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88There is pain, humor, irony and sweetness in the character, and a voice and manner so distinctive, he is the most memorable movie character I've seen in a long time.
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75The narrative is little more than a flimsy envelope -- it's the men and women who are sealed within that make Sling Blade worth watching.
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91It's a beautiful contraption of a movie, a gothic backwoods fable that uses its naive yet murderous hero to walk a fine line between sentimentality and dread.
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90Takes you down paths full of primitive, almost biblical implications, but it also finds comic relief in moments of palpable tension.
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90Perhaps the most remarkable thing here is Thornton's nuanced performance, but the film has other rare virtues: all the characters are fully and richly fleshed out (with some unexpected turns by John Ritter and singer Dwight Yoakam), and the story's construction is carefully measured.
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90Catches you up so firmly in its world that you find yourself accepting whatever Thornton presents right up to its deeply ironic finish.
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89Thornton, who wrote, directed, and stars in Sling Blade, has created an unforgettable character and situation, a film that's sure to become an American classic.
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80Marked by some powerful scenes, fine performances and colorful dialogue, this talented directorial debut by actor-writer Billy Bob Thornton has its effectiveness diluted by serious overlength and a rather monotonous, unmodulated tone.
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75Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed and stars in this compassionate, occasionally funny, character-driven movie about a mentally unstable man who takes the best interests of children very seriously.
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100Like the eloquent, darkly funny dialogue, the film's characters, setting and cadences draw us into its world, with all its terrors and tenderness. What emerges is a masterpiece of Southern storytelling that draws a sharp line between good and evil.
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100Who is Billy Bob Thornton? The question fascinates after seeing Sling Blade, the extraordinary first film that he wrote and directed and in which he plays the leading role. [Feb. 10, 1997]
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100A story that's startling, soulful and absolutely unforgettable.
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60Thornton is sadly affecting in the film's central role.
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80A remarkably moving and disturbing film about the possibility of belonging and the genealogy of violence.
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75Builds slowly but passionately, not dancing to some Hollywood tune, but finding its characters where they are and letting them be who they are.
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80(Thornton) does a remarkable job in all three categories, but what you're likely to remember most clearly is his performance.
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90The lure of Sling Blade is both elemental and hauntingly familiar, and I would not be surprised if Thornton's breakthrough film is one day considered a classic in its own right.
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80(Thornton) proves his mettle as an actor, writer and director with this bleakly comic and surprisingly tender movie.
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63I can't help thinking, though, that maybe Thornton was too ambitious in trying to wear three hats.
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70The atmosphere is Southern Gothic pure enough to do Carson McCullers proud -- grotesque, sentimental and dankly nasty -- and Thornton manages not to undermine his own writing.
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87What evolves among them is a kind of realistic fairy tale, sustained by the sweet gravity and guttural, deadpan minimalism of Thornton's performance.
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100Sling Blade is about a society barely holding on by its fingernails, the home and hearth hardly a place of respite. Unlike "The Ice Storm" or "The Sweet Hereafter," Sling Blade is devoid of the creature comforts of middle-class life that at least allow people the degraded hobbies that keep them functioning. [May, 1998]
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Resonates like the best of Southern fiction.
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Sling Blade is perhaps the year's most impressive debut because it is an uncompromisingly told tale with a minimum of frills.
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70It's Thornton's rough and nuanced performance as Karl, not his modest filmmaking skills, that sucks you so quickly into Sling Blade's vortex.
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80Thornton has written himself the role of a lifetime, yet he plays Karl with neither condescension nor saintliness.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 31 out of 31
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Mixed: 0 out of 31
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Negative: 0 out of 31
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SteveW10