Vernon, Florida

This movie is okay, but does not feel complete. The people in this one are not expressed enough in the movie, and I felt at the end that this played out more like a long trailer for a movie instead of a completed one. Morris had a good idea here, but it seemed too brief and desultory throughout. It's worth watching, but it leaves you wanting more depth and length. Possibly Morris at the time this was made had not totally developed his documentary style, it does play like a sort of practice film compared to other works such as Gates of Heaven and the First Person series.

A short but amusing docu about some very odd (old) people in Vernon at the beginning of the 1980's, talking about this that and the other. Some of it makes sense, some of it is hilariously strange and some of it is just plain nonsense. There is no actual structure to the project and it ends suddenly, without a logical conclusion. Fun while is lasts, but not a masterpiece.

This movie is so great. I've seen it so many times, I love to pop this in for people and just watch them, not the movie. People don't what they are even looking at and they don't know whether to laugh or what. It is a classic that all my friends and I love. Somebody stole the VHS I had, that someone else apparently stole from God knows where, which was then left at my house, thank God. I think I lent it to someone and never got it back. See this movie. Trust me you'll find it hilarious.

Documentary from Errol Morris, made after his cult classic Gates of Heaven, and running at a mere 55 minutes; it's a miniature portrait of lower-income rural life in Florida, tracing the activities of several inhabitants of the small town called Vernon. At times the dialogue is unintelligible, and the characters overly esoteric and dimwitted to garner enough attention, but the film has a few interesting scenes such as the breathtaking opening and a bizarre sermon delivered by an absent-minded religious zealot. A fair work on the whole, and not up to the caliber of his other work.

One disturbing aspect of American political and popular culture is a common prejudice against country people. As long as I've been here in the Milwaukee metro area, many of the locals seem to look down upon the folks living in the northwoods, especially the U.P. The most common postive reaction to "Vernon, Florida" in these reviews consist of laughing AT the people. One can understand the apparent local distaste for the movie.

"Vernon" is indeed funny. The couple with the growing sand, the keeper of the gopher tortise and the turkey hunter are especially hilarious. The turkey hunter is probably the most quoteable character in a movie that I've seen since Carl Childers. He is also the most interesting and likeable. Many, many people who watch this movie find hunting a repellent activity. The extended time given to the turkey hunter in "Vernon" gives the open-minded viewer a chance to at least appreciate how much this "sport" can mean to someone. Maybe he is obsessed to some unhealthy degree, but I tend to think that's just the way he his.

The characters portrayed here remind me of some of the legendary eccentrics in west Iron County, Mich. Like the characters in "Vernon," their quirks were generally accepted and among the locals they had their dignity. Some of the reviews here brag about taking trips down to Vernon to see if they can find people to laugh at. My suggestion to them is that it's unnecessary: there's enough daffiness to be found in their home state. Or the bathroom mirror.