American Honey

MOVIE #1,527 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 04.10.24 ᴾᵃʳᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ᴬᴺᴰᴿᴱᴬ ᴬᴿᴺᴼᴸᴰ ᴰⁱʳᵉᶜᵗᵒʳ ᶠᵒᶜᵘˢ I kind of hate all these characters but I assume that's the point? We're introduced to more characters than we could possibly remember, each one the embodiment of some stylish trope (and/or, at worst, a third rate Kevin Smith creation — the flying squirrel guy is cool, though). The movie immediately gets better every time we leave the degenerate squad behind and it's just Sasha Lane and Shia LaBeouf (and briefly very fun when the former encounters a trio of cowboy men led by the great Will Patton). I liked all the b-roll shots of various animals, bugs, plants and the wonderful scenery the best. But then there’s a random bear that walks right up to Lane and, yeah, this isn’t working. When a little kid starts reciting Dead Kennedys’ lyrics, it’s really not working.

This almost tracks if you look at it as a blown-out farce (why are these kids — aside from the leads, duh — so happy all the time?) but it never pushes far enough in that direction. The criticism that this is an outsider's view of America is a valid one, I think. Even as a joke, I don't think this is a country that Arnold really gets. (Not that she ‘needs’ to get it to make a movie, just that she doesn't and she didn't.)

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American Honey is a 2016 road drama film written and directed by Andrea Arnold. The film stars Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf and Riley Keough. American Honey follows Star (Lane), a young girl from a troubled home, who runs away with a traveling sales crew who drive across the American Midwest selling magazine subscriptions door to door. Principal photography began in May 2015 with filming taking place in several states across America. It is Arnold's first film to be set and filmed outside the United Kingdom. It was released on September 30, 2016.