Comedy: King of California

King of California (2007)

Charlie (Michael Douglas) is the single, bi-polar, bass playing father of Miranda (Evan Rachel Wood). The movie begins as Miranda picks up Charlie after his two year stay in a mental hospital. While her father was away, Miranda has been raising herself. She bought a car on eBay (without being of legal age to drive), got a job at McDonalds, and has been enjoying her delusional patriarch not being there. While Charlie was in the hospital, he happened across a Journal written by a 17th Century priest. He explains this to Miranda, and she wonders whether or not to believe her father. Though raised by a very eccentric intellectual, she can't help but be skeptical of her father's whimsical tale, but decides to help him since he seems to be so happy. So Miranda and Charlie go looking for treasure and find it, buried smack dab in the middle of the local Costco!

I actually heard many glowing reviews for this movie when it was in theaters, and was glad to get my hands on it the day of it's DVD release. I can say that this movie is one of the best I've seen in a few months. Director/Writer Mike Cahill does an excellent job at covering certain points in Miranda and Charlie's lives that are vital to the movie's plot, so you're never guessing why Miranda believes her apparently crazy father. However, even with certain bits of evidence right before her eyes, she repeatedly doubts his sanity, which convinces the viewer do the same right up to the very end of the movie.

I've seen a few bad reviews for this, mostly at metacritic. Feel free to check them out, as you'll notice many of them are from cynical assholes. I thought this movie was great, and brought out the "dreamer" side of me. The only other movie that made me feel so optimistic about my tendency to let my imagination run rampant was Amelie.

you gotta see this shit