Overrated

just watch it!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

My cable blurb for this film listed Juliette Lewis first, then Camille, then described the story in just One sentence. I've enjoyed Lewis a lot in the past, so I viewed the film. But that one sentence blurb was about the right length! I don't want to blame the actors, but the director and writer? Probably. The characters' "character" were mostly hidden: by flashbacks out of context, or by brief sentences or silence in response to direct questions. The dialogue itself may well have been too cryptic to even give the actors insights into their part. Seemed they still had little to show us about their characters in non-verbal ways. When actors don't "get" their character, certainly the director must fill in gaps left by the writer. The feeling I got (& this isn't a verdict, just a description of what scenes "felt like") was that some actors' insights here, maybe weren't heard, or were passed over, by the director. I kept my ears and eyes open for gut level insights, 'cuz the dialogue was empty. When people try to hide something, they may fib but even those untruths can offer viewers some insight into what the character is feeling. Not here, only that they didn't want to talk, or they felt uncomfortable (about good things or bad). Lewis' late scene with Egglesfield's "David" was a bit different, but when everything "Jill" said was nasty, David's verbal response was in disgust, but his behavior wasn't. His character seemed vacuous for not just leaving the cafe - the table seemed empty, and Jill was not "helping". Visually too, like in the cloaked flashbacks, viewers were given little help in several (many?) scenes, like Angie & David sitting inside the trailer, the camera is bouncing around. I'm listening to them talk, and the bouncing is just a distraction. It's almost like the photographer saw too little evidence of the tension in the actor's behavior, or in their words; and so decided to move the camera, at least to supply evidence of some inner struggles in these two friends. If the trailer had at least been in motion, I could have stayed in tune to the dialogue, having seen that the road was bumpy (literally and figuratively). Most of us (the viewers and the makers of the film) know more about the feelings prompted by some situations in this plot, but a better review here, may be implying a reviewer has inserted his/her own experiences into this story; filled it out. I think that viewers can plant more insights into this film, than the film can drop into the viewer.

We came across this one on Netflix streaming movies and my wife and I enjoyed it very much. I am a bit surprised at its low IMDb rating, it is a pretty good movie.The movie is carried by Camilla Belle, about 26 during filming, as Angie. She has such a genuine and natural acting style, she reminds me a lot of a long-time favorite of mine, Tea Leoni. Here she plays a Brazilian (her mother is actually Brazilian) who was educated in American schools. We find her in Arizona leading a hermit's life. Well, almost. Even though she lives out of her car and a tent in the woods she has a job as a waitress. And she is an artist, drawing and painting in her free time.The lure of the story is that we don't learn much about Angie or why she lives like she does. She doesn't tell other much about what is going on and that works well to build interest in the rest of the story.Old reliable Andy Garcia is Chuck, bearded and dirty, he lives out of a shell of a trailer near where Angie camps. The two of them become friends, and when Angie does take off she leaves him some money and a note "Take a shower."Angie has car trouble on the road, it is a blown head gasket that takes a few days and a bit of money to repair, so she takes up with the trooper that found her roadside, 40-ish Colin Egglesfield as David. And she eventually gets a local job at a restaurant run by is Juliette Lewis as Jill.This is NOT your usual romantic story, it captured us to the end, and Camilla Belle is really good in this role.SPOILERS: Angie had come to the USA to find her dad who had deserted the family when she was quite young. When she had just about given up and had an art show, old Chuck was there, cleaned up and shaven, she realized that he was her long-lost dad. In the last scene they all travel to Brazil and reunite with the full family.

Okay, first of all, it's not a bad little movie, very much like Francis Coppola's 2nd movie The Rain People, acting is fine, Juliette Lewis is as good as always, at least for what she's got to do with. Script is lean and it ponders along but with nice touches. It's very 60's in some way so I guess it brings back some memories being a boomer. Definitely not for everyone, much more for those who have a whimsical bent to their personalities, just a little drive in the country, so to speak. I don't know what the negative reviews go on about, it's clearly not for them so they should go watch Juno a few more times. Performances are fine for everyone here, not an earth-shaker but a nice bit of time spent. I give it a 7 not for my best-of films, but for this particular genre of what one might call drift movies.

This movie feels (at best) like a 1980's after-school special, with lower production values and dialog that would embarrass a 1940's comic book writer. When it feels like it breaks the after-school special mode, it is merely because it slips into feeling like an old VHS tape shared by all the local xian churches.Juliette Lewis was the selling point for me and she failed to deliver, I can blame her on some levels but the writing was just so atrocious that I am shocked she took the part. Andy Garcia must have been bored, and the lead actress basically derps from scene to scene without actually acting.