Good idea lost in the noise

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

In southern Georgia, two "belles" are floundering in their twenties. Belle Scott (Anna Faris) works for the local warehouse store, where she must hawk customers in the hot July 4th sun, dressed in patriotic garb. HER most fervent wish is to move to Atlanta and start life over again. Her closest friend, Bell Granger (Laura Breckenridge) is a more content resident of their small town but has been having problems with her country-rap boyfriend who treats her with little respect. This Bell may decide to move north with Belle after all. That is, until she is stopped for a minor traffic violation from a handsome trooper, Rhett Butler (Justin Chambers). What luck to find the second coming of a famous literary man! Yet, even then, problems arise and the ladies try to raise funds for their move to Atlanta. They babysit, they sell cosmetics door to door and try hard to fill a money jar to purchase their tickets to the Big City. Will it be so for these beautiful belles? This independent film has its moments but, as a first effort for the writer-director, has problems, too. Its story is uneven and similar to various other get-out-of-Dullsville story lines. However, there are very humorous moments. Paris and Breckenridge do great as the put-upon belles while the rest of the cast is fine, too. Add on nice sets and costumes and the final result is a film indie-flick lovers might embrace. Folks in the deep South might get a kick out of it, too.

I saw this film just two weeks ago and would have sworn it was a romantic comedy from the late 60's or early to mid- 70's: but it was made in 2005, and it's one of the nicest, corniest, sweetest movies I've ever seen. Anna Faris is at her usual comedic best, but Laura Breckenridge steals the show! She is so cute, sweet, and 99 other adjectives for adorable!! You just want to hug her and protect her from the world! The movie follows two women, named Bell and Belle (hence the name) as they want to leave their small town to go to Atlanta to seek fame and fortune, but will they compromise their innocence and sweet naiveté in the process? The ending is pure joy, and if you don't cheer for them, you're not human! It's GREAT!!!

A simple unpretentious bit of fun that is carried mostly on the strength of the incredibly appealing cast.The two lead actresses are adorable and funny. They both have natural comedic timing that rises above the material they're given. Don't get me wrong, the writing is not bad, and is far more entertaining and fresh than most predigested pap coming from the big studios and starring Robin Williams or Jim Carrey, but it's undercut by the shove-it-down your throat direction.It seems as the filmmakers' motto was: "When in doubt, abandon all subtlety." For example, during one character's dialogue, they actually use a snare drum and cymbal on the soundtrack to punch up the joke! I'm not kidding. I didn't hear an actual rimshot, but probably only because the sound designer didn't have it in his FX library. It's from the horrid "Scrubs" school of comedy where they use cartoon sound effects to scream at the viewer: "THERE'S A JOKE HERE, PEOPLE!" It was odd, because the movie didn't deserve that sort of treatment at all, and the script was smarter than that. It's too bad the filmmakers didn't trust the material more and let the jokes live on their own. They also overused music - another sign of low confidence in the film. (An old rule of film-making is that the more music a movie has, the worse the script is. Music should enhance the moment, not try to manufacture a moment that ain't there. Think of any WB show like "The O.C." or "7th Heaven" and how they overuse the cheesy music.) If I'm using TV shows to compare to this movie, it's because this film was shot rather like TV. It was very dialogue-driven, and not very cinematic. The directors were also overly fond of using short lenses (giving the look a very wide feel). Short lenses can induce a sense of extreme closeness to characters, to the point of distortion. They are also used to give a sense of immersion in a world, but when the world they created is not very cinematic, then the technique is counterproductive.They were also fond of having actors look almost directly into the camera. A lot. I mean really a lot. The end result is that it reinforces the shove-the-movie-down-the-viewer's-throat feeling. The characters feel as though they are taking to the audience instead of each other.The strength of the film is the cast, especially the 2 leads, who have a joy of performance that's contagious and a real treat to watch. And the rest of the cast shines as well.Which is where the directors really did their jobs - they were smart enough to give their cast a big movie playground to run free in, and we as audience members benefit.If you like the TV show "My Name is Earl" or films where character's ambitions are comedically out of touch with their reality like "Raising Arizona", then you would most likely enjoy this diverting film.It's fast-paced, energetic, and has a cast that never disappoints, even when the script does.One odd side note, the film is set in the South, and the filmmakers put Confederate flags everywhere. I don't remember that many Confederate flags in the South, and it felt too goofy and kind of racist. But there were zero black people in the film, also unrealistic for the South.But then again, they also said grace before they ate, something I never see either. Maybe I'm just out of touch with Jesus and racism.Anyway, this is a good rental just for the performances.

Definitely a buy. I first thought it would be a campy movie that would be a good way to kill two hours with. Wrong... watched it twice in one evening and can't wait to see it with my friend later today.This movie has so many different nuances and contrasts in it that just watching it the second time makes it worth while. For example, there's a bar fight scene where Belle is sitting leisurely at the bar sipping her beer and scheming while behind her two characters are literally doing a fast paced fist dance scene. Fists up, move twice back then twice forward while partner does the same. They each have a buddy who decides to react differently to the situation. What you think is going to happen in this movie... rarely does.The more I think about it, the more I appreciate it. I rarely encounter a movie that makes me want to view the script and see where the director added to it but this one does.The characters are awesome. Justin Chambers is the only one whose work I've seen before. He plays such a different character in this movie as compared to his role as Alex in 'Grey's Anatomy" that it's hard to believe it's even him. His acting is that good. He is a strong, down to earth (literally), character that makes you feel for him. In fact, it would be impossible to not identify with a lot of the characters in the movie.Sound... whoever did the music in this one knew what they were doing. They knew when to put in the sappy music and when to scratch the album, thereby emphasizing what was going on in that scene and added the voice of the characters instead of usurping it.Very interesting movie that I highly recommend. I'd love to say more but...