United States of Leland, The
Starring: Don Cheadle (Pearl Madison), Ryan Gosling (Leland P. Fitzgerald), Chris Klein (Allen Harris), Jena Malone (Becky Pollard), Kevin Spacey (Albert T. Fitzgerald)
Pearl’s supervisor finds out he’s been counselling Leland without permission, so he transfers him to another classroom. On his last day, Leland gives Pearl his notebook filled with writings and asks him to read it, thinking perhaps he will find a motive in there somewhere. As Pearl reads, we see that perhaps one of the reasons Leland committed the crime was because he saw so much sadness around him. He saw so much sadness in Ryan (Michael Welch), so maybe he had killed him to put him out of his misery; Allen tries to rob a car repair shop and gets arrested on purpose, so he can go to jail. When he sees Leland on the field prison, he takes out the knife he had been hiding, runs over and stabs Leland. As Leland lays dying, Allen says “it’s over now”. Pearl flies over to see his girlfriend, hoping to work their relationship out.
Personal comments about this movie?
An average film, but not great. The only reason I kept watching was because of Ryan Gosling’s riveting performance as the troubled Leland who committs an unforgivable crime. Unfortunately, the movie just wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. The acting was very good, but the story just didn’t cut it. I wish they would’ve talked more about Leland, the crime, and his motive, but they pretty much skimmed over the crime and went right into the philosophy about the meaning of life and other stuff. What made Leland the way he is? Why? The film could’ve been so much better.
Want to know more?
Read more about this film at The Internet Movie Database.
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