Vernon, Florida

Vernon, Florida is one of the rare documentaries that gets funnier every time it's seen. Errol Morris simply invades a small town in the Florida Panhandle, turns on his camera, and lets things go from there. To those uninitiated in the ways of Morris, the first reaction upon viewing the film is that it all has to be staged. There is simply no way that any of the people who appear in the film can be telling the tales they tell without their fingers crossed behind their back. That lack of conviction simply grows as the film moves along and we are introduced to characters whose stories grow stranger and stranger. It might seem cruel or exploitive at first, especially given the advanced age of some of the interviewees, but in reality and in the grand scheme, it's more of a celebration of a slice-of-life that most of us would find to be as alien as if we set foot on Mars. Perhaps that lends to a sort of condescension on the part of those who laugh uproariously at some of the situations, but given the similar pattern established by past Morris films such as Gates of Heaven, it seems that the director is suggesting that we laugh simply because we are not familiar. It is up to the individual viewer to decide if this presentation is cruel or not. The highlights include the couple whose souvenir of sand from the A-bomb test site in Los Alamos is, by their description, growing in its jar because of its radioactivity, and the turkey hunter, who revels in the glory of the hunt. Originally Morris planned a different film than the one that emerged from his footage, but thankfully he recognized what he had on his hands. ~ Dan Friedman, All Movie Guide

What separates documentation from exploitation? In the work of Errol Morris, particularly in this film, it's the length of a shot. While the director makes no attempts to hide the humor of his subjects' observations, he never allows a sense of smug condescension to sneak in. Where it would be easy simply to cut away from, say, the obsessive turkey hunter or some of the film's less stable residents at an opportune moment, Morris simply lets them keep talking, their observations usually taking on an odd kind of dignity. Most of the Vernonites here, no less than later Morris subject Stephen Hawking or the documentarian himself, are attempting to find some meaning in life, a fact that Morris recognizes above any value they have as humor. Be that as it may, Morris has here uncovered an extraordinarily odd corner of the world. The director, as always, has other aims in mind, but it's as a freak show that Vernon first grabs the attention. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide