Two soap opera actors who inadvertently find themselves in a drug sting orchestrated by an eccentric narcotics officer.
We open with Ronna (Sarah Polley, giving a career-defining performance), a supermarket checkout girl who is two days late on her rent. Her roommate, Claire (Katie Holmes), is a vapid soap actress. To make rent, Ronna agrees to sell a strip of Ecstasy to a couple of ravers, Adam and Zack (Jay Mohr and Scott Wolf). The problem? The dealer she knows (Timothy Olyphant’s Todd Gaines) is a psychotic, shirtless, smooth-talking menace who sells "beach towels" as a front.
Go (1999) is a high-octane, non-linear crime comedy that serves as a definitive time capsule for late-90s youth and rave culture. Directed by and written by John August , the film is often described as a "Pulp Fiction" for the Dawson's Creek generation, weaving together three interconnected stories set over a single chaotic Christmas Eve in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Plot Structure: Three Stories, One Night
If you are looking to stream the Go movie (1999) , rights have shifted frequently over the years. As of 2024-2025, it is often available for rent on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and YouTube Movies. Physical media collectors should hunt for the now-out-of-print Blu-ray release from Sony, which features a fantastic commentary track with Liman and August.
Check , Amazon Prime , Paramount+ , or Apple TV (rent/buy). Also often available on Tubi with ads.
Critics in 1999 were lazy. They called Go a "Pulp Fiction clone" because of the time jumps. But watching it today, the comparison feels shallow. Pulp Fiction is about philosophical hitmen; Go is about idiots who owe $500 for rent.
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.
Go is one of the only major studio films to accurately portray the pre-9/11 rave scene. There are no judgmental "kids on drugs" lectures here. The drugs are just a tool to make a boring night interesting. The soundtrack—featuring No Doubt, Fatboy Slim, and Steppenwolf’s "Magic Carpet Ride" (remixed into oblivion)—is a perfect artifact of big beat electronica. The film’s camera doesn't judge the characters; it shakes with them.
Go is closer to Run Lola Run (released the same year). Both are sensory assaults about time, luck, and consequence. But where Lola is a fairy tale, Go is a hangover. The film’s final message, delivered via an unexpected pregnancy reveal, is that life is just a series of chaotic, stupid decisions that somehow work out anyway.
: Two soap opera actors who find themselves coerced into a police sting operation involving the very drugs Ronna is trying to sell.
