Steal This Movie (2000)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Sorry, this movie sucks

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Admittedly, I didn't know who Abbie Hoffman was or what the Youth International Party was until I was in my very late teens – early 20s.I saw him in different programs I watched but I never truly knew his impact. I was a bit worried about watching anyone portray him in a film. Vincent D'Onofrio is a fantastic actor but I stayed away from this movie for a long time because I'm always weary about reenactments for dramatic effect. I never want to confuse fiction for reality. So many do that on both sides of the political spectrum that I like to know the facts. It is for that reason, biopics always make me a bit uneasy.It was the cast that influenced my decision to watch it. The film includes Janeane Garofalo, Kevin Corrigan, Donal Logue, Kevin Pollack,and Jeanne Tripplehorn. It doesn't get better than that.The film opens as Hoffman (D'Onofrio) while in hiding is talking to a reporter recounting his involvement with the movement. It starts when he's helping African Americans register to vote and is beaten by a cop.Fast forward to him meeting his wife Anita (Garofalo) on a bus where he and his friend Stew Albert (Donal Logue) hold the passengers up with water pistols.Anita is also interviewed by the reporter who believes that the government has better things to do than track down Hoffman. She then recounts their run-ins with the law, COINTELPRO and how deep the resentment of Hoffman is.The entire movie was done in a realistic and careful manner that I appreciated. I loved the real footage that was shown while Hoffman states "Do you remember 1968? They killed the good guys as they were about to elect the bad guys…." It's such a powerful and honest statement. This is nearly 50 years later and I can taste how close the revolution actually felt for the protesters.I hate when people look at the counterculture movement as some drug-induced idiocy to disregard. It was well thought out, the risks were very real and when the Vietnam Conflict ended and the mindset of people didn't change is it any wonder why revolutionaries like Phil Ochs and Hoffman are no longer with us? Call it bi-polar or any other mental illness you want to, at the end of the day – I believe they died of rightful disappointment. What they gave their life for was dead. How do you live after that? Why would you want to?Kevin Corrigan portrays Jerry Rubin, founding member of YIP and good friend of Hoffman. Though the two disagree on methods at times, the love and shared beliefs the two have is always apparent. In one scene,Rubin is being carried by protesters as he speaks against the war and starvation with such emotion and genuine heart. The next scene is a short black-and-white scene of military tanks and a "welcome to Chicago" sign on fire. In that quick transition the momentum and feeling of the film changes. That happens throughout. It's a roller-coaster ride of wanting the change, believing in the change,feeling the beauty and connection between all of those in agreement, but on the flip – still seeing people die, the war going on,sabotage by government officials, denial of permits to protest without reason –the list goes on and on.This movie does everything right and I'm glad that I watched it. It's the kind of film that people who have a conscience need to watch. People are still being prosecuted for protesting. People are still being listened in on by the government, framed and detained without reason and when you bring it up there are still people saying "You're paranoid."Where is the outrage that was so prevalent in the 60s? My guess is silenced by big pharmacy and brainwashing. When people care more about who wins a show like The Voice than who is elected in office, the disillusionment of the government is so high that we are basically admitting to being helpless and not wanting to fight to change it. Where is the fight?Where are the Abbie Hoffmans and the Jerry Rubins? Where did they go? And why am I a hypocrite who sits watching this movie rather than risking any personal harm to fight? If I protest I could get arrested, if I get arrested I'll lose my insurance license, if I lose my license I can't afford the house I'm buying. It's the game and I lost, for now.That said, movies like this need to be made. We need to remember the 60s and we need to learn from it. This film brought me to that place.The acting as can be expected is great all around. There are moments that are absolutely hilarious like when Hoffman and Rubin are in court wearing judicial robes and are ordered to take them off only to reveal police uniforms. Then there are moments that anger and frustrate. There are gut-wrenching scenes of real violence and re- enacted violence that at 5 AM are making me scream at my TV. It's pretty easy to get angry when you see rights being trampled on.Just watch this movie.

Once again we get the bad reviews from the nay sayers. Did they actually watch this film ? The acting was brilliant. Most of the history was spot on, admittedly diluted a bit to make it comprehensible to a movie audience. This was supposed to be entertainment not documentary. Abbie's story needs retelling for a new generation. After all the state is still censoring him out of the history books and the media, so how else are we to know ? The ridiculously poor distribution of this film suggests that some people still don't want this story to see the light of day. I bought it for £2.99 in a remainder bin, despite never seeing it in a proper store. A disgrace given the quality of the performances, a further disgrace given some of the crap still available on full price release.

Let me start out by saying that I am a huge fan of Abbie Hoffman and have read Steal this Book and Steal this Urine Test. Also am a even bigger Jerry Rubin fan. But his movie was a discusting pile of rubbish that made a very PG version of Abbie Hoffman. The director took no chances into making Abbie Hoffman interesting in this movie. They despicted Stew Albert as a F***ing cartoon chjaractor devoid of intellegence, the man was a proffesor at Berkley for christsakes. Ok they did a horrid casting job for Anita Hoffman, did a Horrible job casting for the Jerry Rubin character. I just guess the movie doesnt fit the news flashes that I have seen of Abbie or the books that he wrote. The movie just didnt fit and upset me. Oh yeah and theat is the absolute worst voice over I have ever heard of Richard Nixon. This is one of the few movies that I have ever rented that I could not sit all the way through because, I have a passion for Abbie Hoffman and his discruntled band of Yippies and this movie was just plain badly done. And it hurt me that now when people see a movie about the yippies they will see a terrible adaptation, and not get a true sense of reality. Instead they get a hollywoodized palanthra of crap.

This film is about the activist years of Yippie Abbie Hoffman and the time after. People expecting to see a biopic about his activism, antics, or books will be dissapointed. The film is about Abbie Hoffman. Not about his efforts, but about him.The editing is not that great, and the dialogue could have been better, but the scenes are entertaining even without good pacing. D'Onofrio also did his best to portray Hoffman, even though he's 9 inches taller and doesn't look like him. He seems to capture that charisma, that "mojo" that other people seem to like. He' also very good in the second half, when you can tell Abbie is pondering his life - if he's doomed to run forever, is he running from nothing, did he waste his life. He seemed very tortured.A lot of people may be dissapointed, but this is still a good film. Such a shame it didn't get wide release.