Should be titled, "This Is America."

Rating: 4/10 (18 May 2008)

If this movie is a portrayal of true life in America (and the director says it is in the extra footage), then what a fantastic promotional tool for life anywhere else! I bought this movie because the cast includes the worlds most desirable woman, Sandra Bullock and, to be fair to her, it is an excellent demonstration of her acting talent because her part in this is definitely not typical of her usual character type. In itself, that forced me to rate the movie higher than I would have otherwise done. Maybe the rest of the civilized world will end up like the Los Angeles (City of Angels???) portrayed here but I sure as heck hope it isn't in my lifetime. To be fair to the producers and director, there were some beautiful cameos in the movie - like when the guy gives his little girl the invisible "protection cape" and when we see that the red box was blanks (possibly the best bit in the whole movie) - but what about a city where a man can fire a gun at a man and his daughter in broad daylight and no one so much as comes to investigate? What about a city where a police officer can "feel up" a respectable woman in front of her husband and get away with it? I could go on but what's the point? Who would be inspired to want to live there? Not me!