Endlessly - and incredibly - recursive (recurring scenes with subtle variations, people moving in circles within scenes and within the movie as a whole, and the awesome café scene, where Josh and the waitress repeat the same lines of dialogue three or four times) and amazingly well written. The high-brow, very unnaturalistic dialogue is as artificial as it is endearing. Nobody talks like this, you say? Well, who cares? That doesn't make it less interesting. One of the best films of the 80s.

This is the anti John Hughes teen movie. This movie is cruel, funny and touching. It really showcases Adrienne Shelly as such an incredible talent and her charm and wit make this movie so special

Well this was a "special" experience. Strangely intriguing and the stylistic dialogue is like nothing I've ever seen before. A movie that leaves you thinking... and thinking... and thinking...

While reasons for characters' changing attitudes are often non-existant and at times things seems more confused than clever, this bleak comedy still manages to fascinate in spite of its flaws.

Not quite as strong as Trust, but you have to give it to Hartley. The guy writes quirk WITH PURPOSE. Hard to imagine in today's cinematic landscape, but there are sometimes reasons why a girl steals a giant wrench or why an entire father-daughter relationship hinges on intricate, ridiculous agreements.

Adrienne Shelly is utterly compelling in this. It has a great cast & Hal Hartley does what he always does well!

Typically amateurish bullshit that tries SO HARD to be meaningful and means nothing. Really really bad acting. Terrible script. They should have called it The Unbelievable Dialogue, because not a word of it sounds anything like real humans talking.

I really appreciate the overall flow of this movie. There are times here and there when I'm not sure what emotion I'm evoking, but it's in no way a bad thing. I loved the music, and while we're on that subject, this movie inspired Andy Yorke's band [brother of Thom Yorke].

Interesting characterizations, hardly caricatured but still just a little larger than life. The acting seems a bit melodramatic at many points, which seems odd given the understated music and Hartley's low-key directorial presence (refreshingly atypical for a debut).

Some of the techniques Hartley uses are pretty interesting. Dialogue overlap when girl meets boy for wrench delivery and right after that repetetive dialogue in the bar is especially notable. But this hell of a director doesn't exactly have a sure foot in his debut, so a promising movie basically drools around. Nevertheless it's Hartley in every manner.

i don't trust anybody.