Locusts, The MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 Content: -3

Mrs. Potts's cattle ranch is a place where secrets scarcely remembered and even more dimly understood simmer just below the surface. Delilah Potts (Kate Capshaw) runs her cattle ranch with a sultry blend of strength and seduction. Scores of men work the grounds, but only one is chosen each night to share her bed. It's an unspoken arrangement in a place where Mrs. Potts's rules are scrupulously obeyed ... until a drifter named Clay Hewitt (Vince Vaughn) shows up looking for work. Clay becomes captivated by the widow's withdrawn, emotionally-crippled son, Flyboy (Jeremy Davies). Flyboy's subservience and whispered-about past barely scratch the surface of the dark places where his soul has been buried all these years. With the help of Kitty (Ashley Judd), a free-spirited local girl, Clay reaches out to him, encouraging Flyboy to take his first steps toward independence, and uncovering the long-buried secret of incest that will change all of their fates. THE LOCUSTS weaves a powerful and wrenching tale about the pain of betrayal. Davie's performance as Flyboy will certainly be noticed on Oscar night. But the movie's gloomy outlook on life and its lack of a happy ending will make it a small player at the box-office.

The Phillip Morris tobacco company must have made a mint during the production of this film. Just about every character smoked like damp wood on a campfire. And the hard liquor business didn't suffer either. Rarely does a minute of screen-time pass before somebody pours him/herself another drink. In addition to substance abuse, sex and profanity also saturate the film. It is implied that Mrs. Potts sleeps with a different ranch hand just about every night. Clay performs oral sex on Kitty on their first date, although the audience only sees his head go under her dress. Clay and Kitty go on to have a sexually active relationship, although the aforementioned is the only sex scene of the movie. No incest scenes are shown. This movie accurately portrays the painful consequences of sin, but offers no hope about life. Viewers looking for a wholesome film or a happy ending should avoid THE LOCUSTS.

Preview Reviewer: Jason Shepherd
Distributor: Orion Pictures, 1888 Century Park East, Los Angeles, CA 90067