The United States of Leland

If only when people whispered 'Everything is going to be okay', it was always true. Leland (Ryan Gosling) is a 16 year old meek young man, who appears to me to have autism due to the fact he seems unable to pick up on social cues and unable to show emotions (although this is not confirmed in the synopsis). He falls for a troubled teenage girl called Becky, and through her meets her brother Ryan who is disabled. This is where life changes dramatically for Leland. The film shows many flashbacks in Leland's life from the death of his grandmother, the family he met in New York instead of travelling to see his father in Paris and how he ended up in a juvenile detention centre. Gosling's portrayal of Leland was absolutely amazing and had me engrossed from start to finish. I can only think the fact that there are many flashbacks throughout the film, and not all of them clear to the viewer straight away is why some people have not rated this film highly. I however, seeing many films work in this manner was able to connect to this fact straight away, so I was able to watch the film for what it was. Gosling by far is the most talented cast member of the film, however, the rest of the cast also brought their acting strengths to the film too. A heart-breaking film of loves lost, lives lost and being left alone; but also heart-warming in many scenes. An emotional rollercoaster!

Not a bad film but really nothing special. Relatively interesting, touching and well acted but could have possibly been so much more.

I enjoyed this film very much. It has some superb actors in it, and they helped create a certain mood that we all sometimes feel in life - that whatever is wrong cannot be solved for .... a whole lot of reasons. The message that two wrongs do not make a right, the fact that sometimes no one can help you because everyone already struggle so much with their own shortfalls,

A real shame.

Potentially, a very good film.

Good cast (originally watched the trailer due to the impressive recent displays of Ryan Gosling) and, if done correctly, a good story.

However, the potentially good idea never seemed to grab my attention 100%. Slow and dull.

Some good scenes, some good acting, but overall pretty disappointing.

A whole load of nothing much. The adverts looked good for this film, so I thought I'd give it a go. Serverely dissapointed! Nothing much happens, nothing about the film is memorable. Love Chris Klein- and he is the only good thing about this film