Review: The United States of Leland

Directed by: Matthew Ryan Hoge

Written by: Matthew Ryan Hoge

Starring: Don Cheadle, Ryan Gosling, Chris Klein, Jena Malone, Lena Olin, Sherilyn Fenn

Rating: [3/5]

When terrible things occur with seemingly no explanation, naturally inquisitive individuals would want to know why it transpired. As shown through The United States of Leland, getting to those answers does not always arrive in the way we would want. Navigating through a complicated character, this feature has a challenging road ahead of it and for the most part, succeeds in what it seeks to accomplish. 

Following his murder of a boy with a mental disability, Leland Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling) sits in a juvenile detention center while he awaits his trial. As everyone struggles with trying to understand why he committed this horrible action, we learn about how Leland reached this stage of his life and displays a distinct lack of emotional detachment. 

Opening with what amounts to a tragedy, The United States of Leland begins with the audience on their back foot reacting to the aftermath. Something so terrible that when we see who committed the crime shows a strange disconnect. Leland, for all intents and purposes, has this strange demeanor to him but the man does not look like he can hurt a fly even if we know he just committed a murder. The film then becomes a series of conversations trying to get to the root of this character and beginning to understand what made him this way and ultimately what caused him to kill someone. 

With Leland, we have a character so emotionally detached that it makes no sense. He views the world through a prism that many cannot comprehend, which makes him quite the satisfying figure to try and dissect. This certainly proves to be the case for writer Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle) who takes an interest in Leland for the purposes of writing about him in a book. An action that can appear disingenuous but none of it falls out of reality. Profiting off of something like this falls right in line with what people want to read in the case of Pearl or if looking at modern consumption of true crime podcasts and other similar programs. Pearl’s not the only person with a vested interest in trying to figure it out as it all contributes to the main draw of this movie as a whole. 

It does struggle a bit with its pacing in certain sections of the film, especially when the spotlight shifts to Leland’s family and how it contributed to how he views the world and in turn reacts to everything around him. Those moments while important drag down the film when we just want to get back to the good stuff the rest of the narrative has to offer. It ultimately impedes the film from reaching higher heights but still does not sink it into negative territory. 

Playing the central character of the film we have Ryan Gosling who was already knocking it out of the park so early in his career. As evidenced by the rest of his career he has no problem portraying stoic and nearly emotionless characters as seen in Drive and Blade Runner 2049. He’s made a bit of a niche for himself in this area and you can see where it all began with his work as Leland. Certainly a tough character to crack as we find ourselves as audience members trying to cling to something real about this guy and he repeatedly does not allow us making it even more intriguing to learn how he works. Gosling does so well in this. 

Navigating some muddy waters and presenting some wild revelations that present everything one could want from this story, The United States of Leland navigates a story trying to reason why this tragedy has occurred. It tackles some dark subject matter in what we learn about these characters and how everything built up to the opening tragic scene we see that sets everything off. On top of Gosling, this film sneakily has a strong cast that all come in and do their part such as Jenna Malone, Chris Klein, Michelle Williams, Kerry Washington, and Michael Peña among others. Not without its problems but also carrying plenty of merit in its own right, this film keeps us hooked and ever-intrigued in what will come next.