Amazon.com video review:
Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed, and starred in this
mesmerizing drama with haunting overtones of To Kill a
Mockingbird. Thornton plays a mentally retarded man who has
spent 20 years in a psychiatric hospital for killing his mother and
her lover. Released into the community from which he came, he
befriends and protects a lonely boy regularly harassed and abused by
his mom's boyfriend (a terrific performance by Dwight Yoakam). The
story is ultimately about sacrifice, but Thornton certainly doesn't
get twinkly about it. Some of the best material concerns the hero's
no-big-deal efforts to integrate into a "normal" life: working, eating
fast food, earning admiration for his handyman skills, and attaining a
semblance of community among other damaged souls. John Ritter has a
great part as a gay shopkeeper who tries to assuage his own loneliness
by spilling his guts out to Thornton's uncomprehending character. The
DVD release presents
the film in its original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio. --Tom
Keogh
