Southland Tales

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Southland Tales

R

Released Nov 14, 2007

2h 24m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

41%

Tomatometer

106 Reviews

41%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

With the United States under the threat of nuclear attack, the lives of several people converge in a dystopian Los Angeles. Movie star Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson) plans his next film with the help of ambitious porn actress Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and troubled policeman Roland Taverner (Seann William Scott). Meanwhile, Marxist revolutionaries, greedy corporations and secretive government agencies pursue their separate agendas among a paranoid populace.

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Critics Consensus

Southland Tales, while offering an intriguing vision of the future, remains frustratingly incoherent and unpolished.

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Philippa Snow

New Statesman

Southland Tales is dizzyingly maximalist, never happy with one set-piece if it can introduce five. It is unhinged, and occasionally exhilarating, and quite often funny.

Jun 3, 2020

Full Review

Mark Olsen

Film Comment Magazine

As the follow-up to his debut feature, the unexpectedly enduring teen-movie/sci-fi hybrid Donnie Darko, writer-director Richard Kelly has crafted an even more ambitious and far-reaching story

Nov 19, 2013

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Anthony Quinn

Independent (UK)

They've left it late, but writer-director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) and his team have gone and scooped The Independent's Worst Film of 2007 award - against stiff competition, too.

Rated: 1/5

Dec 7, 2007

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Justin Micallef

Vague Visages

To catch the eye of Southland Tales is to look back on our past and future simultaneously, on the limitations of our technology and the humanity that screeches through it.

Feb 6, 2024

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Tim Brayton

Alternate Ending

A radical, swirling hallucination of ideas that all feel grabbed at random.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 26, 2022

Full Review

Jason Shawhan

Nashville Scene

Sprawling, chaotic, stuffed to the gills with unexpected character actors and filled with apocalyptic mayhem, 2006's Southland Tales had a vision of where America was headed.

Sep 10, 2021

Full Review

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Haddon L

The film should have been made in 2024 with everything that is going on today.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/09/24

Full Review

Pete Y

It feels like Richard Kelly borrowed themes from his first film Donnie Darko - right down to a character taking a bullet to the left eye - and attempted to make an absurd comedy from it and if there was ever a more unnecessary scene in a film than 2 animated SUV's fornicating, I don't want to know

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

09/18/24

Full Review

Matthew H

My god what did I just watch 😂 two hours I can’t get back how this film got a cult following but yet actually good movies are ripped apart by fans and critics alike WOW!!!

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/01/24

Full Review

Audience Member

The movie was one of the worst ever. If you watched it in its entirety, I feel sorry for you.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

08/19/24

Full Review

Scott C

This movie is absolute chaos in its most glorious cinematic form. There’s sort of a coherent plot, but you really don’t need to pay much attention to it. Enjoy it scene by scene as an incredible cast act their hearts out in bizarre and endearing ways.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/20/24

Full Review

mark g

Can a film be too ambitious? Never! I was part of the elite that actually saw this in the theater and later bought the DVD. Can you really follow everything going on? No, not really. But damn if this isn't one of the slickest and cool pieces of filmmaking ever. A lot of great scenes. Kind of similar to Darko in that if you watch the Directors/non-theatrical version, the plot will be easy to follow, bit who wants that!?

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/07/24

Full Review

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Richard Kelly

Director

Dwayne Johnson

Boxer Santaros

Seann William Scott

Roland Taverner

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Krysta Kapowski

Curtis Armstrong

Dr. Soberin Exx

Joe Campana

Brandt Huntington

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Southland Tales: Trailer 1

2:27

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Synopsis

With the United States under the threat of nuclear attack, the lives of several people converge in a dystopian Los Angeles. Movie star Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson) plans his next film with the help of ambitious porn actress Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and troubled policeman Roland Taverner (Seann William Scott). Meanwhile, Marxist revolutionaries, greedy corporations and secretive government agencies pursue their separate agendas among a paranoid populace.

Director: Richard Kelly
Producer: Sean McKittrick, Kendall Morgan, Bo Hyde, Matthew Rhodes
Screenwriter: Richard Kelly
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Company, Destination Films
Production Co: Cherry Road Films LLC
Rating: R (Sexual Material|Language|Some Drug Content|Violence)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 14, 2007, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 27, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $273.4K
Runtime: 2h 24m

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