To me, this movie is perfection.

Simply A Masterpiece

One of my all time favorites.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I think the producers' idea with this movie was that if you have an artsy sci fi basic plot, add a well known director in Richard Kelly and add in a host of recognisable actors, people will flock to see your movie. Whether people were actually sucked in by this and went and saw it in theatres, I don't know, but I just saw it on cable and it sure did suck, big time.The plot, if you can call it that, is random at best and generally quite boring and pretentious. The actors are mostly 80s/90s has-beens, eg Christopher Lambert, John Larroquette, or B-grade idols of teens, eg Justin Timberlake, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar.And then, the crowning glory - the movie is 2 hrs 24 minutes long! No marks for editing either.Only thing preventing this from being a 1/2-star movie is the Justin Timberlake dream sequence in the middle, involving JT lip-synching The Killers' "All these things that I've done", with an army of nurses. Very cool.

I despise this movie, no seriously, it can burn in hell.I know it's been like eight years, but forget it, i'm still mad, I need to vent this frustration.Richard Kelly lost his goddamn mind after Donnie Darko and not one of the producers on Southland Tales had any guts to call him out on his bulls**t because they didn't want to question his so-called genius and make it sound like they "Didn't Get It".They "Didn't Get It" because there's nothing "To Get".This is what happens when storytellers who can't control their visions are left to their own devices without any creative control. Similar circumstances gave us: One from the Heart, Heaven's Gate, A Serious Man, Matrix Reloaded, Moonwalker, Glitter, Death Proof, Lady in the Water and the Star Wars Prequels. All those vanity projects that lost their way, some being remembered as some of the worst movies of their time.It's a good thing that Richard Kelly's career never recovered from this, as far as i'm concerned after making Southland Tales he should have been shot into the sun, but such a glamorous death is too kindly.I hope and dream that one day I will walk into a McDonalds and catch him sweeping the floor.

Seriously, one of the best movies I've ever seen! It's not a very well known movie and unfortunately not very well liked. My opinion is that it's because most people don't understand it. It took me many times of watching it to fully comprehend what was going on throughout the entirety of the film! Hell, even the script had one of the actor's, Curtis Armstrong's, assistant in tears because she couldn't make heads or tails of it. Which is why he joined the project in the first place. If you've seen it, and didn't like it, please give it another chance! Just remember, Donnie Darko wasn't as good the first time around as the second! Thank you and enjoy!

If you don't get it, no worries, no one did. Those who say they did are reaching or at best taking bits and pieces of this impenetrable Picture and making something out of it. That's an exercise in thought process and that alone is a good thing. One might say, hey, it makes you think. But this just makes you think you think. It's more like a Rorschach Test, a glob of goo for you to make something out of, and who's to argue. It is free association, but it comes at a heavy price.This is incomprehensible and daft. A presumptuous mess of Quotations and Character Names that are Ha Ha. To be kind, the Movie has a few Funny Lines and looks rather Cool. But if you are going to have so many Ideas, why make them indecipherable. A lost language of sorts, that has no Rosetta Stone. The Secrets to the Universe are there, one thinks anyway, but unfortunately it is buried forever, or at least until that Psychedelic kicks in. Or not. Truth be told, even the Director, after the Film was made, was clueless. The first release was 2 hours and 45 minutes as it was proudly unleashed on a not so forgiving Cannes Audience. It was Booed relentlessly and was one of the lowest rated Movies in the Festivals History. So, Richard Kelly (Writer/Director) cut 20 minutes and added Narration. Didn't help. It was still a headache inducing, jaw dropping, Soul Less, catastrophe. It remains so to this day, with even a few Years for it to catch on and acquire a Cult Audience, its intention. Nope. Trying to make sense of the senseless is still its greatest challenge. You might want to give it a try. You know, that Rorschach thing. Good Luck.