Waste of time

Best movie ever!

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

If Jacques Tati had ever made a documentary it might have looked something like this: an inconsequential but humorous look at life in a community so far off the beaten track (on the Florida panhandle, some 90 miles west of Tallahassee) that the town's only law enforcement officer sits bored in his patrol car hour after hour, waiting to cite the occasional speeder. Director Errol Morris's strategy is simple: keep the camera rolling, and don't interrupt. The result is an oddly skewed but still endearing portrait of back-roads America, shot in grainy 16mm and rambling on for about sixty minutes before arriving at an abrupt non-ending. Among the town's more-or-less typical citizens (from a population of 885 at the time) are a worm farmer, an elderly couple with a jar of what they believe is radioactive sand, and a hunter in camouflage fatigues tracking wild turkey with the life-or-death conviction of Hemingway on safari.

Yes, I know this is a dry, sarcastic humor and usually I enjoy that sort of thing. However, this is really more of just an elitist filmmaker nastily poking fun at some backwoods-type people, making them look as stupid as he can up in his high-and-mighty perch as a supposedly intelligent maker of film. That's the way I looked at Errol Morris's documentary here. In truth, this is probably the worst of his films and I've seen most of them. They usually are very slanted with his obvious biases, but they're interesting, albeit many times condescending. This one was just plain boring.I mean, how long can you sit there and watch some hillbilly talk for 20 straight minutes about turkey hunting? That's entertainment? Even if you think the guy is so dumb or absurd you might laugh at him in the beginning, after a short time it's just boring. It goes on and on and on.I guess some label this as "camp," but the latter has to have some entertainment value. Listening to someone drone on and on about a boring topic is only good for one thing: putting the viewer to sleep.

I am not sure what to think about this movie. To me, it was just some people talking about their daily, original thoughts. I know people like this. I might be someone like this one day. I guess I don't see the point in it. I felt like the filmmaker was trying to prove something - but what? I couldn't figure it out.And did anyone notice there are NO WOMEN who tell stories in Vernon, (except the wife at the end)? Why is this? Was the filmmaker only trying to make a movie about old men? Or did the women of Vernon have boring stories to tell? I suppose this could be compared to a folklore collection. The rural folks, telling their stories, with or without a point. I love reading rural folklore because it often seems abstract, simple and enlightening at the same time. Even if you didn't live in that time period or under those circumstances, you can relate it to your life. I am sure I would have loved to talk to these old men about their lives. I could have easily sat at the bench with the opossum/turtle guy for hours hearing his stories. I would have been touched to ride on the boat with the man who talked about God, and he probably would have made some good points. It's not a big deal.Yes, he cracked me up when he said "I was the only person he knew that knows what to do with a opossum!" and then he held it by the tail and watched it try to walk away, and nothing else. Yes, I laughed when the preacher talked about the word "therefore" forever because it seemed sort of pointless. But, I am just thinking - so what? What's new? Also, what is the filmmaker trying to prove here? am I supposed to be laughing? There are people like this everywhere, and there always has been. Pick up any oral folklore book and you will find this film isn't an idea worth calling "brilliant".Go outside, talk to people. There are folks like this everywhere. Not just in Vernon, Florida. Maybe the reason people like it so much is that it captures this kind of personality in a raw and visual way. But you could do the same thing if you went outside your city limits and had some conversations with strangers. These people aren't freaks, they aren't even that weird, comparatively. They live their lives and they are happy, for the most part. Isn't that what everyone wants? I just don't think it's that weird and wacky. It's life.I don't get it. Also, I would have liked to see more women in Vernon. 5/10.

Errol Morris went to Vernon, Fla because it had a reputation for excessive insurance claims due to missing limbs. Known as "Stump City," Vernon turned out to be much more--a place seemingly filled with odd characters. Morris spent a year there, gaining the locals' confidence and doing interviews that are priceless. I can't recommend this too much. I was passing through Florida three years ago and saw a turnoff to Vernon. I went there anticipating the same characters would be hanging out at the gas station watching someone change a tire...then I realized that it was filmed 20 years earlier, and most may have passed away. I shot photos and went on my way. Trust me, Vernon, Florida is a classic.