However, unlike the many Pulp Fiction knockoffs that flooded the late 90s, Go doesn't feel derivative. It feels electric. It uses the fractured timeline not just for gimmickry, but to show how the same events look drastically different depending on who is holding the bag—quite literally. The film opens in a supermarket, introducing us to Ronna Martin (Sarah Polley), a cynical checkout girl working a double shift to pay her rent. Polley, who would later become an acclaimed director, is the film’s anchor. When her coworker Simon (Desmond Askew) begs off his shift to go to Vegas, Ronna steps in to cover and spots an opportunity for quick cash.
If you were to time-travel back to the summer of 1999, the cinematic landscape was dominated by a few key events. The Matrix had just redefined action cinema, The Blair Witch Project was reinventing horror marketing, and Star Wars: Episode I was disappointing a generation of hopefuls. But tucked away in the shadow of these blockbusters was a slick, frenetic, and wildly entertaining crime caper that captured the specific pulse of the late 90s better than almost anything else.
She encounters two actors, Zack (Jay Mohr) and Adam (Scott Wolf), who are looking to buy ecstasy. Ronna, desperate for money, decides to act as a middleman for Simon’s dealer, Todd (Timothy Olyphant). What follows is a cascade of bad decisions: a trip to a weirdly intense drug dealer’s house, the exchange of allergy pills instead of ecstasy, and a tense standoff in a convenience store. go movie 1999
That movie was Doug Liman’s Go .
Simon’s night involves a trip to a strip club, an accidental fire, a stolen car, and a bizarre confrontation with a bouncer. Desmond Askew is hilarious as the chaos magnet, but the true standout of this segment—and perhaps the whole movie—is Taye Diggs as Marcus, Simon’s friend. However, unlike the many Pulp Fiction knockoffs that
This segment establishes the film’s manic energy. Liman utilizes whip-pans, split screens, and a thumping electronic soundtrack to convey the anxiety of being young, broke, and in over your head. The second act transports us to Las Vegas with Simon, the British charmer who bailed on his shift. If the first act is about anxiety, the second is about excess. It plays like a darker, funnier version of The Hangover released a decade prior.
For those searching for the you are likely looking for a film that serves as a perfect time capsule of rave culture, pre-Y2K anxiety, and the irreverent spirit of the teen dramedy. While it may not have topped the box office charts upon release, Go has cemented its status as a cult classic—a film that is endlessly quotable, visually inventive, and arguably the spiritual sibling of Pulp Fiction for the MTV generation. A Structure Borrowed from the Best To understand Go , one must first look at its skeleton. Written by John August (who would go on to write Big Fish and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ), the film borrows the non-linear narrative structure popularized by Quentin Tarantino. The story is told in three distinct, overlapping segments, each focusing on a different set of characters involved in a chaotic Christmas Eve in Los Angeles. The film opens in a supermarket, introducing us
This segment deconstructs the "cool" vibe established earlier. Zack and Adam aren't savvy drug users; they are scared informants
Marcus is the cool, level-headed counterpart to Simon’s bumbling, but he gets swept up in the madness. The chemistry between the cast here is palpable, and the segment serves as a breathless comedic interlude that explains why Simon is unreachable during the first act. The final act rewinds to the perspective of Zack and Adam, the two actors we briefly met in the first segment. We learn they are actually working with a police officer, Burke (William Fichtner), on a sting operation.