This movie is brilliant. It's severely underrated, criminally misunderstood, and I believe, totally ahead of its time. In "Falling Down", Michael Douglas has brought to life one of the most believable, likeable, and disturbing antiheroes of all time. It's a poignant tale of the everyman finally getting sick of the various stupidities, banalities, and irritabilities (I'm coining that if it's not already a word) that plague our modern life. It's a film that, at the beginning is as hilarious as it is true, but as the film continues, it proceeds to become more real, more disturbing, but also more grounded in its message. It's ridiculous and insane, but it also cuts deep to the truths that all of us feel at times. I've seen a number of Joel Schumacher's films, but this is the only one I could imagine myself watching multiple times. It depicts the American dream better than most films out there. It shows the everyman's struggle to conquer what he believes is wrong. It gives us a person to root for who is idealistic and filled with bravado, but also a man who is seriously flawed. I really believe this picture was ahead of its time; it didn't get incredible reviews, but I'd argue it's Joel Schumacher's crowning achievement.

Joel Schumacher's satire of modern America is just as fresh now as when it first came out. This thriller packs a real punch, telling the story of anti-hero William Foster, who snaps one day while sitting in a traffic jam (echoing the early Stephen king novella ROADWORK) and proceeds to go on a rampage across L. A. It works as a general thriller, with plenty of humour and action set pieces (I enjoyed it when watching as a kid) but at its heart it's a dark, despairing look at the troubles facing today's society. Schumacher is gutsy enough to criticise the integration (or not) into society of non-Americans; gang culture; fast food establishments; customer service; the growth of Neo-Nazism in the US; the nuclear family; marriage breakdown and divorce; the rich/poor divide, and plenty more besides. Lashings of the blackest comedy imaginable abound and despite elements of sentimentality here and there, this remains a striking, powerful and original masterpiece.

It also helps that the film stars two actors playing at the top of their game. Michael Douglas has never been better in his subtle, stony-faced performance of a guy driven to the brink (and beyond); opposite him, playing an aged cop hot on his heels, is Robert Duvall. Duvall is one of those character actors never really given a chance to shine that often but shine he does here. The cop sub-plot could have been boring with somebody else in the role but Duvall gives this film its human heart and I think it's also his best turn. Still a great movie and one that seemingly becomes more potent and more realistic as time passes. The question you'll come away with afterwards is, undoubtedly...are you economically viable?

A driver (Michael Douglas) is stuck in a traffic jam. In frustration, he walks away from his car with license plate D-Fens. LAPD Robbery Detective Prendergast (Robert Duvall) starts his last day and helps push the car to the side. His wife (Tuesday Weld) is struggling with issues. D-Fens has a confrontation with convenience store owner Lee who gives a statement to Prendergast. D-Fens is mad and going home to see his kid. His ex-wife Beth (Barbara Hershey) has a restraining order against him.

Joel Schumacher has no subtlety in this movie and that's the point. This is the old white guy yelling at the black kids to stay off his lawn. Then he snaps and shots one of them. Everything is skewed to annoy the audience so that they can feel for D-Fens. Literally, everything character and everything situation is geared towards to utterly annoying. Prendergast is the opposite of D-Fens. He faces frustrations of his own but he handles it anyways. This is a deliberately annoying movie.