The United States of Leland

Starring:Don Cheadle, Ryan Gosling, Chris Klein, Jena Malone, Lena Olin, Kevin Spacey, Michelle Williams, Martin Donovan (II), Ann Magnuson, Kerry Washington, Sherilyn Fenn, Matt Malloy, Wesley Jonathan, Michael Pena, Michael Welch, Ron Canada, Troy Winbush, Nick Kokich, Yolonda Ross, Leyna Nguyen
Director: Matthew Ryan Hoge
Studio: Paramount
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

The United States of Leland isn't a whodunit. The opening scenes of Matthew Ryan Hoge's unusual murder mystery make it clear that Leland P. Fitzgerald (The Believer's Ryan Gosling) is the killer. But why did he kill? Now that the deed is done, Leland is staying in a detention center. Everybody, but especially new teacher Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle), wants to know why he killed the mentally challenged brother of girlfriend Becky (Jena Malone). After all, Leland seemed to genuinely like the kid. Leland is just as confused (and can't remember committing the act), but he reveals more and more clues as he gradually opens up to Pearl. His estranged novelist father Albert (Kevin Spacey), meanwhile, just wants to spin another bestseller out of his son's story. Writer-director Hoge doesn't provide any easy answers in this compelling, complicated look at teenage depression. Featuring music by the Fire Theft's Jeremy Enigk. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining, but meaning unclear.......2007-07-04

I'm not sure if this was a great movie or not, but I'll say this for it: it certainly held my interest while I was watching it.

There are a lot of wheels spinning in this story at once. There's Leland, the mild mannered 16 year old boy who is in jail for killing a mentally impaired child, there is his teacher, an aspiring writer who thinks that writing a book about Leland might be his big break, there is his father, a famous novelist who hasn't seen his son in years, there is his former girlfriend, a relapsed drug addict, and her sister, and her sister's boyfriend, who now lives with their family after his own mother died, and as all of these wheels are turning, the question of why such a nice kid like Leland would commit such a horrible crime is slowly answered.

Throw in a cool post-Tarantino esque out of order story line, and then add Don Cheadle (the teacher) and Kevin Spacey (the father), two of the best under-rated actors, and I'd say you've got yourself a film. Whether it means anything when all is said and done is, however, another question.

I should probably give this film another watch and think about it a bit more, but off-hand I'd say the philosophy in this film struck me as shallow and fortune cookie-esque. And I'm not sure all of the events in this film entirely made sense.

Of course I guess the filmmakers would argue that the whole point of the film is that human nature doesn't really make sense. But does this at some point just become an easy out for a plot with loose ends in it?

I guess until I watch the film again and reflect on it further, I'll just leave it at that.

Tries, doesn't quite get there........2007-01-04

The United States of Leland (Matthew Ryan Hoge, 2003)

Now, this is the kind of mystery I'm usually fond of; we open with the crime itself, out of context, inexplicable: Leland P. Fitzgerald (The Believer's Ryan Gosling) kills Ryan Pollard (Michael Welch, soon to be seen in the upcoming Day of the Dead remake). Other than that, we know nothing, and the real mystery of the movie is not what happened, but why. In charge of figuring that out is Pearl (Hotel Rwanda's Don Cheadle), a teacher in the juvenile facility to which Leland is sent. Of course, Pearl is not supposed to be figuring this out; in fact, as with all great crime dramas, his boss Elden (character actor Ron Canada, probably best remembered for his role on the short-lived, but brilliant, TV series Murder One) has expressly forbidden him to see Leland out of class. Not that that stops Pearl, of course. And there are all sorts of things littered throughout Leland's past to point the way. The question is, which of these things, if any, contributed to the crime?

This is good, meaty stuff, and Hoge lined up a stellar cast to work with it; aside from Gosling and Cheadle, the cast features Kevin Spacey, Lena Olin, Jena Malone, Ann Magnuson, and Sherilyn Fenn, and I haven't gotten past the first scrolling screen of credits. The problem is that no one with the exception of Gosling has much of a part to play, and so people just kind of wander on and off the set leaving clues as if that were their only purpose. (Which, of course, it might be.) Hoge attempts to spice things up with a subplot involving Pearl, his seemingly nonexistent girlfriend, and the new girl in the administration office, but with the exception of one scene, it seems extraneous.

It's worth watching for the performances-- there is a lot of quality starpower to be had in this movie-- but the script could have used a reworking or two before filming started. ** ½

The "Whys" Of The World.......2006-10-14

Why do people do good and bad things? What purpose do they serve? The "why" question is pondered to a fatalistic ending in THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND, starring Ryan Gosling (HALF NELSON) as the emotionally detached Leland P. Fitzgerald.

Leland is introduced to us during a terrible scene in which a young retarded boy lay stabbed to death on a grassy playground. It appears that Leland has had some sort of mental breakdown, as he stabbed the boy and then himself, "just to see what it felt like." But as the movie progresses we see plenty of emotional distance from the other characters, too. Leland's own father Albert (Kevin Spacey, SUPERMAN RETURNS) hasn't had much contact with Leland since he was eight years old. Leland's previous girlfriend Becky (Jena Malone, DONNIE DARKO) zones out by shooting heroin and isolating herself away from her family. Even Leland's mother Marybeth (Lena Olin, CASANOVA) simply slips in and checks on Leland occasionally, only asking if he's "okay" even when it's evident he's not.

The only one interested in Leland turns out to be a teacher at the prison where he's held after the murder. But even the teacher, Mr. Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle, HOTEL RWANDA), is only occupied with Leland as a way to break out of his writing slump (he's a would-be author with serious blockage problems).

Leland questions the "why" of everything around him, and it's an interesting message that gets pulled from the film. Why is it you're considered "only human" when you do something wrong and not something right? Like pulling a little kid from a burning building. Why don't we show emotions in equal measure when someone dies? These are tough questions that trickle out of the film.

The downside is that the movie doesn't give us a good reason for Cheadle's character to be enraptured with Leland so early and so quickly (considering that's a large portion of the film, it's pretty significant). And most viewers won't like the incredibly slow pace, as well as the occasionally stilted line delivery. But that's it.

The cast is excellent, from Spacey's spacey father to the embittered and lost Malone, the characters were fairly riveting to watch, even though all that happens is some intense dialogue throughout.

In the end, it'll all depend on your expectations and mindset. If you're expecting something that moves along at a good clip, forget it. If you're in the mood for action, blood, and fights, don't even think about it. But if you're ready for some deep contemplation, The United States of Leland is right up your alley.

One from the Heart.......2006-10-13

The United States of Leland presents an impressively rich and complex array of human problems--neurosis, fear, grief, confusion, rage and sorrow--yet it never gets bogged down by them, it never feels indulgent or morose (as in the case of Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia, for example), and it never seems forced or contrived. Its only motive (like Leland's?) seems to be to release some of the unbearable pressure of empathy, in the face of an overwhelming universal sadness. And because it's a gesture made in earnest--without airs or expectations or ulterior motives--the film connects; it connects to something close to the essence of being human--our shared loneliness, and the isolate despair of being an island, a nation unto ourselves. As Leland says, all the tears in the world can't make what has happened unhappen. But the tears come anyway.
In essence, Hoge's vision touches upon something profound: how the most apparently monstrous evil can come out of an excess of goodness, how the burden of empathy--of deeper seeing--can lead to the most desperate of acts, to suicide, for example, or murder. Like a distress signal from a lost soul afloat in a sea of lost souls, it suggests both complicity in despair and the possibility of release from it; like an aria, it appeals to audiences to let down the shields and the blinds, for just a moment, and look. Audiences could have cared less, however. Hoge's film appeared out of nowhere, and vanished back from whence it came soon after, under a barrage of critical incomprehension and outrage, and several attempts to boycott the film (by parents of autistic children, claiming it glorified murder--having never seen it, of course). I can think of no other recent film that was so unjustly overlooked as this, nor greater evidence of the nigh-pathological obtuseness of American film critics. (These are the same critics, mind, who hail a smug and asinine work like American Beauty as a work of moral depth, social relevance, and psychological poignancy!)
Audience and critics' indifference notwithstanding, however, make no mistake about it: The United States of Leland attains the highest goal of art; by expressing the bottomless pain of a single individual, it eases the sadness of the world. That Hoge isn't recognized and acclaimed as a brilliant new film artist--along with Paul Thomas Anderson, Alexander Payne, and the rest of the new indie lights--is perhaps evidence of just how unwilling people are to be reminded of that sadness. Hoge made a masterpiece from the heart, and was duly punished. The world (and Hollywood) rode right over him, on its merry and soulless way to nowhere.

Excerpt from DOGVILLE VS HOLLYWOOD: The War Between Independent Cinema and Mainstream Movies, by Jake Horsley.
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Profound and sad.......2006-08-09

I thought the movie was exceptional. It speaks of human tragedy- the tragedy that occurs on a daily basis- the sadness of everyday life and the small victories that we experience- however small. It speaks of regret- yet as is spoken, you can't change what has already happened----nor,can you take it back. I thought it was honest and the performance that Ryan Gosling gives is true and sad. I give this movie 5 stars because of the profoundness and the sadness of this movie. All of the characters are flawed and expertly portrayed and most definately worth the time.....Enjoy!

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