The Devil Has a Name

Interesting but ultimately over the top; "The Devil Has A Name" has a decent approach but fails to deliver a film worthy of its talent in front and behind the camera.

In this drama inspired by true events, a psychotic oil matriarch leaves the whole industry exposed when she attempts to outfight a farmer whose water has been poisoned.

The exaggerated approach is what really kills "The Devil Has A Name". There is no fine line and honestly the story gets lost in its antics. The casting is good and Kate Bosworth is bad-ass but even she can't save this film. David Strathairn is also delivers a good performance, but then again when is he ever bad? Overall unfortunate that a film like this directed by the legendary Edward James Olmos, couldn't get better treated.

Follow @snobmedia for all reviews!

I can not understand why this movie has such a low rating. This movie was actually really enjoyable. I usually can't stay engaged in legal drama, I get bored and start playing on my phone, but the comedic moments in the movie kept me engaged in this one. The actors do a great job. Haley Joel Osment plays a really good narcissistic dirt bag, Kate Bosworth plays a really good b*tch, Edward James Olmos plays a good loveable character, and Pablo Schreiber plays a really great sociopath. The fact that it was based on true events actually makes this story that more interested. I would recommend this movie to anyone.

Bosworth is supposedly a brilliant oil goddess that outsmarts a farmer who has had his ground water poisoned. She navigates the farmer, the illegals, and the oil company to end up sitting head of the table at the end. The storyline is fractured and the stabs at dark comedy don't really work.

Had more good moments that not so good ones, and the old guys still add some texture to the movie. Too many movies nowadays are way over the top drama and shallow phony bad-asses. Sit back and just enjoy the movie.

When a production is promoted to be "inspired by true events", a viewer expects actual facts. I watched this Olmos "inspired by true events" production for an hour and could only find one true event. Yes, indeed, JFK was assassinated in Dallas. Other than that, I cannot find one actual fact.

It seems the screenwriter is portraying the contamination of ground water in the Imperial Valley is a result of oil production and lax oversight by California's oil production oversight boards and laws. That is not a fact but imagination.

The contamination is factually based in the overuse of surface water for irrigation and being transported hundreds of miles to the overcrowded and under educated California population centers. The transport away from source never allows aquifers to recharge. This fact is never addressed, as it intersect's with Olmos' political views of the source of California's overgrowth, illegal immigration.

Olmos' work here is not factual in any degree, and blazes a trail into a growing movie genre, Non-science Fiction.