Main Street

This movie is a perfect example of what can go wrong when you elevate someone to "national treasure" status. People have suggested that Horton Foote would be embarrassed by this last effort of his. I maintain that he is the primary cause for that embarrassment. I'm from a small town. I understand the value of this type of subject matter and how it should be undertaken. I completely comprehend "character studies" and "place studies". This movie is a very poor example of all the above. Simply put, Horton Foote has written a very bad screenplay. What's worse, director John Doyle not only doesn't seem to realize it but he has no sense of pace let alone story---hence this is his only big screen credit. This screenplay is so bad, it is reminiscent of a high school student effort right down to the embarrassing overused bad last line. A gifted cast (although Colin Firth is totally miscast) is wasted. Orlando Bloom and Patricia Clarkson seem the only ones trying to navigate without benefit of a road map. The so-called moral of the story is so defeated by the vagueness and dreary boredom of the storyline that there winds up being no moral at all.

When I saw the movie had actors Colin Firth, Orlando Bloom, Amber Tamblyn, Patricia Clarkson participating I thought this would be a movie worth watching, unfortunately I was mistaken.

While the actors do a good job with what they were provided with, the movie does nothing for them, it is a go nowhere movie that to me was a complete waste of time, thankfully not a huge amount of time to waste considering the length of the movie.

I have long been a big fan of Colin Firth and generally seek out movies that he is in. Unfortunately, while I felt he did a good job I think he made a bad choice with this one.

4 out of 10 for me.

This could remind one of a Steven Soderbergh snore fest. It is a lingering, slow moving, vaguely interesting story of the modern American condition that promises much but delivers almost nothing.

It is a character study of realistic people in a realistic situation forced to make difficult choices that come from a changing society. But it is all very vapid and the plot points are as unresolved and unanswered as is the finality of it all.

The ending is so anti-climactic and the "change of mind and heart" from the "villain" of the piece is just abrupt and embarrassing, as is the final narration that is nothing but consummate corn-pone. The storage of hazardous waste in a formerly hazardous to your health tobacco facility is the one and only irony and the film is just uninspired.

Review: Personally, I couldn't see the point of this movie. All the way through the film I thought that there was going to be a major twist, especially with Firth's character, but nothing really happens. Its about a small community which used to be the main producers for cigarettes and Firth company decides to rent some space in the town to store hazardous waste. The lady that he is renting the space from, has severe money problems and she is scared about losing her house so she is relying on the rental money to keep her house. Once her niece realises that the company is storing waste, she decides to take action but after a bad accident with one of the trucks that was transporting the waste, Firth decides to leave the business. I honestly found the movie cheap and really boring. The cast sounded promising, with Colin Firth and Orlando Bloom taking the lead, but the movie was a waste of time and money. The acting isn't that bad from the cast but I didn't like Bloom and Firth's terrible deep South accents and I didn't find any of the characters that interesting. I'm glad that the director didn't make it into a 2 hour epic movie because the storyline really does dry up after a while, which is a shame because it would have been half decent if there was actually a point to the characters individual stories. Disappointing!

Round-Up: After the successful Lord Of The Rings and Pirates Of The Caribbean movies, I thought that Orlando Bloom was going to be a major star but I haven't really seen him shine in any other movies. At the age of 38 he still has a chance to prove that he can really act, away from the big budget movies, but I'm yet to see him do anything that great. As for the award winning Colin Firth, this just has to go down as another bad day at the office but he really does need to make some better choices in the movies that he takes on. In this film, Bloom and Firth only really cross paths once so the director really didn't take advantage of the cast. He also could have made some use of Andrew McCarthy, who has been missing from the big screen for ages but he only had a little part which wasn't that memorable. At the end of the day, I really didn't enjoy this film but I will give it a couple of stars, just for Ellen Burstyn's performance.

Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $2,560 (Really Terrible!)

I recommend this movie to people who are into their dramas about a small town which is promised a prosperous future after a company rents an available warehouse to store hazardous chemicals. 2/10

"The company sent me to look for towns or cities that might benefit from our services. Durham was on my list." The town of Durham, like most cities has been hit hard by the bad economy. People are moving out and the unemployment rate is high. Gus Leroy (Firth) comes into town with a track record of helping towns recover and end unemployment. The town is unsure of his method, storing hazardous waste until it can be transported. This is another movie that proves that just because a movie has no CGI or explosions every five minutes it receives no marketing and the release it needs. This is a movie that is full of great actors and great performances. The plot is not that exciting, but the acting makes up for it. Colin Firth does a fantastic job in this movie of playing a guy who you aren't sure of. The entire movie he keeps you on edge wondering if he is really as good as he seems. Much like "Company Men" this is a movie that is a serious subject that sounds boring when you read it, but the acting makes it great. A must watch. Overall, a great movie filled with great acting that deserves a bigger audience then it will get. I give it an A.

Would I watch again? - Yes I would.

*Also try - Company Men