End of Innocence

There is a faint similarity between friends protecting friends films, "Blue Ridge Fall" and "A Simple Plan". While the former eventually peters out to mediocrity, the latter is "cult movie" material. "Blue Ridge Fall" starts out strong with one of the friends killing his abusive father, and the other three helping him to cover up the crime. Character development is good,and the small town Carolina atmosphere acceptable. Where the story begins to unravel is in the inept police work. No fingerprints or DNA are even hinted at being looked for. Instead the film churns on focusing on relationships and loyalty. The ending is especially weak, with justice far from served. - MERK

This movie has a great plot line and it is well written. James Rowe did a great job on creating a simple plot and such complex characters to develop one of my top favorite movies. Tom Arnolds is a great actor and this is one of his best roles ever. This movie can convey that feeling of someone who is over powered that then turns and becomes powerful. However, we see that the main character now has to face his punishment for his deed. The best part is the idea of true friendship and how these boys band together for one another. I was surprised at the length at which these boys were willing to go for one person. It is a must watch if you have friends.

This film was certainly worth watching. There are intricacies in the plot which kept me shouting at the characters trying to help them make the right decisions. But these are 17 and 18 year old kids and they don't make the correct decisions even though they have the best of intentions. I taught high school for 25 years and trust me, I could see some of the students I taught make the same decisions. The actors, especially the kids, did a great job with their characters and their acting let me overlook any flaws in the movie. I could write a lot more but I don't want to reveal the plot before you watch the movie. Sorry, no spoilers from me. Oh, I really like the ending too.

I missed the very beginning so maybe I missed something. I would appreciate any answers. I watched this mainly because the story was supposed to be fairly close to where I live. But I couldn't relate to much about this story, setting, or people. Is there any town in NC like this? When was this supposed to have taken place? Recently? Where do they drive 15 year old police cars and 25 year old trucks? Or was it supposed to be early 1980's? Did WCU have an African American football coach back then? I think it's important to know the era, because of the racial sub-theme.

Generally fairly good movie, although a few plot twists seemed contrived. The characters were well-rounded enough that I didn't mind that too much; I was interested in seeing what they would do and how they would develop as a result, so I was willing to overlook the implausibility factor here or there. I'd say it was worth it; the acting is solid and there's a lot of thoughtful interplay between the characters.

My only major objection was the ridiculous role of "Christianity" in the life of the abusive father character (Tom Arnold). Supposedly he's into the Bible and watches TV evangelists with his full attention, and uses what he thinks he's learned from this to justify mistreating his wife. Sorry, Hollywood; that's not insightful, it's just insulting. If you want to portray Christianity in a small town, why not show it across the lives of a representative proportion of the characters, letting the misunderstandings of the lone nutcase stand out against the rest? That would make for a more intelligent -- and believable -- script. (Of course, you might have to actually _understand_ Christianity for that to work. ;-)

Overall, I give it a 5. Won't change your life, but worth watching if you don't have anything better to do.