King of California

The King of Calinfornia features excellent performances and character development from Michale Douglass and Evan Rachel Wood. Douglass' character is especially weird and wacky, but respectable. The film is very slow moving, but enjoyable. The film is definitely not as it appears to be about the extrinsic treasure hunt. Rather is more of an intrinsic hunt for the relationship and love between a misguided father, and his prematurely grown-up daughter.

The film has a great balance of drama and humor, with just a touch of adventurous excitement. Other posts have similar offerings regarding the quality and depth of this film.

This film is about a recently released mental patient who is obsessed with finding hidden treasure mentioned by a 400 year old journal.

"King of California" is an interesting film. It starts off slow, but it the pace becomes increasingly quick along the way, and at the end the pace is too quick to grasp everything. I cannot not really understand the ending because so much happens within a short amount of time. I like Michael Douglas' portrayal as a psychotic person. He is not over the top, and yet looks and acts crazy enough. His character is likable and goofy. Evan Rachel Wood is also great in the film. This is a good piece of independent cinema. It is inspiring and heart warming I hope it gets more attention than it is having.

King Of California is best described as a wacky but sweet comedy. Michael Douglas is really delightful and that's reason enough to check out this film. He plays one of the most likable characters I've seen in a long time. The plot is so 'out there' I don't even know how to write a plot summary without making it sound like a silly kids movie. When in fact, it's a mature movie, dealing with real issues without ever getting preachy.

Some people have posted threads here on IMDb asking: Is this a comedy? Well, I'm not saying it's a typical American in your face comedy but it sure is funny to me.

Some complaints: Evan Rachel Wood is not really that great of an actress (yet). Of course she's talented but I mean...she was talented four years ago. Now I'm like...when is she finally gonna deliver. To be fair, I haven't seen all of her movies so maybe I should check out some other ones before spewing criticism.

Also, King Of California is one of those movies that left me feeling indifferent. That's not a flaw, it's just the kind of movie KOC is. I like movies that confront me or get me thinking.

I wouldn't recommend it to most of my friends, since I predict about half the people are really gonna like it, and half are gonna find it boring. I would recommend it to more mature people, who like independent films.

6.7/10

Make no mistake about it. Evan Rachael Wood is fast becoming a most welcome addition to the rising wave of young stars in films today. I totally admired her work in 'Thirteen' (2003),and 'Running With Scissors'(2006). In this one, she plays the daughter of a recently released mental patient (Michael Douglas,sporting an unkempt beard)who is obsessing over buried treasure somewhere in the suburbs of California. Michael Douglas makes his performance as Charles work nicely, acting like a loony that was released from the home a bit too early, in contrast to Wood's anchor that holds things together. The screenplay does contain a few potholes along the way, but not enough to make this worth avoiding.

Fifteen-year old Miranda(Evan Rachel Wood,luminescent!!) has had to grow up fast,since her mother left her and her father and said father,Charlie(Michael Douglass,in a word:WOW!) was institutionalized for reasons not entirely made clear but discernible through observation. When Charlie is de-institutionalized,he returns to his daughter with a grand plan to find gold in the hills along the Pacific Coast Highway. She is,in a word,skeptical.

Director and writer Mike Cahill makes a movie that is both at once full of quirk and melancholy,with the daughter as somewhat of a de facto narrator. The quest for finding the treasure,while ridiculous and unquestionably irresponsible,is still almost noble and pure. Wood and Douglass shine very nicely as the estranged,mentally delicate father and daughter duo who haven't stopped loving each other,even if they get each other even less than they did before. A simple story,framed by quirky music(jazz?folk?) and a nearly poetic filming of contemporary California coastline as it contrasts the 16th century maps that Charlie references. Lost in the sea of fall releases from last year,this film is a very pleasant find on the rental shelves.