Movie Review: The United States of Leland
You all probably know someone who is just sad...all the time. Maybe it's you. No reason that you can pin down, just a dissatisfaction with your life, a detachment from your feelings. In The United States of Leland, a young man takes those feelings way too far and effects everyone in his life.
Leland P. Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling) informs us that he made a mistake. We learn that sensitive Leland, who would be the last guy to commit a murder, has killed the retarded teen brother of his ex-girlfriend Becky (Jena Malone). Leland is the son of a famous author (Kevin Spacey) who was too busy to meet with the boy after leaving his family years ago. Leland tells his mom (Lena Olin) about the killing and he's sent to juvenile hall where he has classes taught by Pearl (Don Cheadle), a wanna-be author partly genuinely interested in Leland but who wants to exploit his story for a big literary break.
Flashbacks reveal how Becky, hooked on drugs, dumped Leland and this is also the point of a subplot in which Becky's older sister Julie (Michelle Williams) has dumped the high school jock Allen (Chris Klein) who loves her and is living with her family. In getting to the depressing "why" of Leland's crime, teacher Pearl decides to not join the dysfunctional crew and abandons his book quest to make up with his estranged girlfriend. Allen decides to do something rash to make Julie and her family accept him.
What works in this depressing film is the fact that the young people aren't heroic or perfect nor are they totally flawed. They're confused, alone and just trying to get through life like most teens. Also winning are the wonderful performances by the young members of the cast. Ryan Gosling has that aimless confusion thing down pat. Jena Malone is the queen of "save me from myself"angst. Even Chris Klein gets "deep" as a frustrated guy who just wants to get the girl and be truly accepted by her family. Michelle Williams' character is underdeveloped as is the victim in the piece, her young, mentally-challenged brother. As Leland's famous writer dad, Kevin Spacey is good as always but I'm getting a bit tired of his sarcastic, decadent dude portrayals.
Leland's tale is way too "meaning of life" pretentiously philosophical about suburban family dysfunction. I'll spill the beans now. The big "why" of Leland's crime was that his victim was sad and Leland wanted to end the kid's suffering. Also, if you like films with tidy endings, this one isn't for you. The author/director asks tons of questions and offers no answers, just a hodge-podge of vague suffering and sorrow that leads people to do unsavory things. The only ray of light is that, perhaps a greedy would-be writer has learned to mend his ways and turn his life around but, by the end of the film, we're too depressed to care.
Overall, I'd say go because you might recognize some of your friends in these confused young people. Go if you like good acting but don't go looking for answers. They won't be provided.
For a flawed story acted with excellence 2.5 out of 5 stars.
***
Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.
