The United States of Leland   
 

Leland P. Fitzgerald: Ryan Gosling

Pearl Madison: Don Cheadle

Allen Harris: Chris Klein

Becky Pollard: Jena Malone

Marybeth Fitzgerald: Lena Olin

Albert T. Fitzgerald: Kevin Spacey

 

Written and Directed by

Matthew Ryan Hoge

 

 

 
The United States of Leland starts off ominously, and not just because it involves the killing of a young boy, but due to the fact that it involves the narration of the young killer, Leland, describing how he can't remember any of it.  This cuts to the shot of an expressionless Leland (Ryan Gosling) examining his cut hand and then walking home and telling his mom that he thinks he made a mistake.  So, here we have another contemplative and homicidal teenager prepared to wax poetic about his motives and his outlook on life. 

The film's nice ensemble cast keeps the film afloat, but the story is spread too thin in order to keep up with everybody.  And rather than flesh out the main characters, writer/director Hoge instead chooses to have everyone philosophizing on everything.  I don't intend to sound vague, either, I truly mean everything.  Each conversation in this film is an important way for each character to espouse what he or she believes, or exactly what they are feeling.  It is a heavy-handed approach that doesn't work as we are constantly hit over the head with how we should feel and what it all means.  

It's also hard to tell who the movie is trying to create sympathy for, or if it is even trying to create any at all.  Do we feel sorry for this "victim" of society and a poor father, or do we cheer his ultimate fate?  This identity crisis, along with an improbable ending, is mainly what brings this movie down.  Its attempts to get the audience to identify with anyone fail, and while the main reasons for Leland's actions are intriguing, this revelation is not enough to overcome the terrible premise.    

Despite its flaws, The United States of Leland still manages to be interesting due to the strong performances from Gosling and Don Cheadle as Pearl Madison.  Madison is a struggling writer who teaches history at the juvenile detention center.  He sees his chance to breakthrough with a book about Leland and starts talking to him daily.  He develops an affection for Leland through their conversations, but you wonder if it is only because he sees a great opportunity for himself.  Cheadle does a good job as the morally ambiguous Madison.  You see it in his relationship with his girlfriend and you see it in his attempts to talk to Leland.  In a far lesser movie, Madison would have been the saint who counsels Leland.  Here, he does it for more personal reasons, which makes more sense, since Leland is not charismatic enough to warrant that kind of attention.

Kevin Spacey has a few scene-stealing turns as Leland's estranged father, but you would think or hope that this relationship would be explored more deeply.  Actually, I wish the film had explored a lot of things a little more deeply.  It only manages to just scratch the surface of every issue it raises, and because of that, the ending left me unmoved and unaffected.