Synopsis
The film follows a rebellious teenager on leave from the Marines who falls in love with a female musician. The relationship is threatened when she develops a mental illness...
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Rachael Leigh CookDori Lawrence
- Jonathan TuckerMark Deloach
- Agnes BrucknerSue "of the Dubervilles" Dubois
- Val KilmerStaff Sergeant Skeer
- Joe MantegnaGil Deloach
- Carrie FisherMrs. Dubois
- Diane VenoraMrs. Hengen
- Zena GreyGina Deloach
- David HolcombSilvio
- Tony HaleUncle Donnie
Recommendations
- 50
L.A. Weekly
If the contrast between Marine life and blue-blood luxury sometimes pulls the film in awkward directions, Anselmo's perceptive fondness for all his characters -- parents, children, grunts, even drill sergeants -- more than compensates. - 50
New York Daily News
The film's biggest problem is its psychologically false ending. Having created a complex relationship, Anselmo seems to throw up his hands at the end and admit he doesn't have a clue about how to resolve it. - 40
Village Voice
Stateside's real-life frame allows the complexities of mental illness and military service to lose dramatic tension, resulting in a desultory home stretch of group therapy, tears, and reconciliation. - 40
The Hollywood Reporter
The finely observed moments in Stateside accumulate little emotional power. The promise of something startling and compelling goes unfulfilled, and the arc of the central love story isn't interesting enough to sustain the drama. - 40
Los Angeles Times
The film is plagued by Anselmo's inability to focus on the heart of his story. - 30
The A.V. Club
A mess. - 30
Variety
Partially biographical story of a rich kid's unplanned encounter with the Marines and his even more random romance with a schizophrenic movie starlet is contrived and emotionally incomplete, and strained further by self-consciously cockeyed dialogue. - 25
Entertainment Weekly
If you were looking for an actress to play a tempestuous, schizophrenic movie-slash-rock star, you might go for Courtney Love or Angelina Jolie, or maybe even Jennifer Connelly. But Rachael Leigh Cook?
