Karl Childers is a mentally disabled man who has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for killing his mother and her lover. Although thoroughly institutionalized, Karl is deemed fit to be released into the outside world.
A fine performance by Billy Bob Thornton - although it took a while for me to get used to it - any performance of mental disability is now forever marked in my mind by Robert Downey Jr's wickedly funny comment in the otherwise mediocre "Tropic Thunder" about "going full retard". The fuller and more detailed the performance the more studied it feels - BBT pulls it off, but it's a close call at times. The supporting cast are brilliant - particularly Dwight Yoakam, Lucas Black and Natalie Canerday as the troubled surrogate family Karl finds himself joining, with nice cameos by the great J.T. Walsh in full sleaze mode and Robert Duvall in probably his shortest film role since "To Kill a Mockingbird". Well made, well performed, but I'm still undecided about how much I liked it as a film.
12 years ago
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MistahDarcy
I reckon I like them french fried potaters.
olmeca
Mmm-hmm
dombrewer
A fine performance by Billy Bob Thornton - although it took a while for me to get used to it - any performance of mental disability is now forever marked in my mind by Robert Downey Jr's wickedly funny comment in the otherwise mediocre "Tropic Thunder" about "going full retard". The fuller and more detailed the performance the more studied it feels - BBT pulls it off, but it's a close call at times. The supporting cast are brilliant - particularly Dwight Yoakam, Lucas Black and Natalie Canerday as the troubled surrogate family Karl finds himself joining, with nice cameos by the great J.T. Walsh in full sleaze mode and Robert Duvall in probably his shortest film role since "To Kill a Mockingbird". Well made, well performed, but I'm still undecided about how much I liked it as a film.