The first thing to say is that as a parent is that I am glad to find a film that's rated PG so I can take my kids to see or rent and watch as a family.
The younger crowd may not understand how resonating this film is for people who actually served in the Army or other branches of the military but I would put the characterization of this film on par with "The Hurt Locker" or "Jarhead". Granted this is not an Oscar winning big budget battle-war-centric film, but the elements that went into understanding the path of a returning soldier from war was very realistic. My father served in the military therefore I appreciated this picture. I savored every element of witty script writing and banter between the characters. I was delighted to see that yes like other reviewers pointed out, cast members with military experience were actual supporting actors in the film in addition to the star power of the leads.
The plot is about a soldier (Sam Logan Khaleghi) who comes back from war as we know, and now has to utilize his skill set to solve a winding mystery about the death of his ex-girlfriend (played by country music star Jana Kramer) and make public or open details of her father who may or may not have information. I don't want to give anything away that would spoil the twists and turns of the second and third acts of the film, but if you like war genre and mystery genre, this is a splendid mix of both. I noticed people having arguments about where the film takes place (be it Michigan or Louisiana) however, the director was on a Morning News broadcast today (FYI - I bought the DVD after hearing it came out today on TV); the director said that the film does takes place in a fictional city, and so I didn't care what accents the actors had because when I googled the name of the city, it is indeed fictional, southern or mid-west, it doesn't show up, it's fanciful either way. I was more into the plot of the movie, the military themes and the characters which I found charming and emotionally grasping.
I didn't get a chance to catch this in the movie theater, but as I said, I was able to watch it on DVD today with my kids (my daughter is a huge fan of "Tropic Thunder"), and she liked Brandon T. Jackson, who has a jewel of a cameo appearance which reminded me of his Tropic Thunder character slightly but more dramatic because he actually plays someone who was a soldier in the war. The positive of watching this on DVD is that I was able to enjoy the incredible slew of special features, which included an informative series of making-of-documentaries including interviews with cast and crew. The special features on this DVD were awesome because it was an actual behind the scenes look rather than an extended trailer with b-roll of behind the scenes which is what many big movies do nowadays.
