Watch Leaves of Grass For Free

Best movie of this year hands down!

Sick Product of a Sick System

Best movie ever!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A lot of films claim to be "dark comedy" when in actuality they're more like "comic horror". There's a difference.Dark comedy should make us laugh at the concepts of death, violence and tragedy. Examples would be the hilarious "Beetlejuice", "Grand Theft Parsons", and even campy stuff like "Men at Work" & "Weekend at Bernie's". The idea here is to take us to a goofy, cartoonish world where death & violence are meaningless. Either that, or the dead guys always deserve it.Other films, though excellent in their own right, are a little too rooted in realism, and unless you catch yourself in a somewhat sick state of mind they can come across as being disturbing (probably intentionally so). Examples would be "Heathers", "Pulp Fiction" and the Coen brothers films. I love all of those movies, but sometimes they just freak me out."Leaves of Grass" pulls off a violent story but does it in a way that's not upsetting. The movie takes the philosophical approach that it's irrational to fear death. Midway through, we get a quote from the Greek philosopher Epicurious who argued that death (or the state of nonexistence) should not be feared as long as we're alive because it can't touch us. When it finally does claim us, we're dead (nonexistent) so we're not able to feel it. In other words: what you'll never know can't hurt you.I loved the little bits of philosophy peppered throughout the movie (the main character being a philosophy professor). It was just enough to keep it on a deep level without getting us bogged down in heady psychobabble.The story itself is somewhat unrealistic, but that adds to the cartoonish vibe I mentioned earlier. You're not supposed to look for loopholes & inconsistencies. Just sit back & enjoy the ride. Like I mentioned above, fans of philosophy and literature (Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass") will get a kick out of it. If you're one of those, also check out the Jim Jarmusch films "Dead Man" and "Ghost Dog".

Lines from Walt Whitman are interwoven with other theories of Creation, such as geometry and insects. Poetic lines written by Tim Blake Nelson, who also wrote, directed, played Bolger and produced an understated commentary on what might be updated Whitman. Ed Norton's characters remind me of Tom Hanks with a splash of Gomer Pyle, or Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, but somehow it works, no character is all good, none all evil, man is complex.Filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana, you get interesting, ever-changing scenery, never predictable. In addition to Ed Norton, other name brand actors are Dryfuss, Sarandon, DeVito's daughter (who has his eyes) and Ty Burrell.Not at all like Cheech & Chong!

This movie was hard to understand. At times it seemed to be a comedy and at other times a dark satire. Ed Norton was good playing twins. One was Bill, an educator from up north, and the other a pot selling hill billy named Brady. Brady tricks Bill into coming back to Oklahoma by saying he died. But what Brady really wants is Bill's help in getting him out from under a drug lord. Brady has been selling and growing lots of weed and wants out. He wants to use his twin as an alibi while he takes care of business. Then Brady and his sidekick do something totally out of character when confronting the drug lord. That's when the movie jumped the railroad tracks. It got really absurd from there.FINAL VERDICT: OK, but not good enough to recommend.

Watching "Leaves of Grass" first off it gave me a few worries. I didn't know if it was possible for a modern film to pull this off. First and foremost the obvious question, could Edward Norton actually play two character's and the carry the front man role. uh? Yeah he did. For me I was skeptical knowing what I think I know about films. Sometimes it may seem kinda hokey or cheap to do this for an entire picture. Yet I believe that if you didn't know Norton's body of work you wouldn't even notice he did both parts(he's good), he played well. To me "Leaves Of Grass" was a strain of a lifetime original movie.. actually done right! It carried the themes of family and tragedy as Lifetime usually does, and in a beat which appeared to be similar.Once again Done Right! Think of the competition of films in which several characters are played simultaneously with the same Actor and Leading Character. Usually fun to watch? I think so.. All the same Oscar worthy? I thought it was as close as I think anyone will get in the next 10 years. With this type of Direction and use of characters. (Double action from same Actor)Although if one isn't comfortable with drug use and crude language in a movie, then I can see the "air being let out" of my appreciation of this film. Otherwise I think this movie covered a lot of different genres quite well. I laughed through many parts, felt awkward through some and tried to "hold back the waves in my eyeballs" in the end.Closing to the point. I thought it was fun to watch, although not recommended to anyone under 15, definitely not a kids movie, thus the R rating. Kudos to Tim Blake Nelson for writing and directing job. The supporting Cast was as important as the front. Keri Russel was short and sweet, also was Lucy DeVito, and come to think of it Nelson was solid also. (Generally I liked it)Lastly if your looking for a pretty Dark comedy that hits home pretty hard, well at least if you are pretty loyal movie watcher, "Leaves Of Grass" brings the goods. "Picture the Nutty Professor (good film) mixed with American History X (good tough film) and you clip out the N words. You get the Picture" *7/10 as good as "Dark Comedies" get