After stabbing a retarded boy, the fifteen years old troubled and pessimist Leland P. Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling) is sent to a juvenile detention. His teacher and aspirant writer Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle) gets close and tries to understand him, first with intention of writing a book, and later becoming his friend. Leland slowly discloses his sad vision of world, showing that he is a sociopath.

"The United States of Leland" is a depressive and interesting study of a character. The low paced riveting screenplay discloses pieces of the story like a puzzle; there are excellent lines and dialogs; the performances are great, although the twenty-three years old Ryan Gosling does not convince as a fifteen years old teenager; but it seems that a part is missing to complete the puzzle and make "The United States of Leland" an unforgettable movie. The disappointing clarification of the "why" for the violent action of Leland against Ryan Pollard is not convincing or touching, indeed shows that this character is a totally deranged sociopath with a weird and sick sight of world. Further, the way Allen Harris gets Pearl's knife is ridiculous. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Mundo de Leland" ("The World of Leland")

"After seemingly ordinary 15-year-old Leland (Ryan Gosling) stuns his quiet suburban community with a chilling crime, he is sent to juvenile hall where he meets Pearl (Don Cheadle),a teacher and aspiring write who dreams of making Leland's compelling story into a book. As Pearl digs deeper into Leland's life and the people caught up in it - his mother (Lena Olin),his famous writer-father (Kevin Spacey),and his troubled girlfriend (Jena Malone) - he uncovers Leland's disturbing motive. The tables soon turn when the enigmatic teen forces Pearl to examine his own morally questionable behavior. Climaxing with a shocking collision of violence, understanding, and hope, Leland will take you to states you never imagined," according to the DVD sleeve description.

It starts off with the lead character, Mr. Gosling hazily recalling one of the film's crimes - the killing of "retarded" Michael Welch (as Ryan Pollard),the little brother of his junkie girlfriend Jena Malone (as Becky "Beck" Pollard). Gosling doesn't quite remember committing the crime, although no real sense of mystery abounds. "Sometimes the most important stuff goes away," Gosling explains. In any case, you're correct in suspecting cagey Chris Klein (as Allen Harris) is somehow involved. Apparently, the motive is a combination of mercifully ending sadness and parental neglect. The film is most interesting in drawing parallels between the characters played by Gosling and Mr. Klein, two young men finding love and sex with surrogate families.

Both Gosling and Klein are clearly too old for their roles; Gosling is supposed to be 15, and Klein calls a 20-year-old drug dealer an "older guy" (in a brief scene, he looks younger than Klein, who beats him for presumably forcing Ms. Malone to take drugs). Top-billed Don Cheadle (as Pearl Madison) isn't the star; rather, he plays a juvenile prison schoolteacher and a aspiring writer who cheats on his girlfriend. Martin Donovan (as Harry Pollard) and Kevin Spacey (as Albert T. Fitzgerald) make a "good dad"/"bad dad" comparison. Director Matthew Ryan Hoge makes a successful first impression, and much about the film is good - but, very little about it makes any sense. "The United States of Leland" could also say something about the country, or not…

***** The United States of Leland (1/18/03) Matthew Ryan Hoge ~ Ryan Gosling, Chris Klein, Jena Malone, Don Cheadle

The United States of Leland is a lovable film about a semi-detached kid named Leland P. Fitzgerald. Leland ,played by a very young Ryan Gosling, has an "awkward" look on life to say the least. He never sees his father and his girlfriend is a heroin addict.

This movies time-line is all messed up, in all honesty. Though I just told you the beginning of the story, you do not figure any of that out until after half of the movie is over. The true plot comes when Leland, a seemingly gentle person, commits the murder of a special needs kid. The kid was also his girlfriends brother. Well Ex- girlfriend. At this point in the movie, she had already broken little Leland's heart, which maybe one of the only scenes he shows emotion.

While he is in juvenile hall, the movie jumps back and forth and seems to be trying to explain why he done what he had done. Leland meets a man who takes an interest in him. He wants to write a book about Leland. He sneaks Leland a pencil and a notebook which Leland titles The United States Of Leland. He constantly writes in this book, and when the movie is concluding, the author wanna-be decides to read the notebook.

Leland wrote about how sad the world is, and how he seen the sadness the most in the kid he murdered. Of course, none of this is revealed until Leland is murdered in Juvenile hall by a close family friend to the victim.

Do You agree? disagree? Whatever the case, make sure you watch this movie knowing it uses the word 'retard' a lot. Just a warning.

Gavin Johns, Wanna-Be critic, [email protected]