Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

A friend dragged me to this movie when it played through our college film society. He said it was great, the funniest ever, and explained the concept--a short documentary about real-life people, many of them retired, living in the small town of Vernon, Florida. So off I went to see it, seating myself in a stiff desk in our chemistry lecture hall, where film society screenings are held, and took in the movie.

The documentary is interesting at first, and there are definitely colorful characters in this movie. I did not find them as memorable as did janesbit1 (read his review, it's excellent), however. Humorous is the couple who has a souvenir jar of sand, and the wife who so earnestly and steadfastly tells the reader, "It's growing." She truly believes that the volume of the sand is increasing. Then there's the older man who is shown repeatedly kicking a turtle onscreen. These shots will make you laugh initially, until you realize just what you find so funny: a collection of mostly older small-town residents. You're really laughing at the fact that they're "hicks." I honestly felt guilty halfway through the screening, since I was basically taking a peek into these people's lives and snickering in a way to acknowledge the so-called superiority of the suburban and urban areas of America.

That in itself made me sit uneasily throughout the movie, which granted, does make you stop and think about how your own life might be in a small town, where life was slow and you knew everyone. Overall, I have to give this film credit for its unique subject matter, but I can't recommend it without reservations about the morality of laughing at the Vernon residents and the high likelihood of boredom whlie watching it.



Recommended: No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older