Review: Leaves of Grass

I mentioned recently how much I enjoyed the History of Film class I'd taken at Texas A&M, but what I didn't share was how much I disliked much of the required Liberal Arts curriculum. I found philosophy and classic literature to be dry, boring and uninspiring. However, if I'd had Tim Blake Nelson as a classics professor perhaps I would think differently now and my life would have taken an alternate path. As writer and director of  Leaves of Grass, Nelson introduces themes of classic literature in a very modern and engaging manner. Leaves of Grass is not a typical stoner comedy, as it switches to more of a drama and thriller about halfway through the film.

Edward Norton stars as Bill Kincaid, a conservative Ivy League college classics professor who reluctantly returns to the backwoods of southeastern Oklahoma after learning of the murder of his identical twin Brady (also played by Edward Norton). However, Bill discovers that his pot-growing brother is not actually dead but rather faked his death so that Bill would come home for his wedding -- although we quickly learn Brady has alterior motives. The more selfless motive is for Bill to reconcile with their hippie mother (Susan Sarandon), who lives in an adult care residence despite the fact that she is ten years younger and healthier than the other residents.

Turns out that Brady is in debt for his state of the art pot-growing facility to Pug Rothbaum (Richard Dreyfuss), a Jewish druglord from Tulsa. He and his sidekick Bolger (Tim Blake Nelson) come up with a plan to deal with Rothbaum who is wanting them to branch out into harder drugs. Meanwhile, Bill meets Janet (Kerri Russell), a writer who can "noodle" and quotes Walt Whitman while gutting a catfish. This comedy of errors results in a rather tragic resolution. 

Norton is a difficult actor for me to see in movies nowadays because his star power can make it difficult to disconnect his characters from his celebrity appeal. However, Norton really made me believe in Leaves of Grass that I was watching two different actors, and I saw the characters for themselves. Nelson was fabulous as the hick sidekick, perhaps because he is actually from Oklahoma and also attended Brown University. Kerri Russell's scenes with Norton were exquisite, although I had to get over how scrawny she appears in this film -- enough that it took me out of the film. Dreyfuss's performance showed the dichotomy of Rothbaum, who despite his drug dealings is also very charitable in his community. 

Some viewers may be a bit unsettled by the abrupt change of Leaves of Grass from comedy to tragedy with the introduction of unexpected violence that occurs in the final act. The first half of the movie is quite solid as we are quickly sold on Edward Norton as twins that may seem extremely different on the surface but are identical in more than their physical features. However, the pacing becomes a bit uneven as Brady and Bolger execute their not so well-thought out scheme to deal with the money they owe to Pug Rothbaum. A subplot with an orthodontist Feinman (Josh Pais) could have been more developed to understand Feinman's motivation for the actions he takes towards the Kincaid twins.

The cinematography in Leaves of Grass is well-thought out in regards to how to handle the presence of identical twins in the same scene. I was able to view those scenes without thinking "how did they do that?" The colors really enhance the tone of this film, especially the warm atmosphere of Oklahoma. Although Leaves of Grass is far from being the best move that I've seen this year, I would still recommend anyone who is a fan of Norton -- or the classics -- to see this film.