Best movie of this year hands down!

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

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

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A great character role by Ryan Gosling as Dan Dunne, an imaginative and creative high school teacher with a drug habit. Eventually his extra curricular life catches up with him when friends and colleagues see some bizarre behaviour. Ryan Gosling shows a range of acting talents as a dedicated teacher whose life spirals out of control. The hidden life is first discovered by one of his students, Drea, a good friend. I liked their initial friendship, which became more than just being friends. The student, played by Shareeka Epps, and Anthony Mackie as Frank, the nice guy dealer, are both outstanding among some other fine supporting actors. A great performance by Gosling with a fine cast behind him is a movie worth seeing.

As Dan Dunne wearingly slouches on a couch while his parents, completely oblivious to his condition, intoxicatingly prance around their living room, it becomes painfully apparent to us that he is fighting this battle completely by his lonesome. "I used to be so *beeped* up... but I *beepin* cleaned up" Dan later proudly professes to a teacher he's on a date with, as he proceeds to snort a line off his coke-riddled desk.Half Nelson is not so much a film as it is an in-depth character study, and a masterpiece it is in that regard. The story of Dan Dunne, a troubled (to put it mildly) history teacher is a a refreshingly sobering look - the irony - into the human experience. It provides us with little exposition into any of its characters lives but we learn a great deal of their hardship. And so, we too, like Dan, find ourselves adrift and in a state of confusion.Ryan Gosling is seriously good in this role. His portrayal of a nuanced, reticent, struggling man is about as accurate as one can come to expect. The way he delivers certain mannerisms is so spot on and makes his spiral into despair that much more believable. Also great in their roles are Anthony Mackie, as Frank, and Shareeka Epps, as Drey.But the mastery of Half Nelson stems from the power it punches in its raw subtlety. The writing, directing and acting are not presented as some didactic device that sets out to explore a resolution of its characters problems. Rather, this film depicts a true-to-life story that is as poignant as it is matter-of-fact. And perhaps that is why we are left feeling empty come the film's end - because, sometimes, life doesn't have the answers we have come to expect.

The plot.Young Dan Dunne teaches history and coaches the girls basketball team at a Brooklyn high school populated primarily by black and Hispanic students. To the chagrin of his superiors, Dan bucks the outlined curriculum of historical facts in favor of the philosophy of historical events, generally discussing the concept of dialectics. As such, he captures the imagination of his students, at least in the classroom. Outside of the classroom, Dan's life is in shambles. He has a distant but cordial relationship with his family. He uses illicit drugs rampantly. Although his former girlfriend Rachel was able to clean up her drug habit, Dan believes that rehab will not work for him. Due to a combination of these issues, he treats women poorly. Thirteen year old Drey is a student in his class and a player on his basketball team. Drey has her own problems. Her parents are divorced, with her father a virtually non-existent figure in her life and her EMT mother generally absent as she is.On and on. People who love this movie buy into the BS Hollywood version of life which never reflects realty. And Gossling is way miscast. he sounds ignorant and unbelievable as a HS teacher. Plus his acting isn't very good. He's basically a one trick pony who can only play one role and this isn't it.In the end you really have to ask yourself why does Hollywood keep on making these unoriginal movies that have no basis in reality. Over and over again.The plot of this film can be seen in about half a dozen other films over the past 6 years. So does that mean once a year we have to be subjected to this garbage?It's insulting.

Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) teaches history at Brooklyn high school attended mostly by black and Hispanic students. He engages his students inside the classroom. Outside of his classroom, he's a drug addict. His ex Rachel (Tina Holmes) was able to get clean, but not him. Then one day in school, one of his students Drey (Shareeka Epps) catches him in the bathroom. They form a complex relationship.This is another step in Ryan Gosling's acting career. He's perfectly natural as this a complicated character. After 'The Notebook', he could easily devolve into a nothing acting unable to take chances. He's definitely taken a chance here. He doesn't overplay the character. It's a subtle performance, and he's well supported by Shareeka as well as others.