Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

a_chinn Fascinating documentary about a small time entrepreneur/hustler buying a grill at an unclaimed property storage unit auction and finding an amateurishly mummified human foot inside. Things get complicated when the owner of the foot, a drug addict, rich kid, perennial screw up, wants his foot back. Shannon Whisnant, the new owner of the foot, wants to parlay the foot into fame and fortune, and has no interest in returning the foot. John Wood, the man to whom the foot belongs, just wants his foot back. What unfolds is a crazy journey for both men that is impossible to predict what directions it goes and where it ultimately ends up. On the surface, this is a terrifically entertaining tale of two colorful sad sacks, but the film is more than that. The severed limb that serves as the McGuffin of the film becomes a symbol of sorts to both men as the key to unlocking their dreams. In the end, the foot has nothing to do with where the two end up and it's up to the individuals what they do wit their lives.

jdesando "I've always been famous. It's just now people are finding me." Shannon Whisnat Bizarre is as bizarre does. Finders Keepers is an authentic good-old boy documentary set in North Carolina about rednecks John Wood and Shannon Whisnat, the former storing his amputated leg in a smoker grille in a storage unit. The latter buys the smoker at auction and wants to keep it to peddle his fame while John wants it back because it is his connection to his dad.The challenge with the material is for educated audiences not to feel superior to the Crackers on the edge of insanity struggling with their demons, John alcoholism and Shannon fame. Shannon's plight is the more pathetic of the two, an overweight dreamer who pursues reality-show fame as if it were his destiny.As we watch family members--sisters, mothers, wives-- themselves redneck real, there seems no way out of their unsophistication, yet there is. John laments the furor over the leg--he goes on a Judge show with Shannon to fight legally for possession--and turns his energy to sobriety. Shannon sees he's the butt of jokes on the reality circuit and while disconsolate seems to be entering a sober phase of his life.Whether or not the filmmakers manipulate to make the subjects denser than they are is arguable, but they sure have some witty observations: About John, Shannon says, "He was born with a silver crack pipe in his mouth." There's a cinema verite feel to the proceedings, recognition that even these down-home characters have arcs leading to self-awareness. Too many fiction movies don't do that.

mail-441-387808 I can't fault this really stunning documentary.When the director stumbled across the numerous eccentric characters who made up this film, I'm sure he couldn't have believed his luck. However instead of ridiculing the characters, he sensitively lets them tell their own stories in their own way. Make no mistake - the end result will make you laugh out loud, which is why you should watch it in a crowd. However much of the humour comes from the editing rather than cheap shots at the characters' expense, and you will find yourself respecting both them and the director.You'll also spend much of the movie thinking you are watching a mockumentary, since most of the stars are outstandingly telegenic, and the story - well it's too bizarre to be fiction.The soundtrack is superb, as are the editing, the direction, the way the clips are woven into a story with a history and an ending, the attention to detail, and even the camera work.Happy to give up a couple of hours of my time to this movie, and anything else by the same director.

JustCuriosity Finders Keepers was warmly received at the SXSW Film Festival. It is one of those stories which prove that truth is almost always much stranger than fiction. There are many true stories – like this one – which no one would believe if you wrote them as fiction. In this bizarre tale of how John Wood's amputated leg is accidentally sold at auction to Shannon Whisnant who has the screwball idea of making money by displaying it as some sort of macabre tourist attraction. The film actually uses this strange incident as an opportunity to explore the severely dysfunctional lives of both men and their families. Wood is a drug addict still dealing with the grief of losing his father in the same plane crash that cost him his leg. Whisnant appears to be some sort of unhappy narcissist who sees the purchase of an amputated leg as his ticket to the fame and fortune that has long eluded him thus far in his rather mundane lifeThe film makers take this material and while gently mocking the men's eccentricities also allows them to share their complicated stories. The film may even serve as a partial catharsis for them. Finders Keepers is hilarious. The filmmakers keep the story moving in a highly entertaining manner. Despite the entertainment component the emotions of the protagonists and their families are very real and their pain about the problems in their lives is also very real. Really the leg they are battling for becomes a strange metaphor for the aspects of themselves that are missing in both their lives. Finders Keepers walks the line between comedy and tragedy and does so delightfully. I had no idea what to expect when I walked into this film and I think I got a lot more than I expected.