DRUGSTORE COWBOY

Cole's Rating: ★★ ½

Director: Gus Van Sant
Year: 1989
Cast: Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James Le Gros
Genre: Crime/Drama
MPAA Rating: R

I applaud Gus Van Sant, Jr. I really do. Over the course of his lifetime, he’s made a multitude of thought-provoking, inspiring films that manage to capture and expose seemingly unnoticed aspects of reality (a classic example in Goodwill Hunting). In his most potent movies (Milk at the top of the charts), he effortlessly moves the audience in a way that only those who have experienced it can fathom. I didn’t get this feeling when I saw Drugstore Cowboy. Instead, I felt particularly unaffected.

However, my hopes were considerably high when the film started. Beginning with what I took to be a sound, promising structure, Drugstore Cowboy zooms in on the lives of pathetic (right?) druggies that get by by their drugstore raids. Following their intricate schemes, they proceed to retreat to their apartment and shoot, literally, whatever substance they managed to accumulate on their pillage into their veins. Thereafter, bickering, and serious self-examination follows. This is the tired route that the movie takes over and over again and, before long, it becomes quite purposeless.  

The problem lies in the narrative; what were the filmmakers trying to tell us? Were they exposing the desperation that people can be succumbed by in this world? Were they trying to incorporate a theme about physical abuse? Or, did this movie even have a narrative? All of these thoughts occurred to me as I sat and watched the ongoing (yet well captured) display of these peoples’ day to day lives. At the end, I was left wondering what it was I just saw.

In conclusion, it’s safe to say that Drugstore Cowboy’s screenplay took us nowhere. It isn’t a movie with a clear intention. It’s sort of just existent. What started as an ambitious, exciting slice of life headed downhill, becoming more and more meaningless as it went along. Among the film’s few assets are Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch. While they really stand out, I do wish I could name more.

-Written by Cole Pollyea