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This movie paints a dark picture of a small town man who is slowly losing his grip on life. After a bitter divorce, Wade Whitehouse (Nick Nolte) finds himself with a daughter who doesn't want to spend time with him and a job as police officer in a town with little crime. He hopes for things that won't happen and when he must tend to his abusive father, he starts to lose it.

This movie is not action packed and doesn't evince any emotions other than pity. Nevertheless, it is well made and Nick Nolte and James Coburn both give excellent performances.

So this is what the Wachowski brothers were doing before they made "The Matrix". A typical post Pulp Fiction mobster movie with guns, money and violence, this film also captures the lesbian thing as Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon heat up the screen. So if you're into the lesbian thing, watch it. If you're not then you have to like crime movies to enjoy this one. The plot has plenty of twists and turns to keep it somewhat intense and the acting is decent.

`Kicking and Screaming' starts off at a college graduation party but ends nowhere. Noah Boambach is definitely trying to copy the style of Whit Stillman of `Barcelona' and `Metropolitan' fame. The dialogue has the intellectual snobbery that is present in Stillman's films. The main reason this movie falls short is because there is not one character in the movie that the viewer can sympathize with. All the characters are self-obsessed and spoiled. Perhaps that's the point but it doesn't make this one any easier to watch. Did I mention there's no plot? None. In fairness to Mr. Boambach, this film deserves some praise because it strays from the typical Hollywood college love story and Eric Stolz gets thumbs up as the guy who has been in school for 8 years.