There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Down in the Valley is a movie that features Edward Norton, Evan Rachel Wood, David Morse and Rory Culkin.The story is about a romance between a teenage girl and a thirty-something drifter that takes the young woman down a dangerous and unexpected path in this independent drama.It was written and directed by David Jacobson.Tobe is a pretty 18-year-old whose father, Wade, is the sheriff of a town in California's San Fernando Valley. She is driving to the beach with some friends when she stops at a filling station and meets gas jockey Harlan, who dresses like a cowpoke and claims to have recently relocated to Los Angeles from South Dakota. Harlan is immediately and obviously taken by him, and when she asks him to tag along for the day, he impulsively quits his job to follow her. They soon become a couple, but Wade is convinced Harlan is not all he claims to be, and Tobe begins to wonder if her father might be right when Harlan takes her horseback riding and their date is cut short after police inform them the horses have been stolen from an rancher whom Harlan claims is a friend - and who promptly turns up with a gun to confront both of them, insisting that he has never seen Harlan before. Tobe's suspicions grow when Harlan offers to teach her little brother, Lonnie , how to shoot using a pair of real .45 revolvers, as his actions become less charming and more worrisome.This film examines the life and death of the western and its incompatibility with the youth of today.Also,it is a tale that is wholly original and deeply prescient about the darker shoals of human nature and it also has the values of past and present collide and it reexamines the American Dream.Overall,it still's one of the most original movies in a long time.

By chance, a lonely, simpleton cowpoke named Harlan (Edward Norton) pops into the life of a California valley girl named Tobe (Evan Rachel Wood). The two hit it off. She's taken by Harlan's polite, simpleminded charm. He wears a cowboy hat, talks ranches and horses, and can twirl a gun like nobody's business. Tobe and her kid brother idolize Harlan. But Tobe's dad Wade (David Morse) is suspicious of Harlan from the get-go.The plot details the relationship between Tobe and Harlan, as it becomes ever shakier, en route to a poignant ending. The first half is slow, with a focus on character development. The second half is more interesting, but is less believable. The script is evasive about Harlan's background. And I just could not take him seriously. Nor could I take seriously Tobe's love for him. The entire story did not seem plausible.Acting is quite good. Despite an annoying voice, Edward Norton does a fine job of portraying Harlan. Evan Rachel Wood was more than convincing in her role. Maybe it was the character of Wade I didn't like, but I found David Morse irritating as a rarely smiling, unsympathetic dad."Down In The Valley" is the story of an urban drifter who, through his own fantasies and self-image, impacts the lives of a typical urban family. I found the film uncomfortable to sit through, because Harlan did not seem real. I guess the film's theme is that he and his fantasies symbolize what's left of the Old West, a fantasy sociologically discordant with modern life.

I see so many people having a problem with the fact that the film is unrealistic. Maybe it is. It fascinated me though to see such a noble icon as the American cowboy co-opted by a man who we will later learn possesses none of these heroic qualities. That the denouement quite conveniently plays out on a film set again is probably stretching it a bit, but it reminded me of "Southern Comfort", where an outsider or outsiders wander into a self-contained community and try to blend in, without sticking out as people who don't belong there...There may be a message about how easily people can slip into routine and cliché when they're trying to make something of themselves, so perhaps it's appropriate that it turns out more like a legend or an exaggerated retelling than a sensible chain of events? Edward Norton makes a fine antihero anyway, so even if you do find the story a touch improbable, it's still worth watching it unfold, just for him.

What starts out as a gentle country yarn, inoffensive and mildly enjoyable romantic tale changes pace as Edward Norton's initially charming Harlan gradually reveals more about himself and things take a turn for the sinister, as the film gradually changes from a southern romance to a modern wild western.An amiable rancher (Norton) wanders into town and charms a young girl (Evan Rachel Wood), seemingly rescuing her from a dead-end existence with her bad-tempered father with a whirlwind romance, but it gradually becomes apparent that there is more to this cowboy than meets the eye.Edward Norton – a real chameleon actor (with changing facial hair to match) playing a country hick, accent slightly dodgy but maybe because he's merely trying to act the part without worrying about the accent. He certainly makes it appear effortless to make all the nuanced little adjustments as we learn more about Harlan. However, with too many small changes it means we are never sure exactly where Harlan is coming from, and what seemed like a good performance from Norton gradually becomes confused. Evan Rachel Wood is likable without ever really having a great deal to do other than bat her eyelids at Norton.Down in the Valley strikes as a slightly uneven tale due to its change of pace, and by never really making the protagonist's motives clear the audience's sympathies for the characters remain uncertain. Should we like this drifter or not? Even after a dramatic turn of events it remains unclear. This ambiguity is to the film's detriment, as if the writer could not make up their mind what kind of story they wanted to tell and settled for somewhat of a hotch-potch. Had the film remained one or the other it might have been a solid film, but as it is what we are left with is something of a mess. Fans of old-fashioned romance will enjoy a portion of the film but will be put off by the darkening tone. Completist fans of Norton aside (or fans of the lush scenery of the San Fernando valley), give this a miss.