Themes: Small-Town Life, Misfits and Outsiders, Mysterious Strangers
Main Cast: Mark Webber, Zooey Deschanel, Harry Dean Stanton, Drea de Matteo, Patrick Fugit, Chris Klein
Release Year: 2007
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
First-time helmer Steve Berra writes and directs the finely felt coming-of-age story The Good Life, a film à clef loosely based on Berra's experiences growing up in a Nebraskan small town during the '70s and '80s. Mark Webber stars as the director's alter ego, a more or less well-adjusted adolescent who nevertheless cuts against the grain of his football-obsessed friends and neighbors. Zooey Deschanel plays a young woman in the town who befriends Webber and encourages him to celebrate his uniqueness and individuality; Harry Dean Stanton portrays a local cinema owner who gives Webber a job running the theater. The picture co-stars Chris Klein as an abusive ex-high school football star, Bruce McGill as a worshipped football coach, and Bill Paxton (who also co-produced) as an admirer of Judy Garland. Though set in Nebraska, Berra and co. filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The film reunites Paxton and Stanton, who also co-star in the HBO series Big Love. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
