Variety Reviews 'Your Name Here'

'Your Name Here' the William J Frick bio-pic which recently premiered in Vegas was reviewed in yesterday's Variety magazine. Reviewer Robert Koehler writes:

"Getting lost inside the decaying mind of a science-fiction novelist isn't the same as getting lost, a critical distinction missed in Matthew Wilder's whirligig "Your Name Here." With Bill Pullman as a fictionalized version of Philip K. Dick, pic superficially touches on David Lynchian down-the-rabbit-hole territory, but flubs an opportunity for a full-bore B-movie romp in a series of overextended, flat episodes. Cocksureness of the pic's culty profile hardly guarantees in-crowd, hipster action at fests and beyond, even with the spectacle of Traci Lords in multiple roles.

On the verge of completing his magnum opus during 1974's Fourth of July weekend, author William J. Frick (Pullman) is distracted by his screaming ex Julie (Lords), worried agent (Richard Riehle), the tax man (Dave Sheridan) and memories of his stillborn sister. Too much stress-relieving medication sends Frick hurtling into a fantasy world of escalating nonsense, some of it enticingly accented with Watergate-era paranoia care of the perennially masterful M. Emmet Walsh as a Nixon man. Former theater director Wilder lets too many scenes run on, and on."

PollyStaffle.com has another review here, which reads, in part:

"My biggest gripe here is they took a very sad story and tried to play it as a comedy. The film is based loosely on sci-fi writer Phillip K. Dick, who wrote “A Scanner Darkly,” later turned into a Richard Linklater film, as well as the stories that “Blade Runner,” “Total Recall,” “Screamers,” “Paycheck,” “Minority Report” and “Impostor” were based off of. Phillip K. Dick was a heavy drug user that suffered from paranoia and schizophrenia [note to reviewer: stick to your job as a reviewer and leave the diagnosing to the professionals]. His twin sister died five weeks after their births, he married and divorced five times, he had a stroke in 1982 and was disconnected from life support five days later to depart our world. There’s nothing funny about any of the things I just mentioned. “Your Name Here” tries to turn the tragedies of Phillip K. Dick’s life into a bizarre “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” meets “Memento” freak show. It’s not an awe-inspiring celebration of his art like “Ed Wood,” “The People vs. Larry Flynt” or “Man on the Moon.” It’s laughing at him, not with him, and comes off twisted and pretty damn sick if you ask me."