The United States of Leland

Produced by Kevin Spacey, The United States of Leland is a psychological drama concerning the aftereffects of a brutal murder. It's also the first big-studio theatrical release for writer/director Matthew Ryan Hoge, whose previous work consists of the independent comedy Self Storage. Ryan Gosling ...more

The Believer's Ryan Gosling plays another troubled teen in The United States of Leland, but there's a huge gulf in realism between the two roles. Gosling's skinhead Danny Balint may have been hard to watch, but he was always "believe"-able, as it were. Gosling's Leland Fitzgerald is a much more pleasant misfit, a sensitive intellectual who voices life observations in a placid suburban drawl. But he kills the mentally handicapped brother of his girlfriend for reasons he can't explain, which makes ...more