Alicia I love this movie so much

Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

skteboard11 The United States of Leland is a lovable film about a semi-detached kid named Leland P. Fitzgerald. Leland ,played by a very young Ryan Gosling, has an "awkward" look on life to say the least. He never sees his father and his girlfriend is a heroin addict.This movies time-line is all messed up, in all honesty. Though I just told you the beginning of the story, you do not figure any of that out until after half of the movie is over. The true plot comes when Leland, a seemingly gentle person, commits the murder of a special needs kid. The kid was also his girlfriends brother. Well Ex- girlfriend. At this point in the movie, she had already broken little Leland's heart, which maybe one of the only scenes he shows emotion.While he is in juvenile hall, the movie jumps back and forth and seems to be trying to explain why he done what he had done. Leland meets a man who takes an interest in him. He wants to write a book about Leland. He sneaks Leland a pencil and a notebook which Leland titles The United States Of Leland. He constantly writes in this book, and when the movie is concluding, the author wanna-be decides to read the notebook. Leland wrote about how sad the world is, and how he seen the sadness the most in the kid he murdered. Of course, none of this is revealed until Leland is murdered in Juvenile hall by a close family friend to the victim.Do You agree? disagree? Whatever the case, make sure you watch this movie knowing it uses the word 'retard' a lot. Just a warning.Gavin Johns, Wanna-Be critic, sk8teboard11@gmail.com

MoviesReviews101 Story: Looking in a mixture of flashbacks of what leads up to the crime as well as seeing the effects it has had on the people's lives involved. We follow how a seemingly awkward teenager's look on life changes leading to the fatal consequences. We also see how the both families deal with the aftermath. We also see how one man tries to help only to end up looking like he is trying to make something for himself, but also learns to look at things a different way because of his time with Leland. Mixing it all together we get to look at how one person view of the world can change it for everyone involved. (8/10)Actor ReviewDon Cheadle: Pearl a teacher at the detention centre who takes an interest in Leland, mostly to start a book about him because he seems different to the rest of the teenagers in the centre. He tries his best to do the right thing but in the end is left helpless with what happens in the end. Good performance showing he can walk into lead roles with ease. (8/10)Ryan Gosling: Leland the troubled teenager who has killed an autistic kid, but his reasons are unknown and it is not until he speaks with Pearl he shows his reasoning which shows the world in a very different view. Good performance showing that Ryan was always going to be a big name in the world of Hollywood. (9/10)Chris Klein: Allen friend of the family who has been involved with one of the daughters of the victim's family, but when he starts to feel distant from the relationship he tries his hardest to make amends for the murdered child. Good performance from Chris showing he could have been a star, but he has yet to shine. (7/10)Jena Malone: Becky love interest of Leland as well as sister to the murdered child, whose own problems have pushed Leland away and led him to see the world very differently. Solid performance from Jena who starred in plenty of these type of dramas in the early noughties. (7/10)Kevin Spacey: Albert father of Leland who has been very distant in fact he hasn't seen him since he was six as he pays for Leland to spend time away around the world. Good performance in the few scenes he is in. (7/10)Supporting Cast: With an exceptional supporting cast including Michelle Williams, Lena Olin and Kerry Washington, we get solid performances from all of them. (7/10)Director Review: Matthew Ryan Hoge – Good direction throughout to make a compelling drama. (8/10)Drama: Brilliant drama looking at how one crime can change so many people's lives. (9/10)Settings: Each setting seems to be leading to the final outcome for our leading boy Leland. (7/10)Suggestion: This is one to try, I really don't think it will be popular for many people as the subject matter is bleak and sometimes tries to balance too many stories. (Try It)Best Part: The relationship between Pearl and Leland.Worst Part: Not enough time spent with Leland and Pearl.Believability: No (0/10)Chances of Tears: No (0/10)Chances of Sequel: NoPost Credits Scene: NoOscar Chances: NoBox Office: $350,000Runtime: 1 Hour 48 MinutesTagline: Crime. Confusion. Compassion. They're all just states of mind.Overall: Compelling dramaCheck out more reviews on Moviesreviews101.com

Tss5078 Ryan Gosling stars in what many consider to be his breakout role, playing a modern day Holden Caufield, who has committed a heinous crime. While the story has some tremendous performances, it really lacks any substance, rehashing the events of the past week, over and over again. We know right from the beginning of the film, that Leland killed a retard boy, what we don't know is why. The focus of the film is discovering what lead this highly intelligent, son of a celebrity, to commit such an act. The film has a huge cast of celebrities, that include Don Cheadle, Kevin Spacey, Chris Klein, and Michelle Williams, all of whom are as good as you would expect. What the film has in talent, it lacks in substance, as it's really just a whole lot of Leland talking in code. The writers go out of their way to show Leland as this deep, emotionless kid, that's been trapped inside his own mind his entire life. As the film goes on, the more Leland opens up. The writers paint the portrait of this kid and show you ever aspect of his life, in the hopes that you will figure out his true motivation before it comes out. The result is a slow moving film that causes the audience to gradually lose interest as time goes on. There is no doubt the Ryan Gosling was spectacular and deserves every good thing said about his performance, but the story seems to move slowly and in circles. The writers made it much more in depth than it had to be and most audiences will be turned off by it.

fedor8 There are many fascinating things I've learned about life and people in this wonderful movie. Let me list some...1. To cure autism it is best to kill the person who carries it.2. When you spew fortune-cookie wisdom, some viewers consider that "deeply intelligent".3. In order to kill someone who is in jail, do the following: fake a criminal act, get arrested and then hope that you'll be sent to the same prison and then same section as your intended victim.4. Male teens who have been neglected and ignored by their fathers turn to killing autistic kids for comfort.5. Male teens who grow up in dysfunctional families are wise beyond their years - which naturally leads them to kill retarded children.6. Murderers aren't such bad people after all.7. Sheer sadism has nothing to do with people who kill retarded children.8. Good actors, such as Kevin Spacey, are often not all that bright. He produced this baloney.9. Playing cheap college-radio alternative soft pop as a background for silly, "tragic" events will cause certain viewers to cry.10. Playing cheap college-radio plinka-plonka crap is still considered "deep" enough for certain supposedly emotionally-laden scenes.11. Ryan Gosling can't act.12. Sherilyn Fenn is still being underused in films.13. Lena Olin is still being overused.14. I do not enjoy watching Fenn make out with a 15 year-old. Clearly, the director does.15. Jena Malone and Ryan Gosling should never again play a romantic couple. They have no chemistry.16. Supposedly intelligent killers of retarded children wear a dumb facial expression all the time.TUSOL is a pretentious little wanna-be intellectual exercise, but fails on nearly ever level. The movie has an absurd premise, dull characters, dialogue that is supposed to be insightful but comes off as shallow and trite, and we don't really get to care about ANY of the characters. All of them are DULL.Gosling asks: "Why do people only say that ("I'm only human") when they've done something wrong?" Is this supposed to be "deep"? I have no idea why Cheadle simply doesn't respond like this: "Because, you murdering moron, they ARE only human. Because that IS an (all-purpose) excuse of sorts. And because they won't say 'I'm only human' when asked to order a meal in a restaurant, or when asked how old they are."Another example: "You want a why, but maybe there isn't one. Maybe this is something that just happened." (Gosling) This is something either a moron or a liar would say. In reality, a murder - especially of a defenseless victim - does not occur for "no reason". Psychopathic or insane personalities commit them, yet we are to believe that Leland is neither. He is a "misunderstood genius", a "victim of a sad childhood". Yeah, right... If every kid with a troubled adolescence killed someone, soon there would be no people left on the planet.Leland's pathological pessimism merely underlines an inborn fault in his DNA code. It is not a result of his environment, but the environment merely sped up the accelerated development of that trait. However, Hollywood's liberal, environment-influence-is-all-that-matters, Marxist approach to psychology is trying to tell you something else.Leland is like the Dalai Lama, minus the old age and the phony grin: he says things that are supposed to hit a nerve in the viewer - and in the character whom he is speaking to - but these words are on closer inspection (something like a 3-second inspection) empty, holding nothing relevant, intelligent or new. Hence this movie can only appeal to people who are quite impressionable, easily carried by their easy-to-manipulate-emotions, people who would rather not think but let the director think for them hence deciding for them what is right or wrong, who is intelligent and who isn't. Frankly, I see no particular intellect in Leland, and this is made even more difficult by Gosling's one-note, apathetic "performance", which seems to very ironically imply that Leland might be autistic, too.