Kelsey's Review

Summary - Perfect 5.0

King of California is a dark comedy centered around a small, dysfunctional family. The film is a wild ride, in which most of the time is spent going on a treasure hunt in modern day California’s suburbia. Whether the treasure is attainable or real is not the point. It is the journey and how it’s representation that really means something to the characters.
Miranda (Wood) has much more independence than most teenagers her age. Her mom left her father and her when she was young. For the past two years, her father, Charlie (Douglas) has been in a mental institution. She didn’t want to be left with anyone else so she left others to believe she wasn’t still living in her father’s house. Her mother thought she was with a foster family. Miranda’s father thought she was with her mother. She had to drop out of school when she was 15 though in order to work constantly at McDonalds in hopes of getting by. Miranda gets by but only barely so.
Ironically enough, it is when her father comes back home that things really get hard rather than when she is all alone. Charlie is clearly very unstable, which makes more work for Miranda to try to keep him under control. While Charlie was in the hospital he did a lot of reading particularly that of a Spanish explorer, Juan Torres. At one point Torres and his men obtained gold, but had to bury it. The book explains where it is although no one has ever been able to find it. Charlie believes this is because Torres was speaking in code, his numbers being representations for words. He invests in a metal detector and begins looking for where the location of the gold may be. Charlie tries a few different places before he finds what he believes is the true designation; underground of a Costco. Miranda has a hard time even listening to this nonsense at first. She just wants Charlie to get this idea out of his head. She doesn’t need an explorer for a father, she needs someone who can support her. After awhile Miranda does go along with it though. At certain points it almost seems like she believes that they actually have a chance of finding gold. Maybe she just needs to believe in Charlie so bad that she lets her doubts go.

Acting - Perfect 5.0

Michael Douglas is captivating as the energetically insane, Charlie. He knows he has problems and maybe part of that is his fault. He has so much passion for this search for treasure which seems completely ludicrous. More than anything he wants Miranda to believe this. Evan Rachel Wood is excellent in this film where her character is forced to grow up. She has even more responsibility with her father there, but at the same time he forces her to be a child again. Her common sense wants to dismiss what Charlie is saying, yet he teaches her that letting your mind go isn’t a waste.

Film - Perfect 5.0

The relationship between Miranda and Charlie is interesting. For the most part she doesn’t even call him Dad, only Charlie. He keeps on saying he wishes he would call him Dad. He wants to be that father figure for her even though he knows he hasn‘t deserved it in the past. Miranda does see him as her father but not in the sense that most people would use the word. Miranda is the adult in this family and Charlie is the failed adult who is now more childlike than anything. The logical thing is to see things from Miranda’s perspective. Yet if this treasure did exist and was coded, it would take someone with a different mind set and way of thinking to realize it most likely. Charlie’s ideas would usually be brushed off as crazy, yet perhaps he is just thinking outside of the box, which would be needed to decode something that every logical thinking person wasn’t able to. Charlie tries to give Miranda some of these child like thoughts back, so she can explore things even beyond his ideas. Charlie may not have accomplished everything he wanted to in his life, but it is all worth it if he can set up Miranda to be able to go farther than he did and live out a dream of her own. King of California is sheer gold. It is smart, funny, and switches roles and ideals around to display that creative desires are what help you live with possibilities.

Edge - Tame 1.1

The closest thing to an edge in the film is when Miranda goes to a barbeque held by swingers. There is sexual tension here that she is trying to avoid as they show a definite interest in her. It is really very tame though on most accounts.

Reality - Natural 1.0

The adventure itself seems unrealistic, but that is the point. It is supposed to be wild and out of the ordinary. And for someone who just got out of a mental hospital it is pretty natural. If anything is realistic it would be that Miranda was able to live on her own and trick those who were supposed to be responsible for her. This could still very well happen King of California displays the American dream which embodies people. Charlie lives for this dream. He wants to be well off and to have a stable family. His only family is Miranda, who he hasn’t exactly been there for in the way in which he should have. Charlie can’t see himself working a normal job. He has that desire that many Americans have had in the past; to get rich quick. However, it is not even just the money, all though it would help support Miranda and his life. It is for the adventure that comes with it, just as many explorers strived for. Also, most of the time he feels inferior by lack of intelligence as well as other ways. Believing he is right about this and that he could conquer his dreams by properly decoding a former explorers messages that no one has ever been able to do before makes him feel important. It would make him someone that he could be proud of. Miranda is more of the failing one in the world of the American dream. She is intelligent, but doesn’t have a formal education. She works constantly for minimum wages. Although, she has worked very hard, just getting by is not the success of the dream. Even more, any dreams that she previously had are gone, as she just doesn’t have any room for them anymore.

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