kidZee

I can hardly express my disappointment in this film. A premise with lots of potential was utterly wasted by a plot line that was both underdeveloped and meandering, soapy dialog and acting that was....just awful.

Worse yet, though, was the inescapable feeling that the director was trying to grind an ax. I won't go into details because I don't wish to enter spoiler territory, but it was pretty obvious that this film was less about a story than it was an agenda. The cheap, unbalanced potshots at all-too-easy targets were tiresome and trite over a decade ago; in a contemporary film, they were just plain sad. In the end, I felt angry, but not at the film's intended targets.

This film would have been a waste of money had I not seen it on Netflix, but it was still a waste of time. Nothing much to recommend it.

...if this thing got four stars. I was really looking forward to this film, but it let me down in nearly every way imaginable. The plot line is improbable (no one could be as dumb as the protagonist seems) and jerky/rambling (no vignette really develops before we're on to another misadventure by our hero). The acting runs from forgettable (the best performances were probably by a couple of fellow inmates) to simply awful, as Muni simply gnaws on the scenery from time to time, especially in the final pathetic scene. Some details, like camera-work and costuming are nice, but not nearly enough to rescue this from the stink-heap.

I think what really irked me was this film's supposed commentary on America's penal system, when really it seemed like a snarky attack on the Deep South. If Hollywood wishes to perpetuate regional stereotypes, they really should produce a better film in which to do so.

4/10...watchable but certainly not memorable.

OK...let me see if I've got this right. Four stars from AMPA, a solid cast, an intriguing plot line and performances that multiple cast members called their best ever. Sounds like a barn-burner, right?

Well...no. This movie wasn't terrible, but neither was it the blockbuster I'd built myself up for, especially after TMC's Robert Osborne spoke so glowingly of it. The acting was indeed very good, as was the screenplay, the dialog and the costuming. Where this really fell down was in the story itself.

The plot lacks a central theme to hold the film together. Instead, the story meanders as randomly as an episode of "The Simpsons" but regrettably, at a slower rate. Everyone in the film has their own story, and it seems as though the director was trying to give everyone, from Mitchum's character down to young Ruby, their 15 minutes of fame. The result was a story that left me asking "so what?" at the end.

Overall, as I said, not terrible at all, but the tedious production detracted greatly from what could have been a stunner. Still watchable, though, and still better than most of what comes out of Hollywood today...