Leaves of Grass (2009)

Director:

Tim Blake Nelson

Writer:

Tim Blake Nelson (written by)

Release Date:

25 December 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

An Ivy League professor is lured back to his Oklahoma hometown, where his twin brother, a small-time pot grower, has concocted a scheme to take down a local drug lord.

Cast

Edward Norton	...	Bill Kincaid / Brady Kincaid
Susan Sarandon	...	Daisy Kincaid
Melanie Lynskey	...	Colleen
Ty Burrell
Keri Russell	...	Janet
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Pug Rothbaum
Maggie Siff	...	Rabbi Zimmerman
Tim Blake Nelson
Lucy DeVito
Josh Pais	...	Ken Feinman
Randal Reeder	...	Shaver
Krystal Mayo	...	Bacchanalian
Steve Earle	...	Buddy Fuller
Lee Wilkof	...	Levy
Naima Imani Lett	...	Sally
Tim Ware	...	Minister Davies
Lisa Benavides	...	Suzie Feinman
Ken Cheeseman	...	Jimmy Fuller
Chris Freihofer	...	Doctor
Alyssia Dujmovich	...	Jilly
Jim Henry	...	Policeman
Tina Parker	...	Sharon
Robin McGee	...	Salesman
Thomas Wallace	...	Professor
Leo Fabian	...	Wadell
Henry Max Nelson	...	Gabe Feinman
Jenna Podell	...	Staci Feinman

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, pervasive language, and drug content.

Runtime:

Canada:105 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44831)

Filming Locations:

Shreveport, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Class 5 Films

Trivia:

Edward Norton was so desperate to star in this movie that he took a pay cut, stating in an interview that he "actually got paid half what I usually make".

Funny but has some very implausible scenes

Ed Norton is great as always, playing two diametrically opposite but highly intelligent identical twins. One brother, Bill, is a professor of classical philosophy who has worked hard to eradicate his Oklahoma accent and fit into the world of east coast academia. The other, Brady, stills lives in Oklahoma and makes good money selling high-grade marijuana with his red-neck buddies. Brady tricks Bill into returning home for the first time in 2 decades so that Bill can be an alibi while Brady commits a crime in another city. Although Bill is furious and is tempted to fly back home immediately, he ends up staying a few extra days and visits his mother for the first time since childhood. He also meets Janet, played by Keri Russell, a beautiful, intelligent woman who can recites poetry while gutting a catfish. It's an enjoyable movie with quite a few surprise twists along the way.

The strengths of the movie were excellent performances by Norton and Russell, and even director Tim Blake Nelson was great in the role of Bolger. This movie will probably do very well at the box office because of the big name cast plus some great dialogue and humour. I didn't love the ending though, because of too many coincidences and some implausible scenes near the finish. Also, there was an exploration of Christian-Jewish animosity which seemed like an awfully heavy theme to (briefly) deal with here in what is essentially a romantic-comedy. I almost gave this a 6, but the great acting is definitely worth at least an extra point and I bumped it up to a 7 out of 10.