Hick

So, I had remembered hearing about this movie awhile ago because I've been a huge fan of Chloe Moretz ever since Kick Ass and more importantly, Let Me In. This movie got a very small limited release in theaters back in May (so small that even boxofficemojo doesn't have it's stats) and then found it's way to my local Redbox where I gladly picked it up to watch.

The story follows a 13 year old runaway, played by Moretz who leaves her alcoholic parents back in rural Nebraska in the 70's and attempts to hitch her way to Las Vegas. She quickly meets Glenda, played by Blake Lively, who takes her under her wing as they travel west.

I really didn't know much about the plot before I saw the movie, but according to all of the cast/crew interviews on the DVD extras (yes, I'm one of those that watches that stuff) they all loved this screenplay so much and raved about how great it was. It was adapted from a book of the same name and the author of the novel penned the screenplay as well. The story tricks you into thinking in the beginning that this is going to be the normal road trip movie with wise characters who come in and impart some kind of wisdom into the main character's life. In no time at all, we learn that the characters that our protagonist meets have much more to learn about life than our 13 year old runaway. The story also abandons it's road-trip theme for the majority of the movie. I was a little amazed at how none of the characters seemed to realize the inappropriateness of their relationships with respect to a girl who is only 13. The last quarter of the movie, took me completely by surprise and everything became quite surreal. At first, I did not like the way the last quarter of the movie went down but then I realized that we were seeing things from a 13 year old's point of view and one who received her education from movies and had a flare for the dramatics. I think the last quarter of the movie can be up for your interpretation as to the true events. The same can probably be said for the whole movie. It does give some credibility to the grandiose dramatics of the characters she meets.

The cinematography was simply fantastic. The colors were so beautiful in all of the scenes and everything was framed perfectly. The makeup and wardrobe were also especially cool and retro for the movie.

Chloe Moretz was exactly what I expected; awesome. I really enjoy all of her performances and she's still so very young. It's crazy. Blake Lively was pretty good as well. I don't think I've really seen her in anything, but her character was so dramatic that she pulled it off, even if her twang was very thick. Eddie Redmayne proves why he is so incredibly talented and versatile. I have not seen him play the same character twice, ever. He can take on these completely different characters with ease and can do a pretty much flawless American accent at the same time.

In the end, the movie completely surprised me. Serves me right for judging the movie by it's cover. It was a very dramatic tale and it had some very disturbing aspects if you think about it, but those parts were just played with a shrug and the characters didn't seem to dwell on any of that stuff at all. It's really only after you've finished the movie when you take a second look and realize the characters had some really questionable morals. It was pretty memorable and entertaining. Amazing screenplay and story? I'm not convinced there, but I didn't read the screenplay...."Dear God, please don't let that old man die. - yet."