South of Heaven

Well I have to agree with the negative reviews for once. Despite the good cast and an interesting first half the movie quality went downhill pretty fast. There are a lot of scenes that weren't good at all, that didn't make much sense and that brought the quality of the story down. As for the acting there were some actors that were not convincing at all at times. And I'm not talking about extras but major actors. I don't know what happened, it started good but it turned bad at one point and it never recovered. Too bad because it had potential.

"South of Heaven" tells a story of a criminal who got out of prison, and is dragged back into the world of crime. However, the focus is the love story, so it is better conceptualised as a romance film with a criminal protagonist. This is perhaps why people who are expecting adrenaline end up being disappointed by this film.

Sudeikis, refreshingly, doesn't exactly fit the role of a convict on parole that wants to spend a year with his lifelong love, Lilly. But everyone is a caricature of the role that they play and it tanks the possibilities of the crime/thriller part of the film.

While I understand why many rate this movie poorly, to me it is a bit better than its IMDb rating. Again, to me, it starts off with signs of a totally serious movie but about half-way turns into what I would describe as a very dark comedy, with lots of dirty money involved. The "good" guys start to figure out ways to get the best of the "bad" guys and that type of story is always fun to watch.

(Of note, on the DVD extras the writer-director says he wrote it as a dark comedy and Sudeikis played the role a bit more seriously than first intended.)

After serving 12 years for a bank robbery Jimmy (Jason Sudeikis) wants to go straight for his dying girlfriend Annie (Evangeline Lilly), marry her and give her the life she deserves for what may only be another year. It starts out OK, he meets his parole officer and gets a laborer job. But soon things turn dark, he is faced with doing a "pickup" or go back to prison. Things get messier and messier from there.

Bottom line - I was entertained and I like the several main actors. Filmed in the DFW area, I watched it at home on DVD from my public library. My wife skipped, she wasn't in the mood for this kind of film.

I'm a sucker for jason sudeikis, i usually swoon over his work, but this movie is lacking something, the story has definitely been done before and the acting was off.