Lone Star State of Mind

Small town Texas mechanic Earl Crest (Joshua Jackson) is a simple man living a simple life with his girlfriend Baby (Jaime King) who also became his stepsister after their parents married each other. Earl had witnessed his father being killed in a bar when he was a boy.

Baby is a waitress who dreams of becoming an actress in LA and they have saved up to move there and hope to make it big.

Events take a dark turn when his dim cousin Junior (DJ Qualls) and his slimy friend Tinker (Ryan Hurst) steal money from local mobsters and Earl gets roped in to save his cousin Junior. Things get confusing as Tinker is double crossing them and a rival set of gangsters are also after them.

Lone Star State of Mind is a southern black comedy with a lot of clichés and a few inverted ones such as the tough gay friend. Unfortunately it has paper thin characters, too many stereotypes and wants to be a left field violent comedy like Raising Arizona. There is a tacked on ending but even that is predictable. Still its sporadically amusing and remains watchable.

This was such a gem of a find. My son and I rented it after seeing its trailer on two other movies. It looked funny, but I was not prepared for such a great piece of work. The story had twists and turns and it was rich with irony and wit. The acting matched the script to a tee. The characters were over the top where it was necessary and subdued when needed. "Tinker" (Ryan Hurst) was priceless and stole the show. Kudos all around to the cast and crew for creating such a great movie and making me laugh. This is a great movie to show to friends. I own it and cannot wait to show it to a few more of my friends. Everyone that has seen it so far have loved it. Get it and Watch it!

i've come to the agreement that DJ Qualls has only been involved in enjoyable movies.. so far of his movies i've seen Road Trip, The New Guy, Comic Book Villans, Lone Star and Big Trouble, and every single one of them has entertained me like any movie should (especially Big Trouble!!).. but as much as i enjoy his work, he was only the second reason why i picked up this movie.. Jaime King was the first!! though i hate Slackers with an intense passion, i will still watch anything with her in it!! so when i saw this straight to DVD release (UK), i thought what they hey, it has King in it, along with Qualls, and other cast members i like, i'll pick it up even if i did expect a poor film, seeing how i had never heard of it before.. etc..

but suffice it to say it's just one of those little gems you gamble on, that ends up making the rental worth it!! like one of those movies that comes on TV, and you just sort of get hooked in.

Excellent casting, good direction, nice characters, and a fun and simple story that all makes for just one good movie!! it's as easy as that! i bet even people who hate Joshua Jackson will like him in this!!

if like me you watch a LOT of movies, from Disney to Slasher, and really know bad from good, and truly know how to percieve movies before seeing them, then trust me you'll enjoy this... pick it up at blockbuster, a good few bucks well spent for a couple of good laughs and a nice simple story that never gets boring!! considering how many mainstream movies i see which don't amount to much, except $10 and a bucket of popcorn, good old fashioned fun films like these i'd welcome any day!!

Jaimie King is just the icing on the sweet pudding!! rent with no hesitation!

What a surprise! Having read no reviews, I picked this film off of the shelf at Hollywood Video and was rewarded with an entirely enjoyable, funny, sweet, and overall entertaining film. The relationship between Earl & Baby is especially tender, refreshing and believable, while the performance by Ryan Hurst as Tinker is perfectly protagonistic (if that's a real word!) and amusing. Great acting by all, great screenplay, great directing, great everything. 9 out of 10 (because perfection is always impossible, but this film comes close: no belly-wrenching-guffaw-laughs, but like I said, entertaining). Rent it with the assurance of an evening's entertainment time well-spent.

"Didn't I kill you once already, boy?" ...it still cracks me up. If you're looking for reality, look somewhere else. If you are looking for some laughs while watching a group of impossible characters attempt what should be a simple task that turns out not to be simple at all; a quest that leads to getting shot, mutilated or run over by a truck (sounds horrible, don't it? It's a hoot) This is the movie for you.