Despite good performances, this attempt to intertwine a crime thriller with a love triangle never gels...Fans of Ulee's Gold, Ruby in Paradise, and A Flash of Green are likely to feel disappointed by this decidedly lesser effort.
Coastlines (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:12
Rotten:13
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: Coastlines features solid lead performances, but is hindered by an unconvincing love triangle and scattered direction. Not up to the standard of Victor Nunez's previous directorial efforts.
Theatrical Release:May 31, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Returning earlier than expected, Sonny finds that not much has changed since he left...except now the Vances owe him $200,000 for the time he spent in jail and, perhaps not surprisingly, they don't... Returning earlier than expected, Sonny finds that not much has changed since he left...except now the Vances owe him $200,000 for the time he spent in jail and, perhaps not surprisingly, they don't seem anxious to pay up any time soon. Sonny's best friends from childhood, Deputy Sheriff Dave Lockhart and his Nurse Practitioner wife, Ann, still live the kind of quiet, rural life that defines community: their safely sheltered commitment to each other unchallenged and supported by their deep belief in contributing to the welfare of others. It is exactly the kind of life Sonny now looks at with longing: years of state-imposed prohibition giving rise to a newly felt envy. Other than that, life on the Gulf Coast continues as it has for decades. Shrimpers still take to the dark waters at night to lure their catch; oystermen tend the shallow beds that stretch on for miles; the pelicans, cranes and dolphins play languidly at the water's surface. The smell of development dollars also permeates the air, however, and the associated ambitions of Sonny's former partners-in-crime threaten to overwhelm the local world. The Vances' attempt to get Sonny out of the way only spurs him on. Although it's Dave's job to watch out for Sonny (as much as it is Ann's to heal him), isolation, desire and regret threaten to overtake all three as Sonny's drive toward both self-destruction and retribution careens explosively out of control. -- © IFC Films [More]
Starring: Josh Brolin, Timothy Olyphant, Angela Bettis, Josh Lucas
Starring: Josh Brolin, Timothy Olyphant, Angela Bettis, Josh Lucas, Sarah Wynter, Robert Wisdom, Daniel Von Bargen, Blake Lindsley, Robert Glaudini, Edwin Hodge
Director: Victor Nunez
Director: Victor Nunez
Studio: IFC Films
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Reviews for Coastlines
Integral to the plot of Coastlines is its setting -- indeed articulated in the very title.
Along with a terrific cast, [director] Nunez keeps the action driving forward: dangerous, sexy, and conflicted.
Nunez's fans will appreciate his ability to evoke a palpable atmosphere. But there's just not enough spark in his scorched setting.
By Nunez's high standards, Coastlines is conventional and outdated, a problematic hybrid of a generic crime melodrama and a more personal tale of a flawed hero who has fallen from grace and needs to restore his inner self (Nunez's specialty).
Nunez's multidimensional character development, with fine performances by Olyphant, Brolin, Wynter and Angela Bettis as one of Sonny's old flames, lends weight to the schematic plot points.
It's flawed but no less fascinating for its mood of simmering tension on the fringes of the American dream.
Again, Nunez proves himself a master of understatement, presenting another poignant, slice-of-life drama peopled with vulnerable, fully fleshed-out characters caught-up in a complex situation.
[The love triangle] plays more like canned heat than blazing inferno...
A skeeter noir bogged down in the unconvincing pulp of a melodrama without conviction.
Longtime independent writer-director Victor Nunez brings a rare combination of homegrown regional sensibility and genuine filmmaking skills to his low-key stories of small-town life on Florida's gulf coast.
Keeps you entertained throughout its two hours, which says a lot about Nunez's storytelling.
Nuņez's idea of the characters' ordinariness translates to flavorlessness, and he lights and shoots his scenes with a high schooler's care, often not even bothering to match up sight lines.
Proves that while Ulee's Gold was an exceptional movie, it wasn't a fluke. Nuņez just needs to search past the Panhandle for fresh material.
The talent is still there, the film better than most. It just needs less crime, more love.
The filmmaker's laconic pacing becomes a hindrance to any intended measure of suspense, just as his dedication to crafting a tangible sense of place comes at the expense of fleshed-out characters and motivation
It's a heartfelt movie that could have used a zigzaggier undercurrent, though Olyphant, in the sort of role that Paul Newman used to swagger through, has a star's easy command.
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