The United States of Leland 2003

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: It simply mopes along to one of those joyless alt-rock soundtracks that have thankfully started to fall out of fashion since the film was produced, leaving vague unpleasantness in its wake. Read more

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune: Among its weaknesses are an overpopulated cast and a disposable victim. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's ponderous and endless, and raised only two question in my mind: How many times can Kevin Spacey rehash the same performance? And is death the ultimate deadpan? Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ... really powerful stuff. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: An ambitious and intelligent film probing that chronic contemporary phenomenon, the seemingly senseless crime, but it is ultimately unsatisfying for all its efforts and various pluses. Read more

Mike Ervin, Chicago Reader: [Hoge] spends an awful lot of time trying to get us to understand Leland and almost none trying to get us to understand his victim. Read more

Houston Chronicle: A sidetracking subplot about Madison's adulterous fling with a co-worker goes nowhere; it is one of several unsatisfying, tertiary plot strands. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Ambitious but flawed. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Yet another joylessly trendy indie portrait of the dark side of suburbia. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: It's neither an insightful nor well-made film. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The performances range from solid to excellent (Mr. Gosling and Mr. Donovan are among the standouts), and the ubiquitous teen angst is handled with a minimum of condescension. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: There's more here about Pearl's banal romantic life than Leland's crime. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Isn't it sad that a boy like this could feel so lost that he had to kill someone? Well, maybe. But isn't it sadder that someone's dead? Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: There's a reason filmmaking is considered a craft, and Hoge, a former teacher in a juvenile prison, cannot pull off what would be a tricky proposition for a skilled veteran. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: In spite of an exceptionally fine cast, this melodrama of suburban adolescent dysfunction never rises to the level of its literary ambitions. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: An intriguing movie about how badly we really want to know the unknowable, what makes kids kill other kids. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A moral muddle. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Besides being puffed up with its importance, it's also inert and totally implausible -- one of those movies where nobody behaves in a way that seems remotely human. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: A depressive, civics-lesson Donnie Darko variation. Read more

Time Out: Read more

David Rooney, Variety: As maudlin and monotone as the whiny alt-rock that drenches its overly articulated emotional disclosures. Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: The movie's idiotic fascination with the senselessness of its central act is scarily close to a fetish. Read more