Carried Away (1996)

Truly Dreadful Film

Great Film overall

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Very well acted by Amy Irving, allowing herself to look drab, and older, and especially Dennis Hopper, who gives what might be his most restrained performance ever, and creates an unforgettable character in the process.This tale of a mid-western, self confessed 'mediocre farmer and schoolteacher' having an erotic affair with a 17 year old student, and the effect it has on his life, especially his long standing, but now somewhat inert relationship with his fellow teacher, is really about taking risks in life, even bad ones, and how we need those to stay alive. I like and admire that the film neither fully condemns or approves of anyone or any action. Everything is complex. Sadly, Amy Locaine as the girl, while stunningly beautiful, isn't at the acting level of her older co-stars, nor his her character written with the same kind of insight and precision, which hurts the overall effect. And some of the writing is a little overly poetic and theatrical. Still, it's an unique film, dealing with sex, aging, morality, fear and self-image in a far more complex, mature way than most American films, and for once treats mid-western farm folks as just as complex, intelligent and tortured as their big-city counterparts.

I'm a big fan of Dennis Hopper - and this is one of his best works. I'm not sure if he came to the script or if this was just the perfect vehicle for his ability to play complexity - but such doesn't really matter.Busey was excellent when he's usually too much. Hal Holbrook was solid.The story was one that middle-aged men are frequently (more often than we may expect) confronted with. This was the most unsensational, honest, and thoughtful presentation of the conflict I've ever watched. Great flick for the thoughtful.There was a very sexual content - but never was it gratuitous. Every scene had a purpose. It was a rare film in that if you wanted to be entertained, it did that. If you wanted to provoke thought, it did that, too. How involved do you want to be?If you enjoy movies that leave you taking more than one position, and arguing with yourself about what is "right" this is the kind of flick you'd enjoy.

Oh my God! I finished watching "Carried Away." How disturbing! I can't see how someone as young and sexy as Amy Locane would find someone who looks like Dennis Hopper sexually arousing. Hot babes like that do not go for old men unless they are wealthy.***spoilers ahead*** Those sex scenes in "Carried Away" between Dennis Hopper and Amy Locane as well as the one sex scene between Amy Irving and Dennis Hopper looked so real it made "Wild Things" look like a kids' movie. This should be considered a porn film.I could have been spared the full frontal nudity of Dennis Hopper before his character had sex with Amy Irving's character. And it was odd that she did frontal nudity in this film when she swore against doing it in "Carrie." Then again, Amy Irving was a lot younger when she did "Carrie."

One of the worst movies I have ever seen. If it had a few musical numbers, it would beat out Ishtar for worst movie of all time. Ed Wood is smiling somewhere.This film is NOT a convincing character study, the premise that a 49 year old with arrested development issues is going to have a revitalizing affair with the local sex kitten (who initiates it!!) seems more implausible than the plots of most action films. At least the action films supply devices which we can use to suspend our disbelief. A 17-year old with a penchant for handicapped men still living with their mothers is beyond my ken.At least I got a laugh out of this movie, Amy Locane's immolation of the horse (a ruse to get Hopper to act as a hero and save it, but his gimpy leg precludes such a possibility) is forever etched in my mind.