Humboldt County (2008)

Humboldt County's doleful charm -- verdant, lovely, ominous, final -- leaves little room for idealistic dreams or even the promise of romantic redemption.

For an idea of how Humboldt County plays, imagine a Lifetime original movie about a loveable but pathetic couple who passed their druggy lifestyle on to the next generation.

A relaxed, sweetly amusing little indie effort that'll make you want to hang out with its inhabitants, except with better snack food than they have.

The indie folk on the soundtrack teeter the film perilously close to another emo Gen-X flick about discovering who you really are, man, yet its quiet assurance hoists it to the top of genre.

While the concept of the movie is tuned into all those warm, important questions of purpose, the execution lacks gravity, making the picture one long, slow spiral into melodramatic hogwash.

A culture clash movie pitting '60s free spirit internal exiles against the dog-eat-dog success obsessed youth of today, and that may similarly divide critics along these generation gap lines.

Friction is of a schematic sort that all too often seems mainly intent on recalling spiritual predecessors Midnight Cowboy and Five Easy Pieces.

The fish-out-of-water story shows the potential for a specific environment to transform an individual's consciousness, while never glamorizing or preaching the influence of marijuana. It's a gem of a film rooted in the reality of familial bonds and shifti