What's the message? This is obviously and obtrusively a message film. Apparently, we're amoral, so we should learn something here. What have we learned? Perhaps, to forgive, especially one's self, or to not judge a book by its cover, or not to judge it after we've read it and discovered it has robbed us. I feel robbed, but not forgiving of the robber. Ed Solomon should return to writing stupid screenplays instead of trying to hoodwink me with a "serious" film, as though I needed a lesson, or reinforcement.
There's nothing cinematic here. Solomon could have saved me some time and patience if he'd written the parable in verse of a few lines. Surely would have been more interesting. Billy Bob Thornton, Morgan Freeman and Holly Hunter are no strangers to acting out a parable. I don't know what Kirsten Dunst is doing here, but she might want to stay with playing ditzy teenagers in intentionally ditzy movies. Thornton is the master of externally displaying how empty his character is. If anyone involved knew how empty the movie is, we might have had something. Instead, we get social commentary, unbelievable coincidences, and even some pseudo-spirituality.
There's nothing cinematic here. Solomon could have saved me some time and patience if he'd written the parable in verse of a few lines. Surely would have been more interesting. Billy Bob Thornton, Morgan Freeman and Holly Hunter are no strangers to acting out a parable. I don't know what Kirsten Dunst is doing here, but she might want to stay with playing ditzy teenagers in intentionally ditzy movies. Thornton is the master of externally displaying how empty his character is. If anyone involved knew how empty the movie is, we might have had something. Instead, we get social commentary, unbelievable coincidences, and even some pseudo-spirituality.