Stateside is a movie that shows glimpses of what could have been an emotional and intense drama, but which ultimately left me cold. It deals with a spoiled rich kid who causes a serious car accident, leaving his local Catholic priest paralyzed. His influential father is able to keep him out of jail, but only if he agrees to join the army. Reluctantly the kid agrees, gets the rough treatment from his drill sergeant (a pretty good role by Val Kilmer) who does not like spoiled little rich kids. Then during one of the times when he is on leave he meets with a girl who suffers from schizophrenia, falls for her with a passion and sees that same passion returned. He does not seem to realize how mentally sick his new lover is, though, which leads to much heartbreak.
It’s all not as sugary as it sounds, but it’s not really involving either.
Too much blanks in the story are left open, while the actors don’t get a chance to fully develop their characters. This means that you will probably shrug your shoulders at all that is going on. I wanted to care about the characters, but director Reverge Anselmo makes that practically impossible by not making clear what the characters really feel. The only thing remotely interesting about Stateside is leading actress Rachel Leigh Cook, who looks in this movie like a cuter version of Katie Holmes. It’s a miracle that she seems to have disappeared from the big screen, mostly popping up in TV-shows and direct to video stuff. But if she keeps acting in movies like this, it’s not likely that status will change for the better any day soon…
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