Review of Southland Tales (2007) by Sean R — 11 Oct 2009

A more accurate name for this movie would be "Clusterfuck Tales". Richard Kelly's previous movie Donnie Darko had an interesting premise, but lacked coherency and a sense of self-containment. The movie only really makes sense after reading bonus materials and Kelly's website. This movie continues on that road, making even less sense. Southland Tales is structured as IV, V, and VI. Where's I, II, and III? Three graphic novels...

Even if you can excuse the reliance on bonus materials, the rest of the film doesn't work. The acting is pretty bad, especially from The Rock, who was apparently channeling Shatner for 2 1/2 hours. The plot is virtually nonexistant (blame the IV, V, and VI nonsense, again) and schizophrenic at best. The tone doesn't work either. Justin Timberlake spends most of the time telling a dark, apocalyptic tale. The rest of the movie can't seem to decide if it wants to be comedic satire or serious sci-fi. Donnie Darko had the same problem, which makes me think that Kelly really needs help with his scripts. He at least needs an editor willing to tell him that his "works of genius" make no fucking sense.