbia

I saw this film on TV, and though its bad sides, it's a quite enjoyable romantic comedy. I'm not a fan of romcoms in general, so any such film that I can stand must be pretty good. Of course, a big part of the reason are the leads, since I like both Billy Connelly and Sharon Stone, who, in their different ways, are not the typical sugary romcom stars, such as Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant etc. (A film with any of the mentioned is sure to make me want to throw up.) One of the setbacks is that I often get annoyed by actors doing a Southern accent, and it was no different here, but I got used to it after a while.

However, the performances are uneven. The plot with the bad guys is very bad. The mobsters are very unconvicing, and the guy from Ally McBeal is really awful. He was obviously trying to shed the good guy image and show he has 'range', but he's cartoonish and over-the-top. His character really hurt the film the most.

On the other hand, Connelly, Stone and the kids are fine, but I want to point out another performance that impressed me the most. Another TV face, not very famous - Roger Cross, who played the aliens Joshua/Cain in SF series 'First Wave', shows up in one scene, for about 2 or 3 minutes, as Stone's ex who's in jail, and proves that there are no small roles. If anything impressed me in this film, it's that scene - which proves you don't need much screen time or many lines to make a memorable character.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Cute, 20 January 2001

Author: smatysia (feldene@comcast.net) from Houston

A cute little film. I'm not familiar with this Billy Connolly, so I don't know if he really has that Irish brogue, or if he acted it. It was good, anyway. Sharon Stone continues to prove her acting range with a dramatic role (also with an accent). I had never heard of this film when it came on cable, but it was sweet. Worth catching the next time it comes on.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Performances save this film, 22 March 2006

Author: Angeneer from Athens, Greece

This is a by the numbers romantic comedy, which obviously has borrowed heavily from a lot of successful movies in terms of the storyline (terminal condition, bad girl/good guy, mob subplot, well hello). Although not original, it's not boring. It would though be just another movie if not for Bill Connolly and Sharon Stone. They deliver mature, convincing performances and genuinely succeed at creating empathy for their characters. Especially Sharon Stone's charm and natural beauty is unparalleled. You really could fall for her even if she was the worst person on earth.

So not a masterpiece, but not disappointing either.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
uneven romantic comedy, 12 July 2001
Author: Roland E. Zwick (magneteach@aol.com) from United States

Though likable in many ways, `Beautiful Joe' is one of those maddeningly inconsistent movies in which the plot keeps getting in the way of the finer elements of the picture. Here we have a film that is far more effective in its moments of quiet contemplation than the moments in which it indulges in grand melodramatic gestures. The latter do not happen frequently enough to actually kill the picture, but you can't accuse them of not trying.

Writer/director Stephen Metcalfe has concocted a screenplay that is part romantic comedy, part `road movie' and part petty gangster picture. The mixture never really jells. The film focuses around a sweet, good-natured, hopelessly optimistic Irish immigrant so beloved in his heavily ethnic Bronx neighborhood that his neighbors have affectionately nicknamed him `Beautiful Joe.' One day Joe is informed by his doctor that he has a potentially life threatening brain tumor. Conveniently for purposes of the plot, Joe also happens to discover on that day (though everyone else seems to have long known it) that his slatternly wife has been cheating on him. This frees him up to load his van and set out in search of the adventure he never really experienced in his peaceful but humdrum existence. While in Kentucky, he meets `Hush' Mason, a down-on-her-luck gambler and exotic dancer with two children who also happens to be involved with a parcel of petty gangsters led by one `George the Geek' whose sadism emerges in his various dealings with Joe, Hush, her children and his own loyal henchmen.

`Beautiful Joe' is at its best when it concentrates on the quiet moments that occur between these two oddball people – one a rock of stability, sanity and virtue in a cruel, chaotic world and the other a mess of insecurities, weaknesses and vulnerabilities who needs someone like Joe to help pull her out of that world. When Sharon Stone and Billy Connolly share screen time together (along with Jurnee Smollett and Dillon Moen who play her children), the film is believable and touching. However, Metcalfe seems unwilling to leave well enough alone because he has injected into the film a truly awful subplot involving a group of bumbling gangsters who manage to bring the film crashing down every time they appear in a scene. Luckily for us and for the film, they disappear through long stretches of the movie's running time, allowing time for us to concentrate on the individuals at the story's core. Even here, however, some of the plot details seem unnecessarily hokey and distracting, such as Hush's son's refusal to talk being overcome at the last minute – an obvious device to squeeze as many tears out of the audience as is legally possible. Indeed, the whole final act overindulges itself on syrupy sentiment.

Connolly and Stone are both excellent in their roles, Connolly appearing strong, compassionate and virtuous all at the same time, while Stone displays just the right amount of feistiness and vulnerability to make her character ring true and likable.

A pity Metcalfe doesn't display the discipline of tone and plotting necessary to make this film a total triumph. But for the elements that are good in it – and they are indeed manifold – `Beautiful Joe' is a film that deserves to be seen and enjoyed.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
i liked it!, 4 April 2006

Author: lotusblues from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I usually don't go for the sappy movies, however, if you find yourself in the mood, this movie is a really good one. billy (joe) is an awesome nice guy and really cute and lovable Scottish accent (his own). sharon (alice) is awesome (with a cute southern accent) as the albatross around her own and her kids' neck but learns her lesson about what's important in the end. joe's long-time family friend turns out to be the hit-man on joe's and alice's tail (hired by the bad bookies). and so the bad guys get it in the end while joe's brain tumor operation goes well, and alice and the kids (whom have fallen for joe as well) are at his bedside to be there for him, as he was for their little family. sappy but cuter than a junebug!

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
For romcom junkies only, 16 April 2003

Author: George Parker from Orange County, CA USA

"Beautiful Joe" tells of an irrepressible and likeable Irish florist who learns he has a brain tumor and decides to take a last blast road trip before his possibly fatal surgery. He falls in with and falls in love with a gambling woman with a checkered past and some troublesome underworld connections. With all the ear marks of a low budget indie, "BJ" moves from one sentimental moment to another with enough heart to make its journeyman execution easy to overlook. A fun but raggedy little romantic comedy which is as easy to like as it is to criticize. (C+)

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
A beautiful film., 24 November 2000

Author: ktmphd (ktmphd@webtv.net) from Bay City, MI

This is a really beautiful film. Billy Connelly is tops and Sharon Stone again shows she can play a role vs. being a role. And the two kid actors! Wow, where did they find them?

Stone is wonderfully over and under played as the woman who life has dissed and who has no control over herself. Connelly is more than wonderful as the Irish immigrant who comes to love her, understand her and save her (and her children) from herself.

Watch it and enjoy it!

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