Forgotten Pulp Fiction Knockoff from the 90s is a Must-Watch in 2024 (and It's Free on Pluto)

Summary

• It was inspired by Pulp Fiction.
• It's highly ranked on Rotten Tomatoes.
• It may not have been a hit at the box office, but it's now a cult classic.

Pulp Fiction rewrote the rules of filmmaking by ripping up the rule book and proving that anything a director can imagine can be produced on the big screen. It was irreverent, anarchic, and turned traditional narrative structure on its head.

It also spawned several films that attempted to copy its disjointed yet cohesive method of storytelling.

It could be argued that many of the elements that made its unique structure work remain distinctly Quentin Tarantino, but films that followed, including The Usual Suspects and Get Shorty, were heavily influenced by this cult classic. One of its offshoots, however, has been all but erased from history. Until now...

The movie scores 91% on the Tomatometer

By 1999, Pulp Fiction was already a classic. In April of that year, Go (a movie set at Christmas) was released. Straight away, it's unconventional, but has it spark as much debate about whether it's really a Christmas movie as Die Hard? Has it, hell!

Not that it really has anything to do with Christmas. Like Pulp Fiction, it's crime-oriented and told from multiple perspectives. It's also funny, fast-paced, and edgy.

What's it about?

Go is a black comedy crime thriller that fits neatly into the subset of movies described as 'like Pulp Fiction'.

Supermarket worker Ronna (Sarah Polley) is struggling for cash and sees an opportunity to make a quick buck selling fake Ecstasy (well, it is the 90s). But crossing drug dealers is not generally considered a wise move, and things don't work out quite the way she had hoped. Her story intersects with that of her colleague Simon (Desmond Askew) and two actors, Adam (Scott Wolf) and Zack (Jay Mohr).

The movie has a large cast, including William Fichtner, Katie Holmes, Timothy Olyphant, and Melissa McCarthy, and an overarching narrative that ties all the strands together. Like much of Tarantino's work, Go works thanks to a combination of great characters, engaging dialogue, and a plot that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats.

In many ways, it's unfair to call this movie a rip-off of Pulp Fiction. The term implies that it's a cheap imitation. In fact, director Doug Liman has created a decent movie in its own right, which could more accurately be described as "influenced by" the Tarantino film.

It wasn't a Big Box Office Hit

Any movie that makes money at the box office can be considered a commercial success to some degree.

But when you consider that the aforementioned The Usual Suspects made $67 million on a $6 million budget, and Get Shorty made $115 million on a $30 million production budget, Go's $28.5 million return on a $20 million production budget seems insignificant. Of course, all of this is dwarfed by Pulp Fiction's $213 million gross, which reflected a $205 million profit.

But Go was a critical success (90% on Rotten Tomatoes reflects that): it was nominated for 10 awards and won 4, including Best Actor at the Young Hollywood Awards for Timothy Olyphant (who played Todd Gaines) and Best Female Performance in a Motion Picture for Sarah Polley.

Where to watch

Go is available to watch for free on Pluto, if you're willing to put up with the commercials.

It's also available to rent or buy on Prime, Apple TV +, YouTube, Play Store, and Vudu.