Picture a cow in a field. Calmly chewing its cud. Feel the grass slipping from stomach one to stomach two, then into the third tummy, and finally, number four. At this point, the grass has no where to go other than down and out. A week later all that's left in the field from this whole episode is a smelly brown frisbee, used historically by the pioneers for winter's fuel. If AMER!CAN COWSLIP writer\director Mark David had captured this whole process on film, he no doubt would have produced a superior, far more engrossing flick than the one he expelled here instead. For Rip Torn, Val Kilmer, or Peter Falk, AMER!CAN COWSLIP was just another day at the office. But it's a disservice for the U.S. film community to drag former Hollywood stalwarts such as Diane Ladd or Bruce Dern into sludge of this nature. (And how did Jennifer Coolidge miss this mess--she's still alive, isn't she?) AMER!CAN COWSLIP puts the stew in "stoo-pid," with its mishmash of unbelievable characters spouting lame dialog in totally implausible situations. Hanna Hall as a virginal JUNO wannabe with a creepy attraction for the much older Ethan Inglebrink (Ronnie Gene Blevins) might interest some people. But the actual number is less than even the production of an AMER!CAN COWCHIP would attract.
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One of the worst movies I've seen. All the characters are one-dimensional, the dialog is insipid, and the characters' motivations make no sense at all. The protagonist is an unemployed, agoraphobic junky, who doesn't pay his rent and doesn't think of anybody but himself. He's disgusting, revolting and selfish. He has not a single redeeming quality, yet everyone loves him. Even his landlord, to which he owes several months rent, says that he really likes him. They don't even mind the fact that he goes weeks without bathing. But what's beyond even those absurdities is the cute teenage girl across the street, who is half his age and is madly in love with him. Yeah, this could happen - in a bizarro universe! I didn't laugh once. All the jokes were juvenile, insipid or lame. It was painful to sit through this. I felt embarrassed for the filmmakers. For example, they put trendy, titillating vulgarities like "corn rocket" and "donkey punch" in the mouths of 70 and 80 year-olds. This concept was beaten like a dead horse at least 15 years ago. And now, it's just sad. Every characters' actions are so implausible that the story falls apart because what they're doing is so completely out of character and nonsensical. It's as if a group of 10 year-olds got together and brainstormed for a story - and then threw in some requisite adult swearing. Who is the target audience? It's clearly written for the 10 year-old mind, so why did they make it an R rated movie? Don't waste your time with this trash.
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cekadah28 July 2013this is a perfect example of producers, writers, and director getting together and deciding to purposefully make a quirky crazy movie, with oddball goofy but lovable characters living in an exaggerated hyper color story book setting and fill the movie with some big Hollywood names! it doesn't work!
the plot line never gets beyond the stunted growth of Ethan's failed and sabotaged attempt to grow an American cowslip flower. none of the neighbors are remotely humorous or funny. Ethan is just so one dimensional the viewer looses interest in his erratic drug addicted reclusive life. and the women on the street all love him and for what reason we don't really know outside of the poker games. and the sudden jack and the beanstalk growth of the cowslip is just silly!
even goofy nonsense movies have to make sense somewhere in the story! this story is just a bunch of ideas thrown together to try to make an instant cult favorite. all it made was an instant failure.
skip it! -
ritera126 July 2009Cut to the chase, this is one of the five worst films that I've ever seen.
Not that they didn't try. There was some decent writing with some elements of structure in there, a good cast, some good acting. I'm not sure where it went wrong, but it went horribly wrong.
Some of the elements may have been bad structure and no substantive story, a lot of overacting by the lead (who probably is much better when restrained), some bad directing and editing. I had enough at about an hour, tearing my hair out at about a hour and a half and very agitated at the hour and fifty minutes it ran. There was also an insincerity about it all, being that I went with someone who used to be a heroin addict. He was agitated that it glamorized something that had nothing good to it. That was bolstered by the pretty 17 year-old girl who was in love with the 30 year-old junkie.
And the frantic nature of the lead was a turn-off enough. There were clunky plot points that were an attempt at a structure, but the end result was listless and unending (with uneven time lines). The characters were colorful but to no end, which made me feel bad for the quality actors who you've just not seen enough.
Skip it. I assumed that this was a first-time director who was enamored by his own turds, but he has done this before. I'm puzzled how this and many other really bad ideas find someone who will actually give them money. -
CambridgeMA28 July 2009I was reading on this guy's comments on American Cowslip, then saw that the same viewer called Tarantino's Kill Bill "Souless". Then he hated "Dan in real life" which I thought was really good. And worse, he panned Sean Penn's "Lost in the wild" film. I just saw that. It was amazing! When You hate everything - especially movies I think are terrific- I can't help but think "I can't wait to see this American Cowslip film", it must be brilliant if the same guy thinks Quentin Tarantino movies and Sean Penn films are horrible...right? Hell, I'm gonna go see this movie tonight! Hey, but to each their own I guess. I saw the lead " ronnie gene blevins" from American cowslip in southland, the shield and the cleaner. He seems like a terrific actor. I also think saw the director mark David's film Sweet thing in Austin like 5 years ago at sxsw and liked it enough to remember it. I'm not sure whether it ever came out, but I remember sitting in a theater with like 600 people that seemed to like it. I guess a lot of people like turds then...?
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I think this could have been an OK movie if the lead was someone else...or maybe not. He was just so disgusting. Whether this was intentional or not, given that he is a heroin junkie I have no idea. But I suspect the audience is expected to have some sort of empathy and/or sympathy for his character in a whimsical sort of way.
No, he was simply insufferable and it was hard to see why any of the other neighbours went out of their way for him.
The young teen neighbour (who, incidentally did look older) falling in love with him and all that was just plain creepy.
I hope this was not meant to be an anti-drug movie, because that is certainly not the way it came across. -
sk-barnes11 August 2009Just as it's name implies, this movie grew on me. It certainly left me with a feeling to see it again to make sure I had connected all the metaphoric dots creatively laid out for me.
The film weaves and knots a moral tale implying that we are all not only enablers but addicts to something, whether it be drugs, past glory, love, control or freedom. The characters' cracked facades only temporarily protect them from the dangers outside their front door and inside themselves. While leaning on each other, none of the characters ever obtain the help they help they need to "kick the habit" and it is their eventual undoing. It is a sad tale in which everyone looses something, unable to break out of the sweet sickness enabling their self-victimization.
While slow and repetitive at times, the characterizations are humanely broad enough that we see a little of ourselves in each one. The lighting of the film in golden and sunny overtones, the over-the-top silly humor at times, the fair-like set sweetens the bitter lesson this moralistic tale pours for us to swallow. Just as there is no such thing as an American Cowslip, there is no such thing as just an addict out of control. -
katie-32927 July 2009Campus Circle > Film > Movie Reviews Archives FILM: MOVIE REVIEWS American Cowslip (Buffalo Speedway) By Candice Winters
Ronnie Gene Blevins as Ethan Inglebrink ShareThis
It's the age of addiction, and everyone's an addict. The media, politicians and anyone with power treats us that way – like we're a hopeless race of information junkies. We want news fast, answers even faster and if someone makes a mistake, you'd better believe the whole world will know in the time it takes to upload video onto YouTube.
Director and co-writer of American Cowslip, Mark David toys with the idea that the quirks in life are fueled and maintained simply by the addiction that has become America's disease.
In a small town in the remote California desert, Ethan Inglebrink (Ronnie Gene Blevins) is an agoraphobic heroin addict who is obsessed with his garden. The few enjoyments Ethan has in life are his poker nights with his elderly neighbors (Cloris Leachman, Diane Ladd, Priscilla Barnes) whom he has convinced that he has diabetes in order to explain his frequent use of syringes.
Ethan's plan to evade eviction for another month is to win the $10,000 first prize in the "Garden of the Year" contest. The druggie is particularly interested in perfecting his "American cowslip," a beautiful rare flower that will be the centerpiece of his garden.
This dark comedy follows the last days of Ethan's life as he struggles to find purpose at a time when it might be too late to even matter. Spiraling down a dark and messy hole of drugs, self-loathing and insanity, Ethan finds true love in Georgia (Hanna Hall), his beautiful 17-year-old neighbor who wants to leave the small town to evade her abusive father (Bruce Dern).
Without spoiling the end, Ethan pays for his self-indulgent lifestyle, though it is the entire neighborhood block that comes to realize that everyone is an "Ethan," because passion is at the root of human nature.
American Cowslip is a comedy that makes subtle jabs at the absurdity of the current "normal" American lifestyle. This film is reminiscent of 2000's Requiem for a Dream, though in many ways it also parodies this and other films directed toward making a statement about America's drug pastime.
In fact, this film is so absurd, you can't help but laugh as Ethan convinces his old lady friend to score him some heroin under the guise that it's insulin. And when it comes down to it, even death is a silly coincidence.
Grade: B -
heburgess9 September 2010Ethan's boyish charm and innocence, combined with the very grown-up problems of drug addiction and paying rent, provide a very lovable and complex character. His friendships with the town matriarchs along with his newfound adoration of the lovely young Georgia feed this juxtaposition as he tries to come to terms with the losses he has endured. Unable to step outside the small world he has created for himself, both in his mind and in his garden, he is left with feelings of both desperation and hope. This plays out in an all-too-real, yet fairy-tale ending. Ethan's story reinforces the idea that as long as you have a legacy to leave, you can live forever. Although I don't have much experience with hardcore addicts, I found that I could entirely relate to the lead character, Ethan, and his neighboring friends and foes. This film has the power to give the viewer a lot of insight into the life and mind of an addict without being dry or preachy. Using wit, a wry gentleness, a touch of absurdity and a stellar cast, Mark David and co-writer Ronnie Gene Blevins have given us a vivid and imaginative view of a hopeless man who is, beautifully, full of hope.
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a cocktail of clichés, few good actors in bad roles, childish humor and blasphemies,absence of coherent story, a donkey and a Peter Pan complex case. nothing new or convincing. it can be one of comedies about small things or a mixture between American Pie and fake Seinfelt clone if has little measure. but it is only a basket with all in a kind of improvisation.Ronnie Gene Blevis in search of few scenes to make his role authentic. irony is a thin line, the situations are bizarre , the message is inexistent. the salvation - good intentions of makers who search present a case of good guy with a lot of sins. but the indulgence falls in contact with the pink end. conclusion - poor cast !
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chelsea-carey2 August 2009What a superb contribution to modern American film! I must admit that at first I was scared American Cowslip would fall into the dreary and desiccated trap that plagues some independent films; however, within the first 10 minutes I was overjoyed by the amount of vivaciousness and wit that flowed from the screen.
Co-writers Mark David and Ronnie Blevins are an inspirational team, and although he is surrounded by an award winning cast, Blevins holds his own in the spotlight. His character, Ethan, is eccentric yet lovable and he is harmoniously paired with his love interest Hanna Hall.
To me the movie is nothing less than 113 minutes of life, love, laughter, and addiction - without a single minute wasted!