Sunshine State

This view of community and change in a small Florida beach community is another incisive look at American standards by a broadminded, experienced filmmaker. It's as solid an ensemble piece as one could want, with enough humor, insight and local color to be another enlightening look at American values by an expert chronicler of such things. The many reviewers who seem to find it tedious should probably re-analyze it as an allegory of the average American experience. Another exemplary work by John Sayles.

John Sayles' films are always interesting. He provokes his audiences to think about what he shows on the screen. This is his latest attempt to draw our attention to the perils of overdevelopment in Florida by unscrupulous people who have nothing invested in the areas where they go to disrupt the lives of different communities, like the one presented in the film. Unfortunately, nothing changes for the better. In many cases it only brings unwanted growth, crime, tackiness in the name of progress. There are very old towns in the Sunshine State that are targeted to be sold by the locals in power as it's the case with the fictional Delrona Beach who, no doubt, are in cahoots with the developers. We can't help but wonder why would anyone in the right mind would go along with those who want to transform these laid back little towns on both Florida coasts and change them into the boring gated communities and condos that dot the landscape. The Greek Chorus led by Alan King and cronies are incredibly on target. They couldn't care less what was there before as long as they can golf every day in the immaculate courses created for their pleasure. Edie Falco is a revelation in this film. She's the one that goes in and out of the different groups with a sense of belonging to the town, obviously not making a very lucrative living out of a beach motel that has seen better days. Even though she has left the town for her own reasons she has come back to run the family business. Angela Bassett is the prodigal daughter who comes back to face her past and have a confrontation with her mother. Mary Alice plays her role of the mother with such dignity that we see right through this mother the hurt and disappointment her daughter has caused in her life. It's a joy to see both of these actresses play their parts in such a restrained manner. There are no hysterics between them, just the bitterness caused by events fate has dealt them. The rest of the cast is wonderful. Mary Steenburgen, Ralph Waite, Jane Alexander, Bill Cobbs are all perfectly cast for their roles. Again, Mr. Sayles has given us a slice of life, and in doing so, he has tackled the task with great panache.

THE SUNSHINE STATE (2002) ***1/2 Edie Falco, Angela Bassett, Timothy Hutton, James McDaniel, Jane Alexander, Ralph Waite, Bill Cobbs, Gordon Clapp, Mary Steenburgen, Tom Wright, Mary Alice, Richard Edson, Marc Blucas, Miguel Ferrer, Charlayne Woodard, Alan King, Alexander Lewis. Indie king original John Sayles scores once again in this expertly acted exploration of social class structure, facing past sins and not-so-rosy futures, interracial communities and ultimately the human condition with equal parts stark comedy and poignant drama. Falco and Bassett shine respectively as Floridian natives – one who never left the small resort town, the other finding out the old adage ‘you can never go home again' – and should be ear-marked for awards season.

SUNSHINE STATE is about Big Ideas. Grief, it even has a Greek chorus to comment on the action- how's that for being self-important! But since these ideas are delivered in such a heavy-handed way, it's oddly like watching a pageant put on by a civics class at Beverly Hills High School.

The story deals with a small town in Florida where real-estate developers are threatening to change the way of life. Other than the beach, the town doesn't have much going for it. Characters talk a lot about how they either got out or wish they had gotten out. There's a local pirate festival that nobody but the stressed-out lady who's ramrodding it seems to care about. But for some reason this mosquito infested area is supposed to inspire developers to want to spend wads and wads of money turning it into a hot tourist spot.

Out of respect for the actors, I didn't name any names. Sigh. If this had been done on Broadway it would have closed opening night and been forgotten. But that's the curse/blessing of film. SUNSHINE STATE will be around to haunt these good people for the rest of their careers. Between cable, tape, dvd's and whatever the future may bring, they'll have to explain to their grandchildren why they bet on a dead horse like this. Now THAT would make an interesting movie.

... the fast forward button is definitely your friend on this one. This is basically a good story with some interesting characters, but most of the scenes are waayy tooo loooong! The plot revolves around the struggle between greedy developers and the good folks of Plantation Island, Fl. Of course we get the standard weaving of personal struggles into the bigger story line, and this is where this picture fails. Many of these sub-plots go on forever and are never resolved. It's almost like the director decided after 2 1/2 hours "gee I guess I better end the movie now". This film features many very good, well known actors (Edie Falco, Gordon Clapp, Mary Steenburgen, just to name a few), and they all do a excellent jobs, given the overall weakness of the script. I give this movie a 5/10.