CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

randy filkirk Where to start. OK, acting, out of the box, i mean, outside of it. Excellent in all ways, and very very underrated. I cannot say how this film is good really, but i can say there are no dull moments, no extreme violence scenes, except that one scene, and it is not violent really, just potentially so, not any swearing, none of the usual rubbish, this is a fairly deep film, looking at ourselves. The rating again, too low, how?, i am confused how someone can rate this so low, maybe the subject matter was too close to home, or too far from their reality, because this film does have the element of being real, and rightly so, this being more or less true events....

Aregie I am not a regular viewer of Christian films, and I was kind of surprised that this film is considered one. But I guess when the initial distributor dropped the picture at the last minute, a Christian company picked it up. But why, if a movie conveys decent human values, and there happen to be a couple of scenes in a church, is it pigeonholed? It's message is not overtly Christian, yet it is so powerful it should speak to anyone, religious or not. I was truly shocked to read that the critics' reviews were not entirely favourable, that they thought it saccharine, and simplistic in terms of racial issues. Because of a dream, a couple of rich white folks befriend an old homeless black man, and it changes not only their three lives but those of many people in the community. I don't think that's self-congratulatory; it's TRUE! I thought all the characters were well developed, given that there wasn't a ton of backstory, but just enough. They were portrayed fairly but all they faced demons in their own ways. I was so moved and touched by the story, especially by the truly stunning acting of Djimon Hounsou, and by the scenes of his childhood in Jim Crow Louisiana. I'd easily see this again just for Hounsou's acting alone. What would anyone want to change? I am baffled.

westsideschl The signature manifestation of a cheap production is having prolonged opening aerial scenes of a car driving on a roadway usually in a foresty setting followed by scenes viewing upward toward trees rustling in the wind. Dead giveaway. But, moving on to the substance (script), basically it was a fantastical sweetened good converts bad into good storyline. A bit stereotyped (i.e. dramatized & admitted so in credits) of a black angry homeless person w/racially abusive growing up experiences within a cotton plantation setting and the always present white slave owners. However, to the rescue is an upper middle class white couple volunteering, where else, soup kitchen (a misnomer as food fare has improved the past decades especially w/donations at food banks). A sort of Union Gospel shelter to the rescue. Acting was overdramatic in both directions overly aggressive and overly submissive, but got the point across. Zellweger could convert Satin w/the calm sweetness of her voice alone. Not overly preachy, and had the potential to be so. The helping the homeless cause in America is valuable, but relative to the billion people worldwide who live daily w/debilitating disease, no medical care, hunger, poor/no sanitation, no potable H2O, little/no shelter, rape, abuse, very short life spans, murders based on religion or gender - it pales.

lavatch This film was made by well-intentioned and decent people, who wanted to tell a heartwarming story based on real events. Unfortunately, the movie was overwhelmed by sentimentality without offering a logic to the events it sought to portray.Debbie is the controlling figure as "a girl with a heart so big that Texas can't hold it." She forgives her husband Ron for an affair that nearly destroys their marriage. Years later, when she is dying of cancer, the saintly Debbie says that the adultery was a good thing. The constant spinning of real life calamity into the theme of "God works in mysterious ways" is the heart and soul of this film. But the film fails to acknowledge that there were some genuinely cruel characters being depicted. One malicious woman tips off Debbie to Ron's affair. A similarly callous wife of the doctor is the first to inform Debbie that she is "terminal" with her cancer. A racist politely asks Ron to stop bringing "the Negro" to the swanky club. And the Scrooge-like father of Ron is the most callow of all...until his unexpected, Scrooge-like reformation at the end.The most interesting character was Denver, the homeless man filled with secrets of the heart, whose potential is recognized by Debbie while working in a "mission" serving hot meals to the homeless. But whereas we clearly follow the transformation of Denver into a wise and articulate self-sufficient individual and, by his speech, an accomplished poet, he curiously remained homeless, living in the bushes through the entire action of the film. It was not until the closing credits that we learn how Denver assisted Ron Hall with the book that became a spiritual bestseller, then accompanied him on the lecture circuit.One especially human trait that is left unexamined in this motion picture was the human emotion of guilt. Ron clearly is driven to help out at the mission by the guilt of adultery and for selling Debbie's anniversary gift of the Mary Cassatt painting, then replacing it with a copy. Debbie is motivated by the guilt of her gaudy, opulent, shallow lifestyle to work at the mission and "dream" of a new man entering her life with obvious sexual innuendo. Denver is guilt-ridden for having committed murder while imprisoned at Angola. And the guilt finally catches up to the mean-spirited ex-soda salesman father of Ron. If the collective guilt experienced by these characters had been examined thoughtfully by the film artists, "Same Kind of Different as Men" might have been elevated from a mundane soap opera into more profound existential film about genuine human realities. If that had happened, it might have been possible for Ron to address his father as "Dad," as opposed to "Earl."