GamerTab
That was an excellent one.
SincereFinest
disgusting, overrated, pointless
Pacionsbo
Absolutely Fantastic
Grimossfer
Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
SnoopyStyle
Ellie Perkins (Reese Witherspoon) ventures onto the scary Guthrie property and discovers Alice Guthrie (Patricia Arquette) locked up living in the shed. Alice is deaf and her father is a violent drunk who beats her mother. Ellie and her brother Sammy befriends the isolated Alice hiding their friendship from their overbearing father Jack Perkins (Beau Bridges).There are two understandable problems in this otherwise very touching movie with great actors. The first problem is the novice directing from Diane Keaton. This is a washed out looking uninspired visually movie. It's not unexpected, but it's still disappointing nonetheless. The second problem is the performance or overacting from Patricia Arquette. She reminds me of Nell (Jodie Foster). It's a hard balance to strike. It's always said that drunk acting is the hardest. This is probably a close second. It'd be better if she was more reserved. All the flailing just seems too much. Also she's got a great haircut for somebody living in a shed.The good points are the acting. Standout from this is Reese Witherspoon. Beau Bridges and William McNamara are both great. It's a touching story. It's nice to see Alice grow as a character instead of just constantly be a victim. With more skills behind the camera, this could have been a much better film.
ducky42378
This has got to be the best movie, TV or otherwise, that I have ever seen. It does all the right things, touches your heart and takes you right into the lives of the characters. Patricia Arquette is one of the best actresses of all time. She rarely gets credit for her work, she deserves so much more. All of the characters are wonderfully played and the chemistry is incredible. What a great movie for everyone to watch. I think that all people can benefit greatly from watching this movie. It delves into a part of human suffering that more often than not isn't mentioned or is just glanced over. Although I am not deaf, I have had experiences with deaf people and they are some the most animated and expressive people I've ever met. Patrica Arquette plays her character so well, that it's hard to realized that she's not really deaf. Actors like her are few and far between.
j.pasteur
Was genuinely moved by the content of this tale of extremes of human nature. The barbarity of keeping a young girl in a shed versus the humanitarian sincerity was handled well by actress-director Diane Keaton. Patricia Arquette in particular must have found it difficult to play her role as the disadvantaged AND hearing-impaired Alice, uttering her lines as a deaf woman... with all the embarrassment that must go with it. Perhaps I have been alone too long. Or perhaps - over-educated and right after yet another vicious superpower vs. small nation war, with the subsequent revelations of bestial cruelty - I am still surprised by humankind's inhumanity to humankind. But there are pinpricks of light out there, somewhere. And with that thought, Humankind still has, at the very least, some hope...
princy
I didn't even bother to finish watching this one. The movie unfortunately looks as though it were directed by a novice, complete with bad acting and an inconsistent storyline. One glowing fault with this movie is that, even though Reese Witherspoon and her brother are supposed to be preparing poor old Patricia Arquette to interact with the rest of society, they talk to her as if they were speaking to a child (shouldn't they have been speaking to her as an equal?).