Sling Blade was a highly interesting and suprisingly entertaining movie. It was very well acted by everyone involved and was uniquely directed in a professional manner by Billy Bob Thornton. There were two things that struck me odd about this movie and both seemed somewhat comical at times. The first being the easy way all the characters seemed to accept Karl for what he was, a mentally challenged killer just released from the State Mental Hospital. The second was the obvious fact that almost every individual character in this movie on some level, displayed a dysfunctional nature to their behavior and attitude. No one seemed truly happy or even content with their lives! The first half of Sling Blade was indeed very emotional at times and uplifting in a strange sort of way. You were given the impression that Karl would somehow overcome and escape his horrible past. That he would find a way to fit into society and function with an acceptable level of awareness. Obviously that didn't happen as the second half of the film took a different direction. As much as the first half of this movie was enlightening the second half became a dark study of THE violent anger that exists in all human beings and how it can adversely effect those people at the center of it all. It attempted to show how some people can control their anger and how some people let their anger control them for whatever reason(s). This was played out two-fold by the Karl and Doyle characters. The film was a good off beat portrayal of subject matter that is not always a properly understood or accepted part of the human condition. Both physically and mentally challenged people deserve opportunities that allow them to be a part of society. Karl was of course a gross exception and should never, ever have been released from the State Mental Hospital. What clearly comes out of this movie is the existence of a mind-set that looks down upon those people less fortunate or those less gifted then others in our society. The ability to overlook others shortcomings is very difficult for many individuals. Whether those shortcomings are self-inflicted, inflicted by society or acquired at birth....all in all we aren't a very forgiving people as history has proved time and again. Sling Blade offers a small glimpse of this reality to those that are willing to pay attention.

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source: Sling Blade

I was annoyed by the messages of this film. I didn't like the way it was set up so that a murder seemed justified, and the murderer a hero. (I hope it makes the Norwegian commenter feel better to know that a woman agrees with him). Strangely, despite a whole scene that pointed up the murder victim's weak spots, other characters thought that he could only be stopped by death, and the filmmaker seemed to take a positive view of the killing. I also thought the film made an odd and heavy-handed anti-abortion statement, though I have since been told that I misinterpreted that part of the dialogue (I can't be sure, since I don't really feel the need to watch the film again). However, though I had issues with the movie, I still thought that the characters were refreshing when compared with typical Hollywood fare. I also liked the Jim Jarmusch cameo. If you like intense characters and stories, you might like it.

What an incredible film! I have to admit that I was amazed that it only had an 8.2 rating on this site. I have no idea how this movie could receive anything less than a 10. The picture has that classic feel, much like "To Kill a Mockingbird." The story centers around a very decent character that feels too much, although by looking at him you cannot tell that he feels at all. However, as this simple character comes into contact with other people, you see how he improves their lives. One boy's life in particular. In fact, Karl is much like Jesus Christ. Is it just ironic that Karl carries three books, the bible, a book on carpentry and a book about Christmas. Coupled with Bill Bob's great performance, you will be amazed at the dramatic performances put in by Ritter, Walsh and Dwight Yokum. I do not want to give away the story. So let me just say that this film is a masterpiece and should be watched. Moreover, it is a great family film. This film is a 10!

I've seen this movie many times thru the years and am always amazed how Billy Bob became Karl Childers. This is a character I could never forget. He did an amazing job of showing us life thru the eyes of a man/child who had been mistreated himself and never wanted anybody else to go thru it like he did. Billy Bob won the Oscar for Best Screenplay but deserved the Best Actor nod also. Geoffrey Rush was great in Shine but I don't remember his character nearly as well as Sling Blade.

This is one of those rare films that comes along just when you're thinking that there are really no original ideas left for the movies. Wrong. This is fresh stuff, avoids the usual film clichés and works on every level. Billy Bob Thorton deserved all the praise he got and the fine career this film launched. The cast is first-rate and there's got to be a great back story about getting Robert Duvall involved. One of the best things about this movie is the tragically under-appreciated performance of John Ritter. It's just flawless. In this film he is funny, heartwarming and, ultimately heroic. The guy was underutilized in film and it's a shame he's gone.

The only word needed to describe this movie is wow. What a powerful peice of work that starts Billy Bob Thorton in his near perfect performnace as a "simple" man who was put in a loony bin for killing his mother and her lover with a sling blade. He is then released but has nowhere to go as everything has changed. He gets a job fixing lawn mowers and such and sleeps in the garage untill he befriends a young boy and moves in with his family, just to bad his mothers boyfriend is a violent, alcholic red neck how does everything in his power to make them seem out of place. John Ritter is also very well in his role as the mothers gay friend who wants nothing more but to see the family not get hurt. The amazing script won Thronton an Oscar and the direction makes this extremly power film often dark and sometimes disturbing. The end is shocking and very brutal and will have veiwers eyes glued to the screen as the whole story unfolds right up until the credits role. Not to be missed.

Lyrically beautiful, wrenchingly tragic and hauntingly gothic, this is quite simple the most flawless and brilliant movie I have ever seen. It won a single Oscar (best adapted screenplay). It should have won just about every one, except best actress since it lacks a lead female role (that award went quite rightly to Frances McDormand in the Coen Brothers' riotous, suspenseful and breathtaking Fargo, the second-best movie ever). See it.

Unlike the English Patient, which I felt was highly overrated, I think that this film in 1996 did deserve the attention it got. Because this is a very good movie (one of the best of 96) by having the films strength not at the climax, but in the long stretch of the film. It is quite uplifting to see BB Thornton and his team at work in this film. The story (though very shortly explained in the short Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade) has a retarted though simple man (Thornton is exceptional as this guy) who gets released from a mental home after 25 years after he killed his mother and her lover. Soon, be befriends a boy, and so on and so on (if I went on, it would be spoiled). A very good script, fine direction and quite good acting bring this film to be what it is- BB Thornton's best film yet and also for members of the cast (some of them). A+