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Great Film overall

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This movie doesn't as much tell a story as it conveys a feeling, and that feeling is "mind-numbingly depressed". Casey Affleck is wonderful in this movie. He managed to be sad for 90 minutes without ever hamming things up, which makes that one outburst of joy he has very beautiful. Sadly, this film is somewhat held back by one rather typical indie cliché: its lack of pace. We're not just dealing with a slow-moving plot here, because there is no plot. It's just a slow-moving bunch of scenes. Most of the scenes go on for a bit too long, others are just plain unnecessary. Thank God the occasional dark humour can bring something extra, because parts of this movie are really quite boring. Nevertheless, Jim is a compelling character, and Steve Buscemi appears to be quite talented as a director, so this is still worth seeing.

Casey Affleck is really good in this movie. He is a real natural actor. This is a low budget prize of a movie. (Which is why I love it) It is cast well with a myriad of character actors you will all know. I won't tell you about this movie too much, because you just need to see it. It is funny and low-key. The plot & scenes change frequently, so you don't get bored watching this movie. Set in Indiana, the film reeks of middle-America the uglier towns on the country, the dope weather, a world with low ceilings and very few windows. The kind of world a young slacker or aspiring dude would leave because there are no opportunities. The way out is by bus, which Jim is supposed to take but somehow doesn't take at the film's end, for reason I can't remember. But worth watching it again. Peace

This is the most pure example of American independent film that I've seen in years. Zeroing in on a few characters, a limited situation, perfectly consistent in tone (which might be characterized as realist-deadpan), simply yet effectively done--this is the best Raymond Carver adaptation ever made, yet of course it's not even based on one of his stories (it's based on a fine original screenplay by James Strouse).It seems like back in the late '80s films like this were made, but very rarely are anymore, when every independent film has become either a star vehicle or a strident, obvious Satire. This film (like Buscemi's also marvelous "Trees Lounge") seems organic to the story it's telling. I came to the film knowing nothing about it, had no idea where it was going or what it was up to, and was always happily surprised that it didn't take the cheap route through anything.The performances are all excellent. Mary Kay Place perfectly plays the all-American mom and without calling undue attention to himself Affleck absolutely embodies a type we've all met many times before but rarely see on screen with this level of detail. Even Liv Tyler is good. But a special word should be said about Buscemi as a director. There's nothing fancy in how he works yet he seems to know completely how to shape a movie, getting the most out of his actors and the bland settings that the drama plays out in. I wish we had more darkly comic, substantial, humane films like this. I really hope Buscemi gets to make many more films.

Most characters in this film are somewhat neurotic and depressed, yet it is a highly funny comedy; you find yourself feeling for them, yet the film does not resort to sentimentality or clichés. Not everything gets right in the end, though a touch of optimism is present as well; it avoids every cliché about growing up, getting to love life etc. (How I love the basket-ball match scene, a hilarious subversion of the usual cliché.) It's much nicer than that : characterization is very subtle and supported by great performances from everyone. There is not much of a plot, but that's not a problem. So it's a subtle, depressed, hilarious film. Thumbs up for Steve Buscemi.