SunnyHello Nice effects though.

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Jay Raskin Any movie with Jennifer Jason Leigh, my favorite actress, automatically gets at least five stars. I have never seen her play a character and be less than riveting...until this film. She just plays a very minor role. On screen for less than ten minute, she is good, but bland compared to her other performances. The same thing can be said for Juliet Lewis. She is cute and natural as the family sister, as usual, but relatively bland.Bland is a good word for this film. The plot, acting and directing is pedestrian and average, really television show quality. All three lead brothers went on to star in television shows, Peter Berg in "Chicago Hope," Noah Wyle in "E.R." (Doctors) and Vincent D'onofrio in "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" (Detective). It is nice to see them this young, before they moved to television.The movie is essentially about two brothers and their attempts to move away from their family. Apparently the family is a warm and loving place, but because their father had an affair with a waitress, it is all a sham. The characters keep saying that the family holds them back from doing bigger and better things, but that is not evident in anything that happens.There are several rather interesting scenes and shots, but they are in the last 1/3 of the film. If you can get past the first hour which drags, it does improve somewhat. The burning of the father's love letters scene sticks out for the tension it builds as the letters seem to escape and start burning dangerously close to a gas station.Their are better movies of this genre out there, but if you have seen "East of Eden," "Hotel New Hampshire," Running WithScissors, and other better dysfunctional family movies, you might consider this movie. It is dull, but has enough mildly entertaining moments to make it watchable.

lmason2926 The cast looked promising, but I was stunned to read the other comments about this movie. To compare this to Shakespeare would make the Bard spin in his grave. Not only did it not "grow on me" but I found it increasingly painful to view. The pain then turned to laughter as we started realize how stupid this movie actually was with it's predictable dialog and it's made-for-TV feel, straight from the Lifetime channel.The only lessons to be learned here besides always making your socks match your shirt, is that you should never keep incriminating items. The Warrens are one messed up family. So if there is absolutely nothing else on, It's one of those "it's so bad it's good" things. I give it 3 stars!

TxMike No spoilers in this first paragraph. The story is narrated by Tom, who as a young adult is played by Peter berg. But the story begins when he is a young boy, right before dad (Peter Coyote) pulls up stakes out East and moves the family to Washington state to begin a new career. We find out later that it wasn't that simple. After Tom grows up and goes off to school, the story picks up again when he comes back home. Older brother Charley (Vince D'Onofrio) seemed particularly restless, and wanted to leave home, but for some unspoken reason couldn't, saying "It isn't that simple." We suspect some deep, dark secret resides withing him. Juliette Lewis who was only 18 plays little sis Cassie. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Marriet who becomes Tom's new girlfriend after he comes home. My wife and I found the story interesting and the acting good, but were both disappointed at the end. The movie brought many things to light, but with little back story to explain. In the end we were left more puzzled than satisfied.SPOILERS are in the remaining comments.Right before the family moves west we see Charley dancing with local pretty waitress Jennetta (Marg Helgenberger), then taking her outside. Young Tom (about 12 or so) sneaks around the corner to see them close, then brother Charley leaves in a huff. Tom goes to Jennetta to see what is wrong, she takes his head in her hands, and kisses him on the lips. Which he thought was great since he already had an infatuation with her. Then brother Charley comes back for him. Years later in Washington when the house burns down (we later find it was Charley as a way to leave), Tom is left a note with reference to a safe box, Charley had saved all dad's letters from Jennetta so they wouldn't burn, and wanted the two younger brothers to read them. Dad finds out, the boys go to burn the letters, embarrassed, the fire gets out of hand, younger brother Ask (Noah Wyle) chases down burning letters and gets run over, dies, later Charley comes home, the family is one big mess. In the end we see Tom and Marriet heading off to Berkely together. Dad had moved west years earlier as his only way to break off the affair with Jennetta. We never did find out why Charley felt he couldn't leave home.

chthon2 When a young man, Tom (Peter Berg), comes home to visit his family, he finds that since he has left the Warrens have become majorly disfunctional as a result of his father's hidden infidelity. His father, Edward (Peter Coyote), refuses to deal with these problems, going into denial and pretending that everything is fine. His older brother Charley (Vincent D'Onofrio) attempts to get kicked out of the family by causing emotional trouble, becoming violent, and he finally beats up Tom in the end, to no avail; Tom realizes that Edward won't throw Charley out because that would be letting him win.This is the sort of dark little film which is original and wonderfully written but too subdued and depressing to ever gain wider acceptance. The tale of a family's descent into mutual distrust and self pity is not something most people would be willing to watch, regardless of the quality of the work.Good directorial work and writing here. The performances are also all solid, especially D'Onofrio as the aggressive sociopath son and Noah Wyle as his brother Ask, such a riveting performance from a young Wyle. Take the time to watch this at least once if you see it on the movie channels. It's too extreme for many people to relate to, but it does keep you entertained, and it has a good, realistic ending.