Despite some grade A ingredients, such as an interesting story and some solid performances, O. Russell's Oscar bait blender delivers no more than a zestless cocktail of pretentiousness.
I hate his Whitetrashploitaton even more. I prefer my hicks straight (Mud, Top of the Lake), overdone (Cletus, Hobo with a Shotgun) or stylized (The Big Lebowski, Napoleon Dynamite), not this covert highbrow point-and-laugh stuff. You mean to tell me Melissa Leo (mother Alice) got an Oscar for this?!
If it's clichéd overcome-all-odds boxing flicks your serving, I'll take Rocky IV over this anyday.
