Not a very good movie...:(

Rating: 5/10 (28 January 2009)

Clint Eastwood is a master of cinema, but this was one of his weaker efforts in a while.
I'm amazed that so many people liked this movie when it had so many obvious problems.
(1) The acting is bad. Eastwood is OK as the grumpy, racist old man, but plenty of his lines are cheesy and unnecessary. There is one action at the end of the movie (I won't spoil though) that is just over the top and stupid.
The actors he cast as the 2 main Hmong characters are terrible. They ruined the movie for me since they were just emotionless and unconvincing in their roles. I was shocked that Clint chose such poor actors for 2 of the more crucial roles in the movie.
(2) The story drags and becomes very predictable about half way through. Once Clint starts helping his Hmong neighbor "become a man" it's downhill from there. Nothing interesting happens and if you're not a complete moron then you can see the ending coming a mile away.
(3) The dialogue is either over the top obscene or unnecessarily cheesy. It's either in your face racism or cheesy catch phrases or stupid hand gestures. A lot of it is very unrealistic too.
(4) There is no character development. We meet his family, we meet the Hmong family next door and then jump right into a ridiculous plot about him helping some boy he barely knows and doesn't even like.
Maybe I had unrealistic expectations with this movie, but I do expect better from such a great director. It's a shame that this movie is currently rated on the top 250 above Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Unforgiven and a host of other movies that Eastwood's acted in too.