Johnny Suede

Stars: Brad Pitt (A River Runs 77trough It, Cool World, Thelma & Louise), Catherine Keener, Alison Moir, Calvin Levels, Nick Cave, Tina Louise (TV's "Gilligan's Island"). Johnny (Brad Pitt) is a struggling Brooklyn retro-rocker going nowhere fast when a pair of black suede shoes are tossed out of a tenement window into his life. Already sporting a mile-high pompadour, a ton of attitude, and the innate ability to break wind at the wrong time, stardom seems a given. But Johnny Suede finds women instead. Writer/director Tom DiCillo's debut feature film is a truly offbeat fable that sputters as much as it sparks, yet poignantly reminds us all what a full-time job it was in adolescence discovering who we were. After a disastrous relationship with a swinging debutante, Johnny finds Yvonne (wonderfully played by Catherine Keener), a no-bull woman who guides Johnny in matters practical (no, this is where the clitoris is) and spiritual. Ultimately, it is Yvonne who teaches Johnny that good hair and rad shoes can only take you so far: the rest has to come from within. Winner of a Best Film award at the Locarno Film Festival, Johnny Suede is not the year's most satisfying story by any means, but it does feature some excellent moments, a pair of fine performances by Brad Pitt and Catherine Keener, and a really good fart joke. Audience: Older adolescents and adults who haven't forgotten what growing up was all about.