The United States of Leland

The United States of Leland

Our Price: $33.31
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details

DVD details

DVD Reviews of The United States of Leland

DVD Review: Lame, contrived, and stupid - I'd give this turkey 0 stars
Summary: 1 Stars

Ryan Gosling has the kind of fiery intensity inside of him that can either be brought to brilliant fruition or squandered like there's no tomorrow, and it becomes very obvious within the first moments of Leland that the latter will be the case. Every comment, every gesture, every action that his title character makes stems back to this wounded puppy dog look that he plasters on like it's something profound. He stares out windows, he looks deep into a fishtank, the dude contemplates everything - but what comes out in voice-overs that guide the film is the drivel of an angsty teenager who hides under his bed and scribbles emo lyrics into a journal. The main problem with the main character of the film here is that this dude does some serious stuff - murdering a retarded child - and some kind of understanding of him (I don't ask for much) is really needed to ground the film. Writer/director Matthew Ryan Hoge, though, makes him this cypher who tells his maudlin, Dawson's Creeki-esque story to a little journal while he's incarcerated. A particularly funny little gem of bad screenwriting is the first thing he pens: "I know what they want from me."

And we're supposed to care about the people in this movie who walk in and out of it like just what they are: badly written characters. There's the retarded kid who gets about 10 seconds of screen time, so who really cares that he's dead? Then there's Leland's girlfriend, played by Jena Malone, who battles a heroin addiction and likes having boys whisper "Everything's going to be okay" into her ear. Oh, and Kevin Spacey pops in for a cute little cameo as a jerk famous writer (who happens to be Leland's father). Then there's Don Cheadle, who plays a teacher in the jail who takes a selfish interest in Leland, therefore giving him the opportunity to spout whiney, pointless drivel about all the sadness in the world and how he sees it in everyone. There are some other characters, like the rest of the family of the dead kid, but who cares about them because they get tossed around in the movie like the director has no idea what he's doing. Oh wait! He doesn't!

Why is this movie so bad? Well, I think I have it figured out. There are bad movies, like Anger Management and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde - and I dislike them with a passion. They may have a little something to say, but what they really want you to see is Jack Nicholson farting naked in bed and a cute little chihuahua that matches its owner. This movie, though, wants to explore real issues, and that's where it commits the gravest sin of them all - wanting to discuss real things about life, but exploiting them to the max just to write cheesey dialogue that sounds enlightened. The sensless murder of a retarded child is not an issue that should be taken lightly, and I really think that this movie could have been put in the right hands (with a COMPLETELY different script) and been meaningful. Director M.R. Hoge and producer Kevin Spacey, though, care about nothing more than taking some difficult subject matter and then manipulating you, the viewer, with background guitar music and awful acting. And it's laughable. That's right - hilarious. It's such a trainwreck it's almost unbelievable anyone even gave this the greenlight. Let alone talented actors (and Spacey as a producer!!!) who are so much better than this disgusting script and maudlin plot development.

I honestly didn't know how this disaster could have possibly ended, but it didn't disappoint, let me tell you. The final plot tie-up of the film elevates it to even more horrible than the the American Beauty, Dawson's Creek rip-off that is. A supporting character who had hardly been developed at all throughout the movie comes in and completes the course of the action and then Gosling finishes up the movie with some ham-handed monologue that, in so many words, tries to bring some kind of justification to his actions. And it offended me. At first, I thought it was a stunted script. Then I realized it was an unintentionally funny movie. And finally Leland becomes a morally offensive, despicable wreck of a movie that should have never been made. By the end of those excruciating 108 minutes, I had laughed myself out of the theater, tried to touch my nose with my tongue, and attempted to crawl into the fetal position. Oh, I also hoped that some natural disaster would tear the roof from the Drexel and send me sailing into the night far away from the movie. You'd be surprised how close I am to touching my nose with my tongue - at least those 108 minutes weren't a complete waste of time. GRADE: F

Description of The United States of Leland