Review of Southland Tales (2007) by Austin L — 16 Apr 2012

Kelly struggles and feels horribly pretentious with his vision this time, so much so he chides his audience for not understanding his jumble of incoherent material by telling us to read a 3 book series first (released after the movie) to understand the film. I read the books, listened to the commentaries and it's still gibberish.

It's hard not to be lost when none of the actors understand their roles either and have said as much. Johnson looks lost and confused as an actor and character, Gellar at least has irony filled lines as a pornstar/chatshow-host, the rest are a dozen meaningless cameos there to muddle the plot further. The crowning insult is watching Timberlake mime a complete pop song to represent getting high.

The movie is stylish and well shot but more than an hour too long, with a minor twist you see coming a mile off, when there are deeper questions that are never explained or gives hints to.