My 17 yo son just saw it with some friends, said it was really the best movie he has ever seen..

Years of wisdom, right? ;)

I saw it last night. I'm a big fan of Eastwood acted and/or directed movies. Overall a good movie. Got a little tired of Clint's grunts though - didn't seem very real to me.

Otherwise the dialogue and acting seemed very "real world". Not overscripted.

Not as good as Forgiven or Million Dollar Baby; but worth seeing for sure.

...But they were such carefully scripted grunts.....

sort of reminded me a little of "the shootist " in some respects.

I'm glad to see this response, most of the other thing's I've heard from other forums centered around "Clint is such a badass!" and "Clint woulda killed Obama" and "I love how he treated those zipperheads"...ehem. Honestly, this was the nice clean stuff I've read.

I was concerned that it actually was nothing other than a racist rotten waste of film, but I see now that I was just read reports from freaking idiots who apparently missed the real meaning of the story.

Maybe this weekend we'll get out to see it.

Loved it!

Clint is amazing...wonderful story...bittersweet.

just saw a promo. clint eastwood will be on letterman wednesday night.

Could've been the best film he's done but, IMO, falls short. Not even close to Unforgiven.

Clint was fantastic (kinda agree on the grunts tho). The main kid actor was horrible. Not bad, not weak, but horrible. The plot was full of shortcuts and very 'simple'. It just wasn't 'real'. Too many situations where people would act in a way that suited the film but was nothing like how the real situation would go.

I would see it again though because in spite of all this it does touch a nerve. My father, whom i did not really know, was very much like this man. Never left his blue collar shift worker neighborhood in 30+ years, judged kids very harshly and had no effing clue how to love some of his children (long story). When the bad element moved in i'm told he gave 'em a harsh look and wondered wtf they were doing in HIS neighborhood. Was quite attached to cars (judged hot rod shows, etc) and did all his own repair work (house, cars, etc). Told his wife 'these goddamn new jap cars don't have proper frames, where's the safety in that?'. That kinda guy. Never gave up his Winstons and that's apparently what killed him.

I will say i was slow to get out of my seat. The ending scene that the credits scrolled through was just mesmorizing. I noticed i wasn't the only one. It wasn't the type of movie people jump and run out of.

After we saw the film we had a debate at dinner about whether the main kid actor was very bad—or very good. The Hmong are naturally very shy and awkward people, and we concluded he had nailed this role pretty well. I suspect none of the Asians in the film were actually Hmong (though I could be wrong), but their portrayal in the film worked for us—so we gave the guy the benefit of the doubt.

This was the first time the Hmong brother and sister acted.
The rest of the Hmongs were not actors.
Great movie, I laughed and cried

The rest of the Hmongs did a great job. Possibly because they didn't have english speaking roles. The brother was OK for the easy parts (with some exceptions) but the highly charged emotional scenes with him were positively painful.

It really was a touching movie though. The funny scenes were right on.

With Clint in, surely be good.

Saw it yesterday, excellent film. Clint is a great actor, a fine director but a really terrible singer. Just my 0.02. ;)

if you don't like the way clint sings you might check out "paint your wagon" and "honkey tonk man". bonus is lee marvin sings in "paint your wagon" too.

LOVED it,
Sort of Clint in a different atmosphere,
Lots of passion (Not Lust)
I do not see how anyone could not like it !

Will have to wait for DVD because unless I drive to OKC there is not a decent theater around. Not one that has good shows anyways. Itsounds good but idoubt it's worth the 90mile drive

My father and his girlfriend just saw the movie yesterday and loved it. My father is a big Clint Eastwood fan, so I thought he would like the movie, and according to him "this was the best Clint Eastwood movie ever".

Clint played a great role. The guy oozes talent and is a "natural".

Some of the racial slurs were getting a little old about 1/2 way through the movie. We all get that he was not happy about his white once well kept middle class neighborhood was being taken over and run down by minorities.

I also struggled if the Hmong lead kid was a good actor or not...I am still unsure, his sister on the other hand played a good role and has a great future as an actress.

I also really liked that the movie was shot in Michigan, instead of LA or some other big city \ metropolis. Its great to contribute money back into these States needing financial assistance.

Yasin

Just for conversation sake, how would you know?


Anyhow, it would have been a rather long film to really develop the ethnic realism and it would have bored the general American audiance. There aren't too many Asian ethnic films out there for a reason....Americans are uninterested in learning and wouldn't appreciate the film for what it is. You can't "get" Asian culture by watching a film.

As for the kids in the film, they weren't great actors but it worked in the film. Clint carried the film, but that's to be expected. If the Asian roles had been played by someone you already knew from another films, it would have loss it's value.

My German-Irish wife and I just saw it and she loved it. (I did too) She couldn't contain herself when Clint was put into the scene full of Asians. She knows well what it is like to be the only white person in a house full of Asians. It was great comedy for both of us.

The racial thing went from something of hate and missunderstanding to endearing pokes between friends. I get that...and it works if you understand it. I loved how the Hmong girl dismisses Clint after his comments with those racial slurs and just kept on with the conversation like she accepted him for what he is. Her role did a great job of softening Clint's role in the movie. Without her role, the audience would not have appreciated Clint's tranformation as much (i.e. if it were only between Clint and the boy).

I don't know how much they spent on the film, but I suspect not as much as some lesser movies that have American audiences raving. It had the feel of an Indie film, and without Clint in the movie it would have just been another Indie film that the general American audience would have passed up for something more commercial.