Made US 2000 Reviewed by The Wolf Chances are that a small town in Georgia is going to include an equal proportion of rednecks, religious maniacs and nutters. There is something about the Deep South that encourages extremes, not all of them desirable. Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson have written an absorbing murder mystery, in which the interpretation of dreams is considered valuable enough to be used as evidence in court. When the daughter of the richest man in town is dragged from the bottom of a muddy pond because of the psychic's premonition, you know this can be no ordinary thriller. Gothic overtones only emphasise the unstable nature of these characters.
Life has an inbred rhythm to it and eccentricity spreads like moss over trees.
Blanchett, as a young widow with three boys, acts with a European sensibility, which appears too sophisticated for Brixton, Georgia. Ribisi's mentally disturbed garage mechanic has a thing about his father, which leads to yet more violence. Holmes is beautiful and Kinnear typically smooth. The South draws them in, the misfits and the bigots. The trick is to make it believable, without indulging the madness.