I had my first Red Box experience last week. My vivacious girlfriend is a frequenter to the Red Box. She had a coupon for $1 off. She took me to the nearest machine and we rented the 2010 film Leaves of Grass. This movie has Ed Norton in duel roles. He plays twin brothers who were both child prodigies. One went on to leave his Oklahoma roots behind him and become a professor of ancient philosophy. The other stayed home and uses his gift to grow and harvest the county's best marijuana.
The hillbilly / troublesome twin deceives the other in order to get him home with questionable motives. He needs an alibi while he goes up north to handle a situation gone awry with a Jewish mob boss. While in OK the teacher twin falls for a local school teacher played lifelessly by Keri Russel. Susan Sarandon plays the boys hippie mother in a totally forgotten side plot.
Ed Norton is good as both brothers. The production managed to pull off a difficult task in using 1 actor for two roles without it looking corney.
Tim Blake Nelson wrote and directed this small film that never really got much of a distribution. Over all I enjoyed this film. It is clear to me that Mr Nelson took a lot away from his experience with working with the Coens. It is crisp, smart and fun to watch. I think after he gets a few more films under his belt he could really find a define a real style.
I will give Leaves of Grass a 3/5 stars. If you have a free couple of hours and a Red Box coupon I'd say give it a shot. Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.
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