Red State (2011)

• Rated R for strong violence/disturbing content, some sexual content including brief nudity, and pervasive language
• 88mins
• HD
• I rated it 4 stars (Really Liked It)*

Initial Thoughts:

A quick look at the box art coupled with the ire-inspiring name, and I thought this was gonna be a pseudo-documentary directed by a known liberal, detailing the crazy us in the "blue states" love to imagine. No noticeable Stars did create a slight allure.

Movie:

Let's just say, this thing doesn't heat up til the mid-way. The premise behind the action we see is flimsy. I'm almost a decade removed from high school, but I surely don't remember being that creative in finding sex. 

I had the feeling that the church scenes were intended by Director Kevin Smith to invoke fear in my cultured, educated, and slightly distrustful towards fundamentalism mind. I found them more comical than anything else. Instead of pantomiming what he thought was creepy, why not just film the real thing?

So this thing trudges along, and you're thinking to yourself, "this is pretty standard, and I have a comfortable idea of where this is going." Then out of the ether, JOHN GOODMAN appears as an ATF agent! Truthfully, after JG appeared, I lost all interest in the rice-paper thin plot and just marveled at Goodman. After about the fifth time I muttered, "Holy crap, that's John Goodman, in this film?!? And he looks thinner!" my girlfriend threatened to turn it off. JG shows up and tries to fix the mess. His superiors proceed to make every mistake possible. JG does the right thing, and gets promoted to a desk job. 

Afterthoughts:

If you're bored and ready to take a trip down the surreal (I don't mean the movie is surreal, just that it's surreal that we live in a world where this is considered HORROR), then why not waste an hour and a half on this.

* The rating might have been skewed by my apparent fascination with John Goodman.