Review of Leaves of Grass (2009) by Thomas W — 01 Nov 2010
A strange sell of a film that has almost as many positives as it does negatives. I didn't particularly like this film as it continued to progress; but there were moments of it that I found I liked.
It is darly comic at the outset; but eventually simply becomes dark as there are a lot of flying bullets and dead people at the end(s) of them. Edward Norton (American History X, Primal Fear) gets to play a set of twins -- one an Ivy League professor and the other a small-town yet high-tech pot farmer.
The Ivy Leaguer is lured home by a con and the film takes off and/or falls apart from there (he is needed so the one brother can carry out a Weeping Willow-shady business deal). Tim Blake Nelson (The Incredible Hulk, O Brother Where Art Thou) writes and directs this odd film and Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking, Bull Durham) co-stars as their mother.
Both brothers get a love interest who each get some nice scenes but don't have much to do (Melanie Lynskey - Heavenly Creatures, Flags of Our Fathers; Keri Russell - Waitress, The Upside of Anger).
Leaves of Grass is not based on the Walt Whitman lit of the same name although Whitman is discussed. I cannot wholly recommend this as it does veer into dark territory (what surprised me was that it went dark, it was just that it become so DARK dark).
Tying some of the loose ends together made for syrup and could make one want to choke; but ... I guess I can say Nelson tried and it wasn't a total waste.
This review of Leaves of Grass (2009) was written by Thomas W on 01 Nov 2010.
Leaves of Grass has generally received mixed reviews.
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