User Reviews

"South of Heaven" tells a story of a criminal who got out of prison, and is dragged back into the world of crime. However, the focus is the love story, so it is better conceptualised as a romance film with a criminal protagonist. This is perhaps why people who are expecting adrenaline end up being disappointed by this film.

I'm a sucker for jason sudeikis, i usually swoon over his work, but this movie is lacking something, the story has definitely been done before and the acting was off.

I gave it a 7.3, out of ten because the editing and unanswered q s. But, I think the woman(Anne)was astounding, and only did I find out in the credits that it was actually Evangeline Lilly, thus began my mind to be blown. Wow! Great performance!!!

I rented it from our local library and saw Sudeikus on the front cover at a glance so I grabbed it. Played it wee hours of the morning and I will look to purchase it. Hit all emotions, and Jason can do drama like Bill Murray and honestly I didn't recognize her that it was her.

And IMDB employees and owners, change it so we can rate with the decimal point!!!

Well I have to agree with the negative reviews for once. Despite the good cast and an interesting first half the movie quality went downhill pretty fast. There are a lot of scenes that weren't good at all, that didn't make much sense and that brought the quality of the story down. As for the acting there were some actors that were not convincing at all at times. And I'm not talking about extras but major actors. I don't know what happened, it started good but it turned bad at one point and it never recovered. Too bad because it had potential.

Newb co-writer, producer and director Aharon Keshales was close to having a great film, but sadly missed the mark with many rookie filmmaking mistakes. For starters, many scenes were way too long and unnecessary, and the slow pacing made the two-hour runtime feel endless. This film needed at least 20 mins cut out of it to maintain suspense and make it more engaging.

Then, having random events happen that are irrelevant to the main narrative detract from the film's main premise; at around the one hour mark, the story basically hits the reset button and a entirely different narrative begins. It's like the beginning of a different episode and it all happens purely by chance and key conflicts of the first hour are completely inconsequential to what follows. You keep expecting them to intersect, but they never do. There's no motivation or reason behind it, a random event simply happens for no other reason than the writers merely wanted to put Jimmy in another tough spot.

That's the major issue this film had, the disjointed and convoluted events that confuse the narrative, and make you lose interest in the characters and faith in their motivations - like when Jimmy goes from a sweet and doting schlub to a one-shot-killing henchmen destroyer - it gets really implausible in a hurry. To make matters worse, Keshales decides to ruin a happy and satisfying ending with a fade-out and fade-in enigmatic final shot that adds yet another question to the already convoluted mess.

Nevertheless, all casting and performances were excellent, especially Sudeikis and Lilly with their convincing chemistry, and the score and cinematography where spot on. It's too bad the writing couldn't have been tighter and more focused.

This movie's plot could have solved in two minutes had Sudakis's character done one simple thing: gone to the authorities and reported his no good parole officer who was more than likely already on their radar. And for a woman who supposedly has only a year to live Evangaline Lily's character sure appears healthy as a horse.

It was actually better than expected from such low key movie.

Jason with his signature accent was great along with the rest of the cast And the story does seem repetitive and done before but it grabs till the end with a long gaze at the screen And the score is absoulately serving us with an impact to make the ride even more enjoyable.

It's far above the average films made for 16-year old boys in this country. The story is tight, as is the acting, cinematography, locations and casting.

I really don't understand what is happening with people's reviews in the last two years. Maybe it's psychological damage from CV? This is not an Academy Award level movie, but it's far better than the hate it's getting.

Suspenseful, slow but steady and sad movie!

It has a few surprising turns, which makes it worth watching. Jason Sudeikis character having no iPhone says it all - this is not your funny guy! And the characters development has many flaws. Evangeline Lilly plays a great and very convincing role.

The ending could have been better, but it could also have been a lot more boring.

While I understand why many rate this movie poorly, to me it is a bit better than its IMDb rating. Again, to me, it starts off with signs of a totally serious movie but about half-way turns into what I would describe as a very dark comedy, with lots of dirty money involved. The "good" guys start to figure out ways to get the best of the "bad" guys and that type of story is always fun to watch.

(Of note, on the DVD extras the writer-director says he wrote it as a dark comedy and Sudeikis played the role a bit more seriously than first intended.)

After serving 12 years for a bank robbery Jimmy (Jason Sudeikis) wants to go straight for his dying girlfriend Annie (Evangeline Lilly), marry her and give her the life she deserves for what may only be another year. It starts out OK, he meets his parole officer and gets a laborer job. But soon things turn dark, he is faced with doing a "pickup" or go back to prison. Things get messier and messier from there.

Bottom line - I was entertained and I like the several main actors. Filmed in the DFW area, I watched it at home on DVD from my public library. My wife skipped, she wasn't in the mood for this kind of film.

I don't know how Aharon Keshales got the money to hire A-list actors, but the money was all spent on the lead.

Nothing was spent on sets, music, sound, editing... and the decision to direct his own script was a disaster.

This needed a massive rewrite to fix plot holes and a serious director and cinematographer to make it more Cormac McCarthy.

Bad bad bad.

Evangeline Lily is always great and Jason did well in a serious role, but the plot and tempo and lack of chemistry was more a director problem than an actor problem.

Sad to see something this bad hit Sudeikas' career right now.

Total waste of time.

Then when Price's men came looking for Jimmy in Mexico and he had to run for miles to get back to his wife, I think it's very unlikely that anyone would walk such a far distance to get supplies, especially when he has a truck. I really loved Evangeline Lily here and the story was quite engaging,

Jason Sudeikis AND Shea Whigham. What could go wrong?

Well, turns out... everything.

This is a b-movie that would have been a straight to VHS by the old standards.

Really can't believe how they actually said yes to this after reading the script. Think some agent might actually get fired over this dumpster fire.

Also... genre includes "Horror". WHAT?

Decent little movie with some awesome actors. I love Jason Sudekis and I thought it was so good to see him do something different.

It dragged a bit but overall the film was well made and reminded me of some older films.

THE GOOD - Good story and Jason Sudekis THE BAD - Some of the other actors and the second half seemed to go downhill a bit.

Overall I recommend!

Jason just Does not belong in serious movies , you look at that face and you are always expecting him to crack some stupid joke or pull a funny face

I couldnt take him seriously in this film at all perhaps if the film was better made and had been better written I would have accepted him in the role more.

It's sad to see so many ppl not appreciating this fine film. Us older folks remember classic stories, like South of Heaven, that portray real people faced with extraordinary challenges. Old westerns come to mind, where the hero is thrown into a predicament that can't easily be fixed.

This film is a modern day tragedy with realistic characters. Several times the hero did act on instinct. Consistently did the villain remain treacherous-while revealing his softer side, as did the heart of Annie remain true.

Believable supporting cast, music that compliments the action and a script that hit all the beats.

The direction of this film, the script, acting, score and cinematography all combined to deliver an emotional drama that entertains.

Are there flaws in this movie? A couple small question marks but even those are forgiven without taking away from the overall story.

I really wish filmmakers would make more pictures like this. My wife and I are only 59 but we were engrossed watching this because it's not b.s. Gangsters sometimes have heart and good guys sometimes become a badass to get the job done.

The kid trying to live up to his dad's reality was another nice touch.

Lotta good stuff goin' in this movie.

**to the loser bashing this film.."step off punk." Jason proved he's just as good at drama as he is at T. Lasso.

To the entire cast n crew-Job well done, we thank you!

Quite an enjoyable film with a strong cast - Evangeline Lily is the best by far. The story is ok but stretches credibility, although that's what you expect of a Sudekis film. It's really a dark comedy in the vein of Fargo and gets a bit OTT towards the end.

Still, a good watch and certainly worth a 7.

I kept watching and hoping for something to happen and it was just boring & a complete waste of time, Love Ted Lasoo but Jason obviously was just after a paycheck like Nicolas Cage.