I've been meaning to watch this movie for a long time. I'm kind of a lazy John Sayles (director-writer) fan. I've watched a handful of his movies, but admire them a lot, and I have a book of his short stories, which are awesome, although I've only read about 3 or 4 of them. I always want to catch his stuff and never follow through, but at least I'm not the only one, because Buchanan and I talk about John Sayles whenever we see each other, although it's usually about how we haven't seen the latest movie yet. Haha.

So anyway, this was on TV and I couldn't resist. Going in I was nervous because of the character Chris Cooper plays, named Dickie Pilager, who is running for governor. It's quite obvious that Dickie is inspired by our current President, being that he lacks conversation and vocabulary skills. Seeing the commercials, I assumed the point of the movie was to mock the President, especially since it was released in September of an election year. Instead, what we get is a comprehensive criticism of "the system" and all the parties involved. It doesn't make any bold statements or contain any shocking conent, but it's entertaining.

Danny Huston stars as a private eye sent to investigate the story behind a dead body that washes ashore during Pilager's taping of an election video. Huston, always perfect as an annoyingly smug but likeable guy, stands as the connecting point between all of the different people involved, including Richard Dreyfuss as Pilager's manager, Daryl Hannah (loved her) as Pilager's unloving sister, Maria Bello as Huston's ex (and fellow journalist), Tim Roth, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Zane, Thora Birch, and a few more familiar faces.

Like I said, the movie isn't earth-shattering, but Sayles manages to take a bunch of different characters and storylines and give each enough time to make them feel worthwhile and comprehensive. The movie keeps a light feel while wading through some pretty corrupt waters, and that has a lot to do with Huston's character. Silver City is currently at the bottom of my list of Sayles movies I've seen thus far, but that doesn't mean it's not worth a casual viewing. But if you're going to seek out something of his, I'd say Lone Star, Limbo, and The Secret of Roan Inish are a better place to start.