All the Birds Have Flown South

It's impossible to spend 97 minutes with the three characters who are the focus of this depressing story about an older man (Paul Sparks) who has just lost his mother, then becomes involved with a troubled waitress (Joey Lauren Adams) and her handicapped husband (Dallas Roberts). None of these characters are likable, and the way they treat each other is beyond contempt. The husband and wife can barely be in the same room together, and when they make love, he can't perform and gets angry, orders her off of him, then yells at Sparks who comes over to look at him while his wife is away. She's cut stealing from the cookie jar and is fired, and we're supposed to feel sorry for her when she stands outside crying and has her former boss yelling at her to get away from the restaurant. In one scene, Sparks is in a wheelchair in a drug store, asking someone for help, only to be constantly ignored. Then he's walking around and staring at the couple making love. This is the narrative that is supposed to entice us to spend time trying to care about them, and that is impossible because they are all extremely disgusting people. The film has a good premise but there's no sympathy for any of them. I hate seeing people acting like this in public let alone spending my valuable time watching them in a movie, and it was absolutely humorless and disgusting. No wonder there weren't any previous reviews. I can't imagine anybody getting through it.

It's impossible to spend 97 minutes with the three characters who are the focus of this depressing story about an older man (Paul Sparks) who has just lost his mother, then becomes involved with a troubled waitress (Joey Lauren Adams) and her handicapped husband (Dallas Roberts). None of these characters are likable, and the way they treat each other is beyond contempt. The husband and wife can barely be in the same room together, and when they make love, he can't perform and gets angry, orders her off of him, then yells at Sparks who comes over to look at him while his wife is away. She's cut stealing from the cookie jar and is fired, and we're supposed to feel sorry for her when she stands outside crying and has her former boss yelling at her to get away from the restaurant. In one scene, Sparks is in a wheelchair in a drug store, asking someone for help, only to be constantly ignored. Then he's walking around and staring at the couple making love. This is the narrative that is supposed to entice us to spend time trying to care about them, and that is impossible because they are all extremely disgusting people. The film has a good premise but there's no sympathy for any of them. I hate seeing people acting like this in public let alone spending my valuable time watching them in a movie, and it was absolutely humorless and disgusting. No wonder there weren't any previous reviews. I can't imagine anybody getting through it.