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Movies / On DVD / Wirey Spindell
Wirey Spindell

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Wirey Spindell (1999)

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24 %
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Reviews Counted:17

Fresh:4

Rotten:13

Average Rating:4.1/10

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: The fourth film from the cabdriver-turned-director, Eric Schaeffer, WIREY SPINDELL investigates Schaeffer's favorite topics: relationships and the romantically challenged. Nine days before his... The fourth film from the cabdriver-turned-director, Eric Schaeffer, WIREY SPINDELL investigates Schaeffer's favorite topics: relationships and the romantically challenged. Nine days before his wedding, Wirey Spindell experiences pre-nuptial jitters and can't perform sexually. His problem sends him into contemplative retreats in his bathroom, where he begins to review the course of his life and loves. Through flashbacks we learn of Wirey's sordid past and polymorphous perversity, which includes an unfortunate encounter with an electrical socket. Based on A LEGEND IN HIS OWN MIND, an unpublished semi-autobiographical novel Schaeffer wrote 10 years earlier, WIREY SPINDELL is a frank investigation of a self-centered, neurotic male, a la Woody Allen. As in his previous films, Schaeffer wrote the screenplay and plays the lead role. Rising star Eric Mabius (THE CROW: SALVATION) plays the younger Wirey, a role in which he gamely takes on some of the most shocking tidbits of Wirey's life. In a nod to Schaeffer's cabdriver background, a scene in a "taxicab" plays a pivotal role in the film. [More]

Starring: Eric Schaeffer, Callie Thorne, Samantha Buck, Eric Mabius

Starring: Eric Schaeffer, Callie Thorne, Samantha Buck, Eric Mabius, Devin Matthews-Johnson, Zane Adlum, Peggy Gormley, John Doman, Jennifer Wiltsie

Director: Eric Schaeffer

Director: Eric Schaeffer
Screenwriter: Eric Schaeffer
Producer: Eric Schaeffer, Dolly Hall, Lloyd Segan, Terence Michael
Composer: Amanda Kravat, Peter Millrose

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Wirey Spindell

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1 - 17 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Where writer-director Eric Schaeffer shoots himself in the foot is by succumbing to the narcissistic voice within.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
01/12/07
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

Long, shapeless, and painfully unfunny, Wirey Spindell confirms its maker's status as one of the most distinctively awful filmmakers of his generation.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
07/10/06
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
AV Club

No review available.

comment Comment
07/24/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

...a teen sex comedy for the grown-up arthouse crowd.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/27/05
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
10/03/03
Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com

To say that this movie is true to life is only to say that it's banal, boring and confusing.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/21/03
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The first pleasant surprise of 2000.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Chris Gore
Chris Gore
Film Threat

A naked attempt at Jerry Maguire-style profundity that elicited 47 temple rubs and 13 audible Jesuses between my companion and I… the comedic equivalent of flat soda.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
08/27/02
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today

Wirey Spindell is as idiosyncratic as the name of its hero, which gives this surprisingly affecting film its title.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
08/15/02
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The big puzzle is why anyone would want to get within 50 feet of the guy, let alone marry him.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/05/02
Mike Kerrigan
Mike Kerrigan
Boxoffice Magazine

As annoying and self-indulgent as the film may be, it can only seem irredeemable once Schaeffer has confirmed what you already suspected -- that he’s using the film to trot out every oddball anecdote from his own life.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
02/14/01
Scott Renshaw
Scott Renshaw
Apollo Guide

For the most part Mr. Schaeffer, by mixing melodrama and comedy in ways that they do not combine, neither shows how Wirey's early life is so terrible that he winds up a drugged and drunken misfit nor jogs the comedy to a level beyond the mildly amusing.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
01/01/00
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Ambiguously autobiographical (and, per usual, sooty-lensed.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jessica Winter
Jessica Winter
Village Voice

Schaeffer needs to realize that there are few universals in his stories and way too many specifics, and it takes more than a weird name like Wirey Spindell to make a person really distinctive.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

Easily the best film that writer-director Eric Schaeffer (My Life's in Turnaround, Fall, If Lucy Fell) has made in his short career as the king of narcissistic indie cinema. But that's like saying that some hate crimes are preferable to others.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Matt Reichl
Matt Reichl
Reel.com

What is appallingly lacking in the film is recognizing the possibility that this person's life might be one big bundle of irresponsibility.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
01/01/00
Peter Henne
Peter Henne
Film Journal International

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Scott Mantz' Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Scott A. Mantz
Scott A. Mantz
Scott Mantz' Movie Reviews
 
 
1 - 17 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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