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Title: Something different, that's for sure
Review: Many of the other reviews of this movie are glowing, and I won't dispute them. There are many fine features about the movie. Is it an interesting documentary? Yes. Are the people featured odd? Yes.So why, despite all of the glowing praise, did I not like *Vernon Florida*?There wasn't, so it seemed to me, a narrative thread. It was vignette after vignette as opposed to a cohesive narrative. And the one thing I want from a movie is some sort of plot. Even if the only reason for the plot to exist is so that one special effect after another can be shown.I suppose if I had approached the movie as a cinematic portrait, this cod liver oil of a movie would have gone down better. But I don't want cod liver oil when I see a movie, I want maple syrup--something unchallenging that might not be totally real. Should I want something a bit more edifying, I'll reach for a book.If wanting nothing more than diversion makes me a cinema philistine, then I am guilty as charged.
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