Stylish but barely mediocre overall

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

A couple of years later, Morris turned in a documentary called 'Vernon, Florida', which was kind of life threatening at first for the director. The town in Florida was known as 'Nub-City', due to the high number of people who would volunteer to cut off their own limbs as a way to collect insurance money. Originally, this was what Morris set 'Vernon, Florida' to be about, but the citizens weren't too happy about it and began to threaten his life and eventually ran him out of town. A little while later, he came back to the town and focused on the many different and eclectic people who lived in this small community. Everyone here as all four limbs now and Morris wants to hear these people's stories and outlook on life in the small swamp town of Vernon. He meets people who think sand grows to a larger size, the pros and cons of turkey hunting, and stories of people with several brains.It's a genuine, funny, yet oddly charming look at life in a small town. Morris really engraved his name in the annals of filmmaking with these two brilliant films and made an impact on the movie industry and his colleagues that would further his career for many years to come.

The overwhelming majority of comedians could sharpen their technique and analyze for decades and not come anywhere close to the unintentional hilarity of these 'regular folks'. At only fifty-five minutes, this is a side-splitting tour de force. Each and every 'interview' contains a nugget of cracked wisdom and haphazard idiocy that made me want to grab a pen and paper. There are so many favorites, that I am at a loss to declare the funniest moment in the film. However, the fishing incident involving the dead mule, the "expanding sand", and the prolix philosophy of The Turkey Hunt are all comedic gems. Rarely does a film which is merely a random collection of 'talking heads' leave you wishing for more.

I am not sure what to think about this movie. To me, it was just some people talking about their daily, original thoughts. I know people like this. I might be someone like this one day. I guess I don't see the point in it. I felt like the filmmaker was trying to prove something - but what? I couldn't figure it out.And did anyone notice there are NO WOMEN who tell stories in Vernon, (except the wife at the end)? Why is this? Was the filmmaker only trying to make a movie about old men? Or did the women of Vernon have boring stories to tell? I suppose this could be compared to a folklore collection. The rural folks, telling their stories, with or without a point. I love reading rural folklore because it often seems abstract, simple and enlightening at the same time. Even if you didn't live in that time period or under those circumstances, you can relate it to your life. I am sure I would have loved to talk to these old men about their lives. I could have easily sat at the bench with the opossum/turtle guy for hours hearing his stories. I would have been touched to ride on the boat with the man who talked about God, and he probably would have made some good points. It's not a big deal.Yes, he cracked me up when he said "I was the only person he knew that knows what to do with a opossum!" and then he held it by the tail and watched it try to walk away, and nothing else. Yes, I laughed when the preacher talked about the word "therefore" forever because it seemed sort of pointless. But, I am just thinking - so what? What's new? Also, what is the filmmaker trying to prove here? am I supposed to be laughing? There are people like this everywhere, and there always has been. Pick up any oral folklore book and you will find this film isn't an idea worth calling "brilliant".Go outside, talk to people. There are folks like this everywhere. Not just in Vernon, Florida. Maybe the reason people like it so much is that it captures this kind of personality in a raw and visual way. But you could do the same thing if you went outside your city limits and had some conversations with strangers. These people aren't freaks, they aren't even that weird, comparatively. They live their lives and they are happy, for the most part. Isn't that what everyone wants? I just don't think it's that weird and wacky. It's life.I don't get it. Also, I would have liked to see more women in Vernon. 5/10.

This is a surprise, a documentary about weird, old people in Florida that manages to be both amusing and insightful. The film is very simply a collection of anecdotes from Vernon's eccentric elderly residents about their hobbies and in the case of the bored policeman, his job.Errol Morris, surely one of the best documentary filmmakers of recent times, wisely chooses to let his subjects do the talking. There is no Michael Moore grandstanding and no pompous voice-over. The result is refreshing as it allows the viewer to come to their own conclusion about the interviewees without having someone's personal agenda shoved down your throat. Personally, I think these old coots are awesome. They have all found different ways to bring happiness and meaning to their twilight years, whether it be shooting turkeys, farming worms or looking after stray animals. While the gobbler hunter provides most of the laughs with his amazing anecdotes and wall of turkey feet, the highlight for me was the priest and his sermon.Vernon, Florida is a beautifully filmed documentary that stands up incredibly well 25 years after it was made. This is highly recommended.