OK - this one is simple: Leaves of Grass is The Parent Trap meets How High... or Up in Smoke (actually I have seen only a few pot-themed movies, so I'm not going to win at this one). At any rate, it's Edward Norton and Edward Norton... and Hayley Mills is nowhere in sight.
Norton plays identical twins Bill and Brady who are basically complete opposites of one another. Bill is a world-renowned, Ivy League professor of Classics and Brady is a redneck in rural Oklahoma who happens to be one of the best pot growers in the state (in the world?). Brady tricks Bill into visiting Oklahoma and then gets him to pull a Parent Trap so he has an alibi in their local town, while he goes up to Tulsa to take care of some dirty business.
You've seen this movie about a hundred times before: Eastern elite guy goes to rednecked wilderness, hates it, then falls for a girl (the magnificent Keri Russell), then realizes it's not so bad in the sticks. This one has more stuff in it about pot and a weird thing with Jews, but that's about it.
I really like Tim Blake Nelson as an actor (though this role is basically the same bumpkin he's played in the past), but he's just not fabulous as a writer or a director, as we see here. The story jumps around in totally weird and ridiculous ways, sometimes edging around logic, sometimes just being totally bizarre and absurd. The finale is so preposterous it is absolutely impossible to figure out how it comes to be. Some tangents are begun and then left to die along the way with no further mention. It's a really, really bad script (aside from being totally recycled).
One thing Tim Blake Nelson does well is get an amazing bunch of supporting actors into his film. Aside from himself, Susan Sarandon, Ty Burrell (though this was probably made before Modern Family), Steve Earle, Richard Dreyfuss and Keri Russell all have parts in this. Not bad for a teeny tiny movie. Russell is absolutely wonderful, as she always is, and once again begs the question: Why the fuck is she not acting more or in bigger things? It looks like the last majorish film she did was Waitress in 2007. That's crazy. She's fantastic (and beautiful). Oh, and Steve Earle is always wonderful and he should act more too... and play more music. I love him.
Whatever. This movie is nonsensical and goofy. I can't figure out if it really needs to be about pot or if that was just a really cynical decision someone made hoping weed would be some sort of draw for the indie/art house movie watchers in big cities. I'm sure there are people whose mouths would water at the sight of all the massive amounts of drugs shown onscreen. I don't really care. It's pretty dumb and very banal.
Stars: 1.5 of 4
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