Don’t come to this movie expecting a plot driven story. Don’t expect a beginning middle and end with standard character arcs, conflicts or resolutions Don’t expect any answers All you find here are more questions. Maybe there is a “why” buried somewhere in this movie. But if there is one to be found it will have to be your own. The United States of Leland are made up of loosely attached masses of land. Maybe in these disjointed states life liberty and the pursuit of happiness has proved unfulfilling –maybe that’s why people who inhabit Leland’s United states intentionally choose wrong; the chose people who are wrong for them; they choose self destruction and substance abuse; they choose affairs that they know are hurtful to others and unfulfilling to themselves; They intentionally choose to make mistakes and no one’s sure why. But they still do them. And they can’t be undone. There are no clear answers given for anything, especially why Leland did what he did. This film seems to put the burden on us to make sense of our own lives. Maybe there is a “why” to our own lives… or maybe there isn’t.

Empty, pretentious film posing as a vehicle for insights and controversy it fails to deliver. Kevin Spacey's excellent performance as Leland's absentee father can't begin to save the film.