An Unnecessarily Over-the-Top Execution of an Interesting idea

Rating: 4/10 (11 May 2005)

Amptuees. Incest. Blowing up infants. Torturing and burning dogs. Any one of these topics have been taboo for mainstream cinema for...well...forever. This movie managed to incorporate it all.
And make no mistake about it, this movie was marketed as a mainstream film. With Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart, this was no "Faces of Death" b-movie flick that goes straight to the "Disturbing" section of your local video store. This is a film that received substantial commercial airtime.
It's shame, because both the story and the direction were original and refreshing, and the acting was not bad. But at the end of the day, as the credits began to roll, my first thoughts were not, "Wow, that was an interesting story"; rather, they were, "wow, I just watched a movie with amputees, incest, blowing up infants...