Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I knew nothing of this film until it popped up on my menu one day. I think Casey Affleck is decent in somethings I've see, and there was nothing else on, so I gave it a whirl.The scene of the beating of the Jessica Alba character was as disturbing as anything I have ever seen. I had this urge to reach through my screen and strangle the life out of him. That made his character so much more disturbing, but I guess that was the point.An interesting story and movie, but I can't get that beating scene out of my mind. Anyone who would do something like that deserves to be hung from the town square.

Texas, 1950s. A Deputy Sheriff starts a relationship with a prostitute. She becomes a pawn in a game of revenge.Good, but not great. I was expecting something between American Psycho and No Country for Old Men, and to a degree it is, but it lacks the character depth, intensity and watertight plot of those two great movies.Great performance by Casey Affleck, showing once again that he is the more talented one in the family. Supporting cast are fairly mainstream and thus lacklustre: Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba are not there for their acting ability, Simon Baker is distinctly out of place and miscast.

Lou Ford is a deputy sheriff in a small West Texas town and he was sent to investigate a girl named Joyce. He winds up in a sexual relationship with Joyce even though he is engaged to a local girl named Amy. Lou and Joyce decide to kill Joyce's boyfriend, a powerful citizen. Apart from this plan Lou has some different ideas in his mind. The film tells the story of a serial killer and also contains some controversial scenes of violence against women. Affleck's performance as Lou Ford was quite interesting, at the same time he nicely handles the mental and physical behavior of Lou. Even though Jessica and Kate Hudson shares few intimate scenes with Affleck, Both succeed in fascinating the viewers. Overall, the film has some violent scenes and only recommended to those who can handle it.

Not surprising this piece of crap could only recoup less than ten percent of its cost... what is surprising is that it's on IMDBs Top 5000 list Casey Affleck, who is about the same height as Matt Roloff and twenty pounds lighter, and regardless of his successful brother, is both banal as an actor and unconvincing as a Texas sheriff in this celluloid rubbish. Why any actor worth their salt would sign up for this, beggars belief. Not too mention the social can of worms this garbage opens. People keep reminding me it's a seriously intentioned film that addresses male-hate and male violence in the form of a nightmare. How so? What purpose does this film serve? Highlights violence against women? That's pretty clear, but I can read about that everyday in the Washington Post. Depicting graphic violence against women sells tickets? Didn't work in this case. Perhaps if it had been Casey that was getting his face punched to pulp? I might pay to see that. Regarding the director, Winterbottom, he's about as knock-off as they come; an auteur wannabee who can't make up his mind who he wants to steal from - Kiewslowski, Roeg, Antonionii, Kubrick, and so on. So here's his hat tip to Noe and Haneke. Shame he can't hold a candle. A low-rent 'Blood Simple,' without the story, dialogue (although Casey believes he's Emmett Walsh) acting or direction. Thankfully, based on its numbers, not many people actually saw this forgettable film.