Caution May contain spoilers.
Frankly, I found this movie interesting but more than a bit unclear, unbelieveable and confusing. I had no trouble believing Jeremy Davies as Willard Sonny' Burns, the returning vet with a nerdy high school photographer past. I also had no trouble seeing Ben Affleck as the ex jock BMOC. However I didn't see why these two became friends. I became convinced partway through the movie that much of what we were seeing was the imaginings of an unhinged mind. First, there is the inexplicable friendship of Sonny and Gunner. Then, Sonny's 1950's straight-laced girlfriend comes to give him a morning quickie in his god-fearing parents' home. Third, his mother brings home a hulking ex-con, now religious zealot who suddenly appears in Sonny's room when he starts masturbating. Add in Sonny's apparent suicide attempt (was this edited down in the version I saw?). Altogether I was convinced that most of this film was happening in Sonny's head and that Ben Affleck's character was a figment of his imagination. Then the tone of the movie seemed to change and maybe we were just seeing a somewhat confused coming of age story.
By the end of the film, I was just confused. Perhaps there was no disturbed mind at work here. At least not in any of the characters.
Frankly, I found this movie interesting but more than a bit unclear, unbelieveable and confusing. I had no trouble believing Jeremy Davies as Willard Sonny' Burns, the returning vet with a nerdy high school photographer past. I also had no trouble seeing Ben Affleck as the ex jock BMOC. However I didn't see why these two became friends. I became convinced partway through the movie that much of what we were seeing was the imaginings of an unhinged mind. First, there is the inexplicable friendship of Sonny and Gunner. Then, Sonny's 1950's straight-laced girlfriend comes to give him a morning quickie in his god-fearing parents' home. Third, his mother brings home a hulking ex-con, now religious zealot who suddenly appears in Sonny's room when he starts masturbating. Add in Sonny's apparent suicide attempt (was this edited down in the version I saw?). Altogether I was convinced that most of this film was happening in Sonny's head and that Ben Affleck's character was a figment of his imagination. Then the tone of the movie seemed to change and maybe we were just seeing a somewhat confused coming of age story.
By the end of the film, I was just confused. Perhaps there was no disturbed mind at work here. At least not in any of the characters.