Oh Chris...

The United States of Leland(dir. Matthew Ryan Hodge)
This movie reminds of Babel because it has all these elements in its narrative that it could easily make a statement about, but doesn't deliver. The difference between this and Babel is that even though didn't say really anything, it still had a somewhat compelling narrative. The character of Leland is pretty dull with his constant philosophical musings that sound like they're deep, but are utterly pointless. That's how the film is as a whole. The most compelling aspect was Chris Klein's performance and his revenge subplot. You could see the director striving for something that he couldn't quite grasp. It would have probably been a better picture if the film had a judgemental view of Leland and focused on the family's grief. His act was senseless since he goes on and on about how he hates seeing sadness in the world yet he creates it by killing a child which creates suffering for basically everyone around him. It was quite flawed.
** out of ****