THE PLOT THUS FAR
A mentally unstable woman who has hidden a 20 year affair with a married sheriff, discovers that her son has fallen in love with the sheriff’s daughter while searching for his father’s identity.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
Virginia had an affair with the married Sheriff a few decades back. Her son Emmett is the result and she’s doing her best trying to juggle her sanity and him. However, Emmett is in love with the Sheriff’s daughter, Jessie. The problem is they are half-siblings and they’re told they’re not even allowed to see each other let alone be friends with each other. Nobody is supposed to know of the affair so their forced separation can raise a few eyebrows. Interestingly, it’s Emmett who starts questioning what’s really going on. The problem is that Virginia is pretty nuts and the whole town is based on subtextual gay hatred.
While this is par for the course when you consider that the material comes from Dustin Lance Black, it’s interesting. I appreciate when someone actively examines conservative lifestyles and how they just don’t gel with the zeitgeist. But, that’s the whole movie. While we have the mental anchor of the giant pink ferris wheel, the movie doesn’t move past that image. Everyone in the film is hung up on something that you can’t change about others.
The DVD comes with a making-of featurette. The A/V Quality is pretty strong with a Dolby track that provides an average soundstage. The transfer runs the gamut without ever really impressing anyone. Still, it’s nice to see such a very peculiar drama from a slightly overrated screenwriter. I’d recommend a rental.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
