I have 493 movies in my Netflix Instant queue. I tend to watch one thing for every five that I add, but now my library is close to being full and I have to make room. So, every Monday I’m going to pick a random movie out of my queue and review the shit out of it. But (like Jesus), I’m also thinking of you and your unwieldy queue and all the movies in it you want to watch but no longer have the time to now that you’ve become so awesome and popular. Let me know what has been gathering digital dust in your Netflix Instant library and I’ll watch that, too. One Monday for you and the next for me and so on. Let’s get to it.
What’s the movie? Red State (2011)
What’s it rated? Rated R for John Goodman’s apathy, Michael Parks’ hate and Michael Angarano just wanting to connect with some lady parts.
Did people make it? Written and Directed by Kevin Smith. Acted by Michael Parks, John Goodman, Michael Angarano, Melissa Leo, Kyle Gallner, Stephen Root, Nicholas Braun, Kerry Bishé and Matt “Badger” Jones.
What’s it like in one sentence? Teenage Stupidity Vs. Christian Fundamentalism Vs. Government Mustache Twirling.
Why did you watch it? Jason the Mason, Rene Rangel, RelaxingDragon and Sawalter1 pushed for it with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
What’s it about in one paragraph? Three best friends find a listing on some Craigslist-y website for a 38 year old woman who will make sweet, three hole love to them if they just come on over. When they arrive at her trailer it turns out to be Melissa Leo (I’d probably take off) who wants to bang, but instead of letting them get her all greasy, she drugs them and gives them to Abin Cooper (Michael Parks). Cooper is a preacher\cult leader modeled after Fred Phelps, who wants to execute the boys for their sins, but he’ll have to hurry up because the ATF, led by Agent John Goodman, has their compound surrounded and are tasked to get their own pound of flesh.
Melissa Leo is well on her way to playing as many horrifically unappealing characters as humanly possible.
Play or remove from my queue? Play it most assuredly, though I don’t guarantee you’ll like it. It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but its heart is in the right place and it does things a lot better than you would expect from a Kevin Smith movie. Let me be clear on where I stand with Mr. Smith: I am a huge fucking fan of five of his movies. Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma are all classic films in my eyes and I think anyone who considers Clerks 2 to be a cash in on his most successful property wasn’t paying attention to the film at all. I thought it was hands down the most mature film of his career (yes, even with the donkey fucking) and showed a real growth when it came to moving his camera around and focusing on relevant themes (especially for people who grew up watching his films). Yes, I thought Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was juvenile and mildly retarded, Jersey Girl and Zack and Miri didn’t really register with me and I never saw Cop Out because fuck Tracy Morgan on anything but 30 Rock. I know he’s a stagnant director most of the time and his brutal, unflinching honesty about his personal life combined with his fanboy nature makes him a pretty easy target to hate on, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. My love for a select group of his films, combined with a lot of the bad reviews I’ve read for Red State, piled on top of the dog and pony show he created at Sundance while “picking” a distributor for the film, made me bring a lot of baggage into watching this film and I had little hope that I was going to enjoy it. So, why did I love it, warts and all? I’m still not sure.
Yes, it’s schizophrenic, but it also has a laser like focus on the one specific point the film is out to make, which is hilariously underlined by Patrick Fischler (Mickey Cohen in L.A. Noir!) in the closing moments of the film in a scene very reminiscent of the closing moments of Burn After Reading. After I was about two thirds of the way into the movie, I had a thought that Red State felt like three movies that got shoe horned into one and, when over the closing credits, I saw the dumb teenager characters listed under “Sex”, the Five Points Church folk listed under “Religion” and the ATF Agents listed under “Politics”, I realized that maybe Smith was putting a little more thought into this than he was getting credit for. Smith’s script never feels like a Smith script. There are one or two “clever” lines, but no one ever speaks like a Diablo Cody night fart or has dialogue that felt out of place for the characters to say. I fully expected the film to feel like it was showing off and, instead, it almost felt like it was holding back and that Smith was trying to prove a point with this one: that he could make a movie that exists in the real world instead of the View Askewniverse without making us miss that world. I know that’s what hamstrung Jersey Girl even with the excellent George Carlin performance. During the entire running time of Red State I never missed the Askewniverse, in fact I thought the film could have been 20 minutes longer to give us some more time with the characters and to baste more in the horrible world (our own) that it resides in.
The handheld camera work Smith does in this makes the entire film feel immediate and intense instead of nauseating and spatially confused like a lot of the handheld work I’ve been seeing over the last year. If you didn’t look at the credits or pay attention to filmmakers and shit, you would never, ever know this was a Kevin Smith movie, yet it doesn’t feel derivative of anyone else’s work, either. I’ve heard Red State called “Kevin Smith’s Eli Roth movie” and I’d have to heartily disagree with that. For one, there’s never any focus on torture or violence, but more importantly, I gave a shit about the characters in this, even with the very limited time we get to spend with them and with how flawed and downright despicable most of them were. Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner and Nicholas Braun exist in this film only to bring us into the Five Points church and give us a glimpse into their hefty brand of fanaticism, but the way the film deals with their characters as the story plays out was something I could never have predicted. Human life in this film is cheap and quickly dispatched of, yet never in a titillating fashion. John Goodman’s arc is the only one in the film I had problems with, as he goes from mustache twirling to conflicted and back again so quickly it was hard to get a read on his character at all. His role could have really used the 20 minutes to flesh out some of his motivations better. But the real reason this film cannot be missed is for Michael Parks as the “righteous” Abin Cooper. Every single moment he is on screen, it’s impossible to take your eyes off of him. This is a fully breathing, three dimensional character that leaps off of the print and into your nightmares and any notions you have about Fundamentalists and the delusions that get them through the day are brought painfully to the fore front. If for nothing else, Red State will be remembered for this role and Michael Parks’ career best performance in bringing it to life.
Again, its not perfect but it doesn’t need to be. I instantly wanted to watch it again and soak myself in exactly what I thought Kevin Smith was trying to say with it. As scattershot as it feels, I think the final few minutes of the film as Agent Goodman is briefed by his superiors really crystallizes the themes and importance of its almost episodic tone. Nothing in Red State is accidental and the trickiness of its structure makes me very interested to see what Smith has in store for us next. Even though its not cool to like him anymore.
Someone's seen my basement.
Do you have a favorite line? My favorite line is a spoiler which I’ll tell you next week. My second favorite line is when the ATF is looking at the giant cross in front of the Five Points compound. Kevin Pollack says “How much you think a cross like that costs?” and John Goodman answers with “Do you mean in dollars or common sense.” Zing!
Do you have an interesting fun-fact? If you haven’t read about what Smith did with the distribution of this film, it’s pretty fascinating (and ballsy) and worth looking into. Another interesting thing is that he shot the film on the Red and edited it as he shot, so he had a rough cut of the entire film to show at the wrap party. Pretty impressive if you’re not named Robert Rodriguez.
What does Netflix say I’d like if I like this? New Town Killers (almost watched this for the column, but one of you guys talked me out of it), Senseless (been in my queue for years), Them (pretty terrifying, flawless final seconds), Stuck (I love Stuart Gordon and Stephen Rea, but Mena Suvari can keep her five head off of my televisions) and Masters of Horror: Right to Die (really, really bad with some really good naked female parts).
What does Jared say I’d like if I like this? Red State is like Burn After Reading with gunfights and Goodman. Also, Night of the Comet…
What is Netflix’s best guess for Jared? 3.6
What is Jared’s best guess for Jared? 3.6 is the perfect guess.
Can you link to the movie? I sure can!
Any last thoughts? I am planning on getting into a few things more deeply in next week’s spoiler section of the column. As it stands, come back next week after we give people a chance to watch it and we’ll have it out.
Did you watch anything else this week? Rewatching Band of Brothers before I watch The Pacific. Loving that. Just saw Warrior which is one of the best films I’ve seen this year and the Fright Night remake was enjoyable as all hell with its perfect ass tone and perfect ass Poots. I’m also replaying Mass Effect 2 in anticipation for the final part of the trilogy due early next year.
Any spoilerish thoughts about last week’s film, C.H.U.D.? The more I think about how ahead of its time the social commentary, the more impressed I am with it. It’s a shame the entire package wasn’t handled with as much care as that one aspect was. A lot of the problems I had with the film are explained pretty thoroughly in this link the Chewer Shan sent to me last week. It’s too bad that Daniel Stern insisted on Douglas Cheek as the director, because they could have a had a true classic with this film instead of just a cult one. Also, no more endings with the surviving characters kissing as the city around them burns. Make it stop.
Next Week? Dead Heat? The Evictors? The Warriors Way? YellowBrickRoad? You have all the power.
Little Angarano in: Shoot First, Ask Questions Never. Coming this fall from my bloody discharge.