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Directed by: Billy Bob Thornton Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam Billy Bob Thornton as Karl Childers is one of those distinct performances (albeit in the same vein as Hanks/Gump) that's something special. The plot is only strong where he's involved, because the other characters idiot mom, nice kid, evil boyfriend, nice gay man don't show any growth or change. Thornton *was* this movie, and he wrote himself the only good part. A better script and plot would have done wonders. Interestingly enough, I think Thornton did as good a job directing as he could have given his own script. RATING: 3.5 PROS: Billy's acting, generally well-crafted CONS: Other characters are two-dimensional; some boring parts ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117666/
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Jun 28, 2004 17:49
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 17:58 |
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Much more interesting than any other "Celebrity portrays the mentally challenged, prays for oscar" movie, but still a bit on the dull side. My favorite character in the movie was the overly aggressive sociopath (J.T. Walsh), but he was only in it for about 5 minutes. Worth watching at least once for Thornton's acting, I guess. 3/5
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Jun 28, 2004 18:14
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Great film, great acting. 4
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Jun 28, 2004 19:31
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Excellent movie. 5/5
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Jul 5, 2004 23:12
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I thought that this was going to be your average "Boy Meets Kindly Retard" film where a trusting, perhaps lonely, young lad befriends a bulky and misunderstood simpleton who winds up getting in trouble at some point and the boy has to keep the townspeople from lynching his friend. Maybe the boy's father either beats him or has died, and maybe the boy's friends used to refer to the retard as a monster of some sort and there was a wacky scene when the child first runs into the beast where his fears are comically assuaged. The trailers just reeked of a soulless bit of crap and platitude, and so I never bothered watching it until about a year ago. In some ways, this film does fit that typical, mawkish mould, only with the Hallmark Hall of Fame mawkishness (replete with stunning orchestral score, overblown, 2-dimensional dialogue, and a happy ending) completely absent and replaced with garish weirdness and a hauntingly realistic evil stepfather (played by Dwight loving Yokam!). The story plays almost as a parody of the story archetype briefly described above, but it also manages to embrace and build upon that archetype (like the "Futurama" where Bender meets God). I could probably dissertate more substantially if I had seen the movie more recently, and I'm sorry I cannot, because this is really the kind of film that deserves a deluxe treatment.
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Jul 6, 2004 08:06
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I always felt that the 2-D supporting characters in addition to the complex Karl was subtly clever. It did make me laugh at times how these people stayed the same throughout while Karl just took it all in, too "simple" to know how to react. Take the diner scene where Vaughan(?) tells Karl he's a homosexual. In a way Karl had more wisdom than any of these stupid people that just kept making the same mistakes over and over. Karl was the only one with the strength to change things. My argument is that this film is funny and clever, not just dark and eerie. It is indeed dark, but in a wonderful way that holds your interest until the very end. 4.5/5
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Jul 6, 2004 11:22
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I agree with the general consensus on this one. Great movie, definitely worth a watch! 5/5
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Jul 6, 2004 15:44
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I was expecting to be underwhelmed, but I liked it a lot. Perhaps a bit too predictable though. Rating: 4
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Feb 9, 2005 21:26
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