Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

dianefhlbsch A great cast does what it can with ludicrous details.The most intriguing aspect of this story is that the audience is constantly in search of a hero or victim, but all of the characters are villains, to varying degrees.The real problem is the basic premise. It would have been nice if the writers would have actually done some research instead of making up ridiculous lies about the insurance industry.For starters, attempting to deny or reduce legitimate claim payments is a practice called Unfair Claims Practices, and is prohibited in all states. Secondly, no insurance company would issue a life insurance policy to a known con man, especially for $1 million. (And you can not blame it on a particular office - all policies go through a central underwriting department at the main office.) Thirdly, once a life insurance policy has been in force for 2 years, it becomes incontestable. The only thing that would cause an investigation is if there is a question of the deceased's identity, or there is an accidental death benefit that might not be an accident. Furthermore, insurance fraudsters are notorious for NOT self-inflicting real damage to themselves. Lastly, a claims investigator, agent... can NOT do what James Whitaker's character does near the end of the movie, or even throughout the movie.The ending was rather unusual. Afterward, it does make sense, in a strange way. But this is a strange film. Give it a try if you have nothing better to do and like strange plot twists.

TxMike This "independent" movie is set somewhere in the USA, but it is filmed in Iceland. All the crew and the director appear to be Scandinavian. It is about a man who seems to live his life running scams to get insurance money, but this time he runs up against one of the better insurance investigators who tries to minimize payouts.The lead role is played by Forest Whitaker as Abe Holt, who seems very good as the insurance man. When a man insured for $1Million is found dead and burned in a tragic car wreck, Holt is dispatched to see if there is fraud involved. Basically, he tries to find the victim alive. The rat is Jeremy Renner as "Fred", who apparently is married to the sister of the deceased man, and she is the sole beneficiary of the $1Million. But not all is as it seems to be. Julia Stiles is Isold, the sister, and the young son is Thor. Interesting movie, something different from Hollywood blockbusters.SPOILERS: The man Fred who appears to be Isold's husband is really the man supposed to be dead, Isold's crooked brother, who found a drifter to kill in the wreck. Holt figures this out, a key piece of information is finding the real "Fred" was already dead. Holt arranges the policy so that Isold will get $1Million, but when he tried to get the brother to justice, both end up dying in yet another car crash.

asy oz This movie was slow, actually almost painful, at the beginning. I very nearly gave up on it about half an hour into it. Still, I persevered, and am glad I did.It shows the dark side of abuse and what a woman will do to 'save' her child.The plot twists and turns, and is a little difficult to follow at the beginning, but all comes together nicely toward the end, when the insurance agent finds his heart and does the completely unexpected thing.Overall worth watching, the bleakness of the setting becomes a character in itself, as mentioned by a previous reviewer, it's stark and almost frightening at times. It really makes the movie.

Byron Dandy I really love Icelandic cinema and all those stories which have an inherent ancient Nordic mysticism or spiritualism about them. I knew nothing about this film prior to viewing it at the Melbourne Film Festival except that it was Icelandic. Having visited there and been totally captured by the stark beauty of the country I was really looking forward to anything that was served up.However I was really disappointed when I found it was for all intents and purposes an American film shot in Iceland. I'm a fan of Forest Whittaker but in this film he is totally miscast. And what was he trying to achieve with the inconsistent accent? He stood out too much and just did not fit the character of an insurance investigator. Julia Stiles character was half way to trailer trash and frankly, she just looked too good throughout. Perfect complexion, glowing skin color, simply too healthy - it didn't fit the role. The ending was also way too manufactured so as to keep commercial audiences happy. She's a single mother with a "son" who needs money to survive - let's make sure she gets it even if we have to totally change the lead character's actions to ensure it happens.One thing I will say in its favor is that the car crash stunt towards the end of the film is absolutely fantastic - that really came from nowhere. Very impressed with the genuine level of danger involved - it looked very hairy to perform.However overall, a disappointing storyline with few engaging characters and a poorly cast lead sinks this film for me.