I never really thought much about Billy Bob Thornton until after seeing this movie. Things just never made sense to me. The few roles I had seen him in were never that great or earth shattering. He was married to Angelina Jolie, and he never seemed to present himself very well in public. Little did I know, Billy Bob is a writer and a director besides being an actor. I’ve always heard other people (actors/actresses) rave about the talent this man has, but had never witnessed it myself. That’s because I hadn’t seen Sling Blade.
This movie is about a man named Karl Childers. Karl is retarded man that gets let out of the state mental hospital. Karl was in the hospital because at the age of 12 he killed his mother and one other person. Now at face value this sounds horrible and tragic, but as you take a peak into Karl’s life you start to understand why he is the way he is.
After being released from the hospital, Karl gets a job at a small engine repair shop repairing engines. He’s apparently a prodigy at it. His new boss also lets him live in the shop since Karl has no place to go and his living family wants nothing to do with him. Besides getting a job, Karl also makes friends with Frank, a local boy, while helping him tote his family’s laundry home one afternoon. Frank likes Karl so much that he asks his mother to let Karl stay with them. From then on we see the lives of Karl, Frank and Linda (Frank’s mother) unfold and we meet some of their friends as life goes on. I’m not going to much further into the plot because I don’t want to give anything away.
This is such an amazing movie, I’m not really sure how to give it justice by typing away on my keyboard. This film deals with family, friendships, doing what is right, justice, protecting your own, love, being willing to give up everything for somebody you care about, etc, etc. All of Karl’s life he’s been picked on and written off just because of his mental state. However, Karl understands a lot more than people give him credit for. He also ends up being one of the most understanding, caring and insightful characters in the film.
I was so amazed to learn that Thorton wrote and directed this film besides being the main actor. Whenever I had seen the cover, I always thought that was Ewan McGregor on the cover or somebody that looked similar. That’s Billy Bob folks. I also sat down and watched all of the extra stuff on the 2nd disc as soon as I could. It’s always rewarding to learn about some of the behind-the-scenes stuff.
Along with Thorton in the cast we also have Dwight Yoakam (Wedding Crashers, Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada), J.T. Walsh (Good Morning Vietnam), John Ritter (Problem Child, Three’s Company), Lucas Black (Friday Night Lights, All the Pretty Horses) and many other recognizable faces. I think this is one of Ritter’s best performances ever, mainly because we get to see him break out of some of his typecast roles and actually act. Thorton even got him to radically change his hair, something Ritter never did for any other director. Lucas Black also gives an amazing performance as a kid in this movie that you’ll be hard-pressed to match.
I feel like I could go on and on about this movie, but I don’t know how to appropriately tell you how much this movie rocked my world. So go see this one. Please.
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