My Own Private Idaho (1991)

"My Own Private Idaho" is the movie, in my opinion, that showed the true talent of River Phoenix. I was sitting on the couch one night flipping through the channels and saw that River was in it and I thought "Why not? Hes a good actor". This movie absolutely blew me away. Its this sad and heartful story abut a young boy who is abandoned and is thrown into a life he never should of fathomed of having. He has to sell him self just to get a meal. This movie has touched so many hearts and inspires so many!! River isn't the only great actor, Keanu Reeves does a wonderful supportive job. His character is a rebel against his political dad (trying to make him look bad...typical teenager!!). His and River's paths of live cross and they become traveling buddies!!Its a movie that you'll never forget and i think it becomes more powerful as the years go on. I have to say, movie lovers really do miss River Phoenix. He was a great person and hopefully he adchieved all that he wanted to.

Fmovies: I'm not quite sure what to make of 'My Own Private Idaho.' I am aware of it's huge cult following and that makes me want to like it more than I did, or at least give some thought as to why I didn't think as highly of it as many others did.

Gus Van Sant is a hit or miss director - Drugstore Cowboy, To Die For, and Good Will Hunting were all excellent, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and his Psycho remake were horrendous - and I hate to say that I'm leaning more towards the miss column with 'My Own Private Idaho.' The best way I can put this film is that it seems like there are too many cooks making the soup and all the ingredients have been served better. Van Sant wants to make this a road movie, a comedy, a coming-of-age movie, a Shakespeare play, a surreal picture... I feel like he's taken the best elements of 'Easy Rider', 'Pixote', and 'Henry V' and mangled them.

River Phoenix is excellent though, he's the best part of the film and I give the credit solely to him. Why? Because ever other performance just isn't very good. Reeves seems uncomfortable in almost every scene whether it's quoting Shakespeare or lying shirtless in bed with Phoenix, he can't pull off what this movie wants. Neither can Richert as the leader of the band of hustlers - who comes across so over the top and theatrical that as a contrast to Phoenix's mellow/realistic hustler it just doesn't work. The problem with taking dialogue straight from Henry IV is for one it's awfully hard to top the Bard for writing. Two; you need actors who can deliver it well.

Van Sant has imagination and the visuals in the film are breathtaking. The movie starts off extremely well, but it's obvious that he had little control of the script or the actors and in the end that kills the movie.

Very surprising that Phoenix didn't pick up an Oscar nomination.

I had heard some good recommendations on this film but am lost as to why the overall rating (6.9) on IMDb is so high. Am I missing something?

I watched the whole movie intently, even though my attention was flagging a lot. Those long (metaphoric?) cloud scenes with houses falling apart, reminiscent to me of the Kansas tornado in the Wizard of Oz, lonely stretches of road reminding the protagonist (over and over) of a face, yeah we get it, we don't care. And on. River Phoenix, in the lead playing Mike, is remarkable and eerie too - so much of James Dean in him, the short intense and talented life.

This is loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry IV part one, and it transfers huge chunks of the play into the movie script, some of it sounding forced and odd. An experiment that for me, fell flat on its face.

Keanu Reeves, playing Scott, plays a street hustler in an act of rebellion against his father the mayor of the town. He befriends Mike, a narcoleptic prostitute who falls asleep on the job all the time, and who to all intents and purposes falls in love with him. They go on a road trip to find River's mother who abandoned him when he was small.

The details of Mike's parentage are appalling and the road trip takes them to a rather weird Italy and then back again to the streets where Scott turns his back on his old ways, abandoning Mike.

Uneven and actually frustrating, the dialogue was very muddy and hard to understand at times and the shifting of script from modern to Shakespeare not successful.

4 out of 10. Could be to some tastes, but not to mine.

My Own Private Idaho fmovies. My opinion is that 'My own private Idaho' is a masterpiece! Gus van Sant did a great job and created a very artistic movie with many truths about life.Both River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves give wonderful performances.I read some other comments too on this board and I have to say that the story, is not only about 2 male prostitutes that sell their bodies for the money.Try to catch that underlying message that each viewer interprets it in his own way.In the way HE feels it.The movie gets really sad at the end but it makes you realize a lot of things.In this road of life that "...goes around the world..." you get hurt, betrayed, you believe, you hope, you pay, you earn, you lose, you win...that road never ends.

Mike (River Phoenix) has narcolepsy, and whenever he feels super-stressed he suffers what I interpret to be attacks of cataplexy, that is, sleep triggered by heightened emotions. His friend, would-be lover and fellow male prostitute, Scott (Keanu Reeves), has a rich dad who's going to leave him a hefty sum when he turns 21. These two characters are the main focus of "My Own Private Idaho" which deals with common and uncommon themes, such as home, sexual identity and love. Van Sant throws in some Shakespearean language plagiarised straight from Henry IV and a non-linear narrative and you've got one very cute surrealist indie film.

The credits to this film are it's director and star, River Phoenix, whose understated and moving performance lifts this film above the trash it easily could've been in another director or actor's hands. Van Sant uses symbols to represent emotional states and his use of special effects is limited and effective. There is some really heartfelt dialogue in this movie, especially the much-mentioned camp-fire scene.

This film can be irritating; sometimes the Shakespearean dialogue doesn't work (and it's okay to admit that a near-perfect film like this has flaws) and Reeves is sometimes a little stiff. The film is mostly redeemed by its bitter-sweet ending and fun opening titles.

I'm not going to tackle any issues in this film because I just don't have the energy. Just appreciate the film for what it is and have a nice day. :)

Gus Van Sant, truly one of the best directors in this century, has a visionary eye that enables audiences to see life in a different/new way. In this case he takes Henry IV- usually overshadowed by Henry V, and turns it in to a heart wrenching tale that modern audiences can appreciate. The visual pictures that get layered on and on and on our eyeballs are like dance steps carefully plotted. The use of lesser known actors is refreshing, and the chemistry between River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves is overwhelming. This is a must see for any lover of independent films, for any person tired of predictable plots, or for anyone who wants to open their heart to vulnerable characters and love them. This movie gets you involved.