Three sentence movie reviews: Promised Land

I'm a great fan of Gus Van Sant, but I've noticed that his "blockbuster" style movies tend to wander a bit in the middle and this one was no different, giving me time to contemplate a variety of things.* But even with that meandering, I enjoyed this film: the plot, the acting, the Van Sant trickery of it not really being about the purported topic, but instead being about relationships.  There were a lot of authentic looking locals too, which is important, in my book.

poster from:  http://www.impawards.com/2012/promised_land.html

*such as:

• What month is it, exactly?  It seems still cold, but kind of spring/no snow.  Is it March?  April?
• I wonder if the suctioning sound my fancy hot tea mug makes when I press the button to drink is bugging the lady next to me?
• Well, now that lady next to me is mouth breathing, so I guess if she was annoyed by my mug, we are even.
• Nice effect of peeling paint on the basketball gym.  I wonder if they had to create that, or if it was there.
• Where have I seen that Rob guy before?
• I do enjoy that Rosemary DeWitt.
• I'm not sure how the bartender could do that many shots and still stand up, let alone work in any sensible fashion.  It seems she should have cut herself off.  Don't they have bartender training in Pennsylviania?
• I think "Promise Land" would be a better title than Promised Land.  The former works on a few different levels the latter, not so much.
• My mom (who was the person sitting next to me who was NOT mouth breathing) even had an observation. She leaned over halfway through and said, "I'm sorry, but  if he's a farm boy, there's no way he wouldn't know how to drive stick."  Very astute observation.