- Best Known for the Fanservice: The oral sex scene, though it's played for drama. Doesn't help that little else happens in the movie besides driving. Or that even the film's posters show this scene.
- Dancing Bear: Many people who watch the film do so either because of the Roger Ebert flamewar or the blowjob scene.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Despite the aforementioned Cannes controversy, it seems that French movie critics liked it more than American ones: Cahiers du cinema, the respected French movie magazine, put it in their top ten lists (tied with Gerry, another slow paced tone poem from a divisive American auteur). And much like the director's previous film, it has a cult following in Japan (the only country where the original Cannes cut is available on home video).
- Hilarious in Hindsight: The three women Bud meets are named Daisy, Violet and Lily — exactly the same names as Misty's three older sisters.
- Improved by the Re-Cut: When the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, it received an extraordinarily negative reception, with many viewers booing and walking out, and getting severely panned by critics to the point that director Vincent Gallo started a verbal feud with Roger Ebert. However, when the film was officially released for distribution, it had been re-edited, cutting a whopping 26 minutes out of the runtime. Ebert's review
gave the theatrical release 3 out of 4 stars, saying it should be shown in film schools alongside the original as an example of the difference good editing can make to a bad movie. At the same time, he still upheld his claim that the original cut was the worst thing he'd seen at Cannes.- Fan-Preferred Cut Content: At the same time, even some defenders of the theatrical cut will say that they wish Gallo kept the Cannes cut's ending, where Bud gets killed in a car crash...ending with the shot of a brown bunny hopping away from the wreck.
- Misaimed Fandom: Vincent Gallo, a socially conservative Republican, intended the film to be "a celebration of America that is anti-drug and anti-pornography". The famous blow job scene was intended as a deconstruction of pornography and eroticism on film, removing the fantasy of having sex with a beautiful women without any consequences or messy emotions and showing the emotional struggles that come with sex in real life. But, as Kyle Kallgren pointed out in his review of the film, edited versions of the scene can be found on porn sites.
- Overshadowed by Controversy: Due to the many controversies surrounding the making of the film and its release, not a lot of attention is given to the actual film itself.
- Signature Scene: The blow job scene, of course.
- Tear Jerker: In one of the many long takes, you can see the main character's tears well up in his eyes, around the time we find out his former lover is dead.
- Vindicated by History: Downplayed: while the divisive style, the controversies surrounding the making of the film, and Vincent Gallo's controversial political views have still marred the film, it has gained a cult following for its portrayal of male loneliness and its unique atmosphere. Among the film's defenders include Josh Safdie, Claire Denis, and David Lowery (who once named it one of this favorite films). The film's cult following extends to the 70's inspired soundtrack featuring John Frusciante, which even got a limited edition vinyl reissue for the film's tenth anniversary.
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