An average movie

To be honest, I thought it was a really gloomy and depressing movie. Basically, after ‘Monster’ and ‘North Country’", Charlize Theron shows once again that she definitely can play a white trash woman. Concerning  the other  actors, they all delivered some good performances and the directing was decent as well. Unfortunately, I can't say I really enjoyed the damned thing. The main issue was probably that none of the characters was really interesting. Joleen (the mother played by Charlize Theron) was basically a total bitch, she dropped her kid for months and when she came back, we were supposed to rejoice but it didn't work for me. James (the brother played by Nick Stahl) was a pathetic loser who barely could take care of himself and who was completely incapable of taking care of his niece. Randall (the colleage  played by Woody Harreslon)  was a drunk spending his free time playing quarters and finally, Mr. Reedy (the father played by Dennis Hopper) was pretty much a sadistic dictator. Tara (the little girl played by AnnaSophia Robb) seemed to be a bright kid but she was surrounded by some serious morons so her chances for a better future were rather thin. Do you get my point? Well, I really didn't care about those characters and the story was neither entertaining, interesting or emotional. In spite of its flaws, as it was a rather well made drama with a decent cast, I still think it is worth a look though.