Leaves of Grass (2010)

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The movie starts out great. It is smart, sharp, and witty. I would highly recommend doing a quick reading on Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" on Wiki if you are unfamiliar with Whitman's work, what he was trying to accomplish, the criticism of it, as well as the fact he spent his whole life re-writing and expanding it. The movie had the feel of a five star indie in the beginning. Edward Norton, who I have yet to respect as an actor, plays two roles: Bill Kincaid and his twin brother Brad. Bill and Brad are both super intelligent. Brad, the smarter of the two when young, grows pot and enjoys life on the edge. Bill teaches classical philosophy at Brown University. Brad gets his girlfriend pregnant and in order to get Bill to come back to Oklahoma for the wedding, has his friend contact Bill and tell him that he is dead.Brad has other plans for Bill and plans to use him as an alibi. At this point the movie goes from great to WTF? The flick digresses into what appears to be a writer's inability to figure out how to end a story. Brad, as the smarter brother should of had a better scheme, one where everyone gets what they want, rather than do things by the seat of his pants. I was very disappointed in the writers for leading us down a path that would have made a great classic movie and then not being able to close the deal.

A lot of films claim to be "dark comedy" when in actuality they're more like "comic horror". There's a difference.Dark comedy should make us laugh at the concepts of death, violence and tragedy. Examples would be the hilarious "Beetlejuice", "Grand Theft Parsons", and even campy stuff like "Men at Work" & "Weekend at Bernie's". The idea here is to take us to a goofy, cartoonish world where death & violence are meaningless. Either that, or the dead guys always deserve it.Other films, though excellent in their own right, are a little too rooted in realism, and unless you catch yourself in a somewhat sick state of mind they can come across as being disturbing (probably intentionally so). Examples would be "Heathers", "Pulp Fiction" and the Coen brothers films. I love all of those movies, but sometimes they just freak me out."Leaves of Grass" pulls off a violent story but does it in a way that's not upsetting. The movie takes the philosophical approach that it's irrational to fear death. Midway through, we get a quote from the Greek philosopher Epicurious who argued that death (or the state of nonexistence) should not be feared as long as we're alive because it can't touch us. When it finally does claim us, we're dead (nonexistent) so we're not able to feel it. In other words: what you'll never know can't hurt you.I loved the little bits of philosophy peppered throughout the movie (the main character being a philosophy professor). It was just enough to keep it on a deep level without getting us bogged down in heady psychobabble.The story itself is somewhat unrealistic, but that adds to the cartoonish vibe I mentioned earlier. You're not supposed to look for loopholes & inconsistencies. Just sit back & enjoy the ride. Like I mentioned above, fans of philosophy and literature (Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass") will get a kick out of it. If you're one of those, also check out the Jim Jarmusch films "Dead Man" and "Ghost Dog".

Lines from Walt Whitman are interwoven with other theories of Creation, such as geometry and insects. Poetic lines written by Tim Blake Nelson, who also wrote, directed, played Bolger and produced an understated commentary on what might be updated Whitman. Ed Norton's characters remind me of Tom Hanks with a splash of Gomer Pyle, or Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, but somehow it works, no character is all good, none all evil, man is complex.Filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana, you get interesting, ever-changing scenery, never predictable. In addition to Ed Norton, other name brand actors are Dryfuss, Sarandon, DeVito's daughter (who has his eyes) and Ty Burrell.Not at all like Cheech & Chong!

Watching this movie on Canada's Super channel should be a dead give away that this movie would be a stinker. Super channel shows mostly grade c movies and dramas. Norton took the money and ran with this stinker! I hate it when movies use a name actor to suck you into watching a bad film. Norton has done nothing in the last few years. Norton is hitting has been status. Another Sara what's her name from Buffy the Vampire killer, the Grudge fame has been. The movie tried to be smart and shocking, but ended up coming across as stupid. I could only take so much and watched around a quarter of it. I give "Leaves of Grass" a two out of ten. Stay away from this direct to video stinker.