Rating: 
Summary: The genious is in the simplicity.
Review: For those that think that the story is implausible need to go to some small towns in Texas or Oklahoma and live for awhile. There ARE people like that out there. And there are tons of parents that really don't know enough about who their kids hang out with. They just go through life in the clouds. And that is who this mother was. This is flat out one of the best films to come along in years. The relationships of all of the characters is amazing. The one that stands out is obviously with Carl and Frank (the young boy). And also Carl has a unique relationship with Vaughn (John Ritter) and it is actually quite comical although not deep. And then there is Doyle (Dwight Yoakam) He hates everyone. He even treats his so-called friends bad. Yoakam is a very underated actor and he should get an award. I caught myself laughing a lot at just how real this character was. One of the great parts of this movie is when dominating Doyle almost forces his friends come over and play music on the front lawn and then screams at them all for not doing it all his way and wanting to leave and then kicks them out. It was just funny (and disturbing). It was well acted, directed and just a great film. This one will be well worth the DVD price to have and watch again.
Rating:
Summary: Believe the Hype
Review: A wonderful movie, all engrossing and thought provoking. Carl Childers (Thornton) is being released from the mental hospital. He had murdered his mother and a young boyfriend with a sling blade when he was 12 years old. After an institution employee arranges for him to work at a local garage, Carl befriends the young, fatherless Frank Wheatley (Black). Frank likes Carl so much that he arranges to have Carl live with his mother (Canerday) and himself. All is not good, however, because his mother's boyfriend, Doyle (Yoakam) is alcoholic and abusive. Watch this movie!
Rating: 
Summary: Heavy movie with a happy ending
Review: A supposedly retarded man (not very, I assure you) was imprisoned as a child after he killed his mother and her boyfriend for having sex together. He has served his time and has been released to live with a family in trouble. The young mom, with a son, is burdened by one of those sick boyfriends who get violent and who threaten to kill their women if they try to leave. Obviously there is only one thing to do. If you were in this situation you'd figure out what has to be done here, and the retarded man figures it out too. The worst thing about this movie is that it is too slow moving most of the way. The best thing about it is a little scene where our hero is sharpening his blade, and you know why.
Rating:
Summary: Some Folks Call it a Great Movie
Review: The best part of "Sling Blade" is in the first fifteen minutes, which introduce us to Billy Bob Thorton's memorable lead character. Carl is a mentally retarded inmate living in a home for the criminally insane because he killed his mother with...you guessed it...a sling blade. He is interviewed by a student reporter from a college newspaper in a room dark except for one lamp shining beside him. He starts to speak and...that voice!The rest of the movie is more conventional, but still quite good as it follows Carl upon his release from the asylum. The movie features uniformly excellent performances, including a tour de force from Dwight Yoakum playing an abusive good ol' boy. Overall, this is a memorable film that will stay with you long after the closing credits roll.
Rating:
Summary: Struggle and sentiment never spoke so profusely.
Review: Billy Bob Thornton took the film world by storm in 1997 when he gave us Sling Blade. The story is about Karl Childers (Thornton); an inmate recently released from a mental institution after twenty-five years. This tale of second chances and protecting what is precious to us is significant in that it allows us to see that not all choices are bad despite their outcome. Born and raised in the rural south, Childers is a man of quiet wisdom and simple needs. He returns to the town of his birth to find he is a total stranger with a need to re-assimilate. In the process of finding work and trying to let go of his past, he befriends a young mother and her son who immediately take a liking to Childers despite his situation of being mentally challenged. The plot unfolds as he begins to meet more and more people in the town whom either welcomes him with open arms or turn a cold shoulder. Finally, just as his life is seemingly back in order, he is confronted by perhaps the most difficult choice a man in his position is required to make. Thornton gives an originally crafted performance, which leads the way into and through this film of emotional rollercoasters. Each character in this representation lower middle class America is a different open-book portrayal of how one's attitude towards life affects relationships with others as well as one's destiny.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie with great soundtrack!
Review: I saw this couple years after release mostly because of DwightYoakum, he was awesome, like I say, take off the hat and he isn'tDwight! Storyline about mentally challenged man who befriends a youngboy who clearly needs someone to lean on. His mother doesn't have the common sense, guts or maternal instinct and knowledge to dump an abusive loser coward of a man who intimidates anyone he deems weaker than him (Doyle). Billy Bob was outstanding, John Ritter was extremely convincing and little Frank with his cute heavy southern accent was a natural. The soundtrack was fabulous!
Rating:
Summary: A movie that you can't stop thinking about
Review: The performance by Billy Bob Thornton is nothing short of amazing. People who don't understand this movie usually don't understand the south, and how differently things work there. The performances are simple, yet understated and thus, work perfectly in the environment for which they are set. People who have never been to a small town in the south can see first-hand what life is REALLY like, from a former southerner. More importantly, Billy Bob Thornton manages to show that the world isn't always black and white, and that so called "simple minds" aren't always cluttered with the logic of societal expectations. Because of that, people like Karl often aren't nearly as simple as we think. I still watch this film from time to time, just because it amazes me with its simple, yet poetic and tragic story line. It is a work of great genius, and one that will haunt you long after you see it. In my opinion, you cannot go wrong with this. I own my copy, and will buy another when I get a DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! What a social commentary and touching movie.
Review: I had no preconceptions when I decided to watch this movie, so I wasn't even biased about its content. This movie wasn't only a deeply saddening movie, but it had an interesting view on our society and the way it deals with people who are mentally challenged. It really made me think. The ending was predictable, but it didn't even matter. Billy Bob Thornton was amazing in this movie, I had to keep reminding myself that he's not like that in real life. Excellent movie!
Rating:
Summary: A powerful performance by Thornton
Review: "Sling Blade" is one of the more accurate depictions of small town life in the South. It is ironic to me that Thornton received an Oscar for the screenplay but not one for his acting. Billy Bob Thornton as Carl Childers was a far more engaging individual than Tom Hanks overrated performance as Forrest Gump (Hanks can't mimic a Southern accent worth a damn). Sling Blade identified some of the typical gripes that Yankees have with the South, such as homophobia, yet it depicts the run-of-the-mill Southerner (with the exceptions of Childers' father and Doyle Hargraves who were the resident white trash) as a decent individual. I found that refreshing. The camera angles and casual development of the story were a significant part of the effect that the movie achieved. The South tends to let things happen rather than forcing the issue the way that the North does. In essence, morality and kindness are still in vogue with Americans. Sling Blade conveys this message with its story and the overwhelmingly positive response that it has received from viewers.
Rating: 
Summary: I tired, I really did
Review: I desperately wanted to like this movie. I am a big fan of so called "independent" films, and given the horrid stuff that mainstream Hollywood churns out the reviews I read and heard of "Sling Blade" immediately put it on my list of movies I wanted to see, and I first saw it in a theater shortly after it opened. Yes, first saw it. I have seen this film three times, each time desperately trying to figure out why so many people have gone completely gaga over it. The plot is not only too simplistic, but breathtakingly implausible, the whole thing is just so full of southern cliches it becomes more and more painful to sit through as the movie progresses, and the performances are strictly hollow, with no depth or originality. I have simply just given up trying to figure out what the fuss was all about. I guess it is just time to move on.
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