Southland Tales

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2:27

Southland Tales

R

Released Nov 14, 2007

2h 24m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

41%

Tomatometer

106 Reviews

41%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

With the United States under the threat of nuclear attack, the lives of several people converge in a dystopian Los Angeles. Movie star Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson) plans his next film with the help of ambitious porn actress Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and troubled policeman Roland Taverner (Seann William Scott). Meanwhile, Marxist revolutionaries, greedy corporations and secretive government agencies pursue their separate agendas among a paranoid populace.

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Critics Consensus

Southland Tales, while offering an intriguing vision of the future, remains frustratingly incoherent and unpolished.

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Philippa Snow

New Statesman

Southland Tales is dizzyingly maximalist, never happy with one set-piece if it can introduce five. It is unhinged, and occasionally exhilarating, and quite often funny.

Jun 3, 2020

Full Review

Mark Olsen

Film Comment Magazine

As the follow-up to his debut feature, the unexpectedly enduring teen-movie/sci-fi hybrid Donnie Darko, writer-director Richard Kelly has crafted an even more ambitious and far-reaching story

Nov 19, 2013

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Anthony Quinn

Independent (UK)

They've left it late, but writer-director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) and his team have gone and scooped The Independent's Worst Film of 2007 award - against stiff competition, too.

Rated: 1/5

Dec 7, 2007

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Justin Micallef

Vague Visages

To catch the eye of Southland Tales is to look back on our past and future simultaneously, on the limitations of our technology and the humanity that screeches through it.

Feb 6, 2024

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Tim Brayton

Alternate Ending

A radical, swirling hallucination of ideas that all feel grabbed at random.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 26, 2022

Full Review

Jason Shawhan

Nashville Scene

Sprawling, chaotic, stuffed to the gills with unexpected character actors and filled with apocalyptic mayhem, 2006's Southland Tales had a vision of where America was headed.

Sep 10, 2021

Full Review

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Jeffrey P

Been awhile since I've seen this, I've always held it in high regard as a top tier dystopian sci-fi feature and now, upon further viewing, I see that it is also very well written, a lot better than it gets credit for. I am honestly surprised that it is still not regarded higher, or even considered a cult classic.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

09/21/25

Full Review

Oliver A

Hands down one of the best movies of all time. Yes it is totally bananas. No chance there will ever be another movie like it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/02/25

Full Review

Lukas S

Just don't go into this film as you would any film with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and expect a "The Rock" film because you will be disappointed, just go into it to be entertained, it can get complicated but sometime complicated is a good thing.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/01/25

Full Review

Haddon L

The film should have been made in 2024 with everything that is going on today.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/09/24

Full Review

Pete Y

It feels like Richard Kelly borrowed themes from his first film Donnie Darko - right down to a character taking a bullet to the left eye - and attempted to make an absurd comedy from it and if there was ever a more unnecessary scene in a film than 2 animated SUV's fornicating, I don't want to know

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

09/18/24

Full Review

Matthew H

My god what did I just watch 😂 two hours I can’t get back how this film got a cult following but yet actually good movies are ripped apart by fans and critics alike WOW!!!

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/01/24

Full Review

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Richard Kelly

Director

Dwayne Johnson

Boxer Santaros

Seann William Scott

Roland Taverner

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Krysta Kapowski

Curtis Armstrong

Dr. Soberin Exx

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Brandt Huntington

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Southland Tales: Trailer 1

2:27

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Synopsis

With the United States under the threat of nuclear attack, the lives of several people converge in a dystopian Los Angeles. Movie star Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson) plans his next film with the help of ambitious porn actress Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and troubled policeman Roland Taverner (Seann William Scott). Meanwhile, Marxist revolutionaries, greedy corporations and secretive government agencies pursue their separate agendas among a paranoid populace.

Director: Richard Kelly
Producer: Sean McKittrick, Kendall Morgan, Bo Hyde, Matthew Rhodes
Screenwriter: Richard Kelly
Distributor: Destination Films, Samuel Goldwyn Company
Production Co: Cherry Road Films LLC
Rating: R (Sexual Material|Language|Some Drug Content|Violence)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 14, 2007, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 27, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $273.4K
Runtime: 2h 24m

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