As independent films have won a significant niche in the U.S. movie market, they have fallen into some comfortable ruts. Too many Amerindies play like endless episodes of Friends or elaborate revenge scenarios against anyone who hurt the feelings of the filmmaker when he or she was a kid. So it's nice to find a couple of pictures going against the grain.
Citizen Ruth and Sling Blade are directorial debuts with regional roots (Omaha, Nebraska, and Benton, Arkansas). And both feature star turns with a twist: Burt Reynolds as an Operation Rescue-style evangelist, John Ritter as a gay, discount-store manager. But...
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