I watched this movie for the first time a couple of months ago. I had to watch it twice because I didn't get the way everything fit together in the plot the first time. My impression at first was that this was a really funny satire of certain aspects of American (or just modern) society: People turning to self-help gurus for solutions to their problems, political conspiracy theories, the blandness of working in an office, the strangeness of dentists, the meaninglessness of everyday conversation/communication rituals such as "How are you?". In these first two viewings, I laughed frequently at the way Soderberg was poking fun at modern life. Really funny to me is Soderberg's low-key sarcastic tone. I definitely have shared similar feelings to him in my everday life. In addition, I enjoyed the cut-up style connected disjointedness of the film's plot.

But then I watched the film a third time with a friend and he laughed maybe one time during the whole movie. And after the movie ended, he told me he just didn't "get" some of the things Soderberg was trying to satirze. This made me reconsider the film, so I watched it a forth time and in doing so, I just found it more cyncial and not as funny. "Tiresome" is a word that comes to mind. Perhaps this film just plays better if one is in a cynical mood. Regardless, there are still several quotes from Schizopolis that I have incorporated into my daily life so that I can become a better person in a T. Azimuth Switters type of way:

"Be true to your teeth and they won't be false to you."

"I am Republican when it comes to most issues, but I'm a Democrat when it comes to gum control."

"Generic greeting!" "Generic greeting returned!"

"I really enjoy having sex with your wife. She's got a great ass."

"When I married her, she was like a blimp. But now she just keeps getting thinner and thinner. It's terrible."

"Dear Attractive Woman #2...I would love to have you standing near me, or beside me, or on top of me so I could watch you shake."

Overall, I think this film is well worth a watch. Even on repeated viewings, it delivers some humorous goods.

I've finally got to see this film, nearly a decade after it appeared, and I'm very glad I snapped it up on DVD for a fiver - as I'll certainly watch it again. I'm pleasantly surprised that the comments on this site are mostly so positive, seeing as some films I've loved more have been given a bigger slating.

Any film that makes me laugh out loud more than once has got to be worth something: Soderbergh making faces in the mirror was a joy, and the newsreader's delivery of the story about Rhode Island also provoked a loud guffaw.

One matter this films has cleared up for me is that Steven Soderbergh and Mike Malone are not the same person! I had thought that the latter was a pseudonym for the director on his occasional acting forays: he's in a deleted scene of Erin Brockovich which is available on the DVD, and my God he looks like Soderbergh. Anyway, I was very impressed by Soderbergh's acting in this film. It's hard to know how he'd fare in a more conventional role, but he seems to have a wide range of facial expressions, conveyed with an effortless shrug.

Some of the office politics stuff was pretty funny to someone who spent 12 years working in two large law firms. And the hollow bull***t of "eventualism" was no hollower than that of some organisations one might mention (and I speak as someone who was "hubbarded" in the street a few years ago).

Not everything works in this film, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense - I was amused that someone had posted a spoiler warning, as I can't imagine how that would work in such a diffuse film.

Give it a try.

Stream-of-consciousness conception, sharp writing and creative technique. There's plenty here to amuse any smart audience, but the parts add up to an (intentionally) oblique whole. The film is so playful and irrespective of convention, it's as if Soderbergh threw up his hands and said 'Screw it, I can't make the movies they want me to." Take it with his work since and you've got the most supple, witty and consistent filmmaker working in the U.S. today.

There's lots to analyze, and myriad connections to be made. But don't try to make too much sense of it... let it take you, and enjoy.