brilliant actors, brilliant editing

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Produced by Kevin Spacey, The United States of Leland is a psychological drama concerning the aftereffects of a brutal murder. It's also the first big-studio theatrical release for writer/director Matthew Ryan Hoge, whose previous work consists of the independent comedy Self Storage. Ryan Gosling plays Leland, an imprisoned teenager doing time for the stabbing murder of a disabled boy. Prison writing teacher Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle) gets caught up in the story with the intention of making a book out of it, especially when he finds out that Leland's father is the famous novelist Albert Fitzgerald (Spacey). Pearl's investigation uncovers some of the details and effects of the murder for everyone involved, including the victim's parents, Harry (Martin Donovan) and Karen Pollard (Ann Magnuson). Jena Malone plays Becky, the teenage junkie who is both Leland's ex-girlfriend and the victim's sister. The situation also complicates the relationship between Becky's older sister, Jennifer (Michelle Williams), and her sensitive boyfriend, Allen (Chris Klein).

Though this is supposed to be an "indie", the producers must have been very well connected to get such A list talent to work on a C list movie. It is one of those movies based on a trope that the public loves: teens doing horrific stuff. Are they evil, is our society to blame for making such nice boys into monsters? It just draws us in, along with the alleged narcissism of the title, which was plain stupid.Leland kills a retarded kid, the brother of his erstwhile junkie girl friend and her phony "picture perfect" white suburban family. He is a smart, seemingly pleasant guy full of all sorts of insights that his rude self centered neglectful novelist Kevin Spacey dad gave him. The writer mucks out of the moral angle of this by conveniently having the titular character mentally "black out" at the time of the murder, even though he wasn't a druggie.I compare this to the River's Edge. While that movie was clumsy and had some hammy acting and bad plot elements, it connected with me and many of my time because it showed the dark side of drugs, out of control teens etc in suburbia. Nor did they try to sugar coat the killer, he was a pig. But he was "saved" by an older, hipper killer. But the old one leg biker killer was morally superior to his younger protégé because he at least loved his girlfriend that he shot dead for no real reason. US of L was superior to that movie on a technical and acting level but it was kind of cheap and exploitative. Ryan Gosling is a good actor but his puppy dog man-boy act involved spouting all sorts of random insights about the human condition. His character just didn't connect too well.There was no resolution, no real catharsis. The ending was all pat and cheap. For instance: wasn't Pearl, the wise caring black guy stock character, responsible because he neglected his duties?

We find ourselves with Ryan Gosling in one of his first roles in this pseudo intellectual movie where even the cast, though rather solid on paper, is completely under-exploited and can't even manage to save the day.The scenario is little inspired, its structure is weak and very linear and boils down to a succession of tirades and other philosophical reflections that are tiring because they're not part of interesting dynamic. At the end of the movie, you don't seem to have grasped the motivations of this teenager though Matthew Hoge based the story on that, which proves he missed the boat.And what about this photography so ugly it seems you're watching an old TV movie from the 90's even though it was released in 2003 ! No, there is really nothing to save from the disaster that is The United States of Leland.

"After seemingly ordinary 15-year-old Leland (Ryan Gosling) stuns his quiet suburban community with a chilling crime, he is sent to juvenile hall where he meets Pearl (Don Cheadle), a teacher and aspiring write who dreams of making Leland's compelling story into a book. As Pearl digs deeper into Leland's life and the people caught up in it - his mother (Lena Olin), his famous writer-father (Kevin Spacey), and his troubled girlfriend (Jena Malone) - he uncovers Leland's disturbing motive. The tables soon turn when the enigmatic teen forces Pearl to examine his own morally questionable behavior. Climaxing with a shocking collision of violence, understanding, and hope, Leland will take you to states you never imagined," according to the DVD sleeve description.It starts off with the lead character, Mr. Gosling hazily recalling one of the film's crimes - the killing of "retarded" Michael Welch (as Ryan Pollard), the little brother of his junkie girlfriend Jena Malone (as Becky "Beck" Pollard). Gosling doesn't quite remember committing the crime, although no real sense of mystery abounds. "Sometimes the most important stuff goes away," Gosling explains. In any case, you're correct in suspecting cagey Chris Klein (as Allen Harris) is somehow involved. Apparently, the motive is a combination of mercifully ending sadness and parental neglect. The film is most interesting in drawing parallels between the characters played by Gosling and Mr. Klein, two young men finding love and sex with surrogate families.Both Gosling and Klein are clearly too old for their roles; Gosling is supposed to be 15, and Klein calls a 20-year-old drug dealer an "older guy" (in a brief scene, he looks younger than Klein, who beats him for presumably forcing Ms. Malone to take drugs). Top-billed Don Cheadle (as Pearl Madison) isn't the star; rather, he plays a juvenile prison schoolteacher and a aspiring writer who cheats on his girlfriend. Martin Donovan (as Harry Pollard) and Kevin Spacey (as Albert T. Fitzgerald) make a "good dad"/"bad dad" comparison. Director Matthew Ryan Hoge makes a successful first impression, and much about the film is good - but, very little about it makes any sense. "The United States of Leland" could also say something about the country, or not… ***** The United States of Leland (1/18/03) Matthew Ryan Hoge ~ Ryan Gosling, Chris Klein, Jena Malone, Don Cheadle