White River

REVIEW
Sort of a We're No Angels meets O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the quirky comic adventure White River is an often fun ride off the beaten track. Taking its time getting started, the film's array of eccentric characters soon win you over, even though the material isn't always up to the level of the fine cast. Hoskins plays Brother Edgar, a con man who finds it easier to peddle his wares under the protection of the cloth. Banderas is Morales, his sidekick newly and illegally arrived from Mexico. Together they travel across Arkansas selling "socks for God." They take a stranger turn than usual when they are kidnapped by the White River Kid, a mythic killer who just wants to meet his fiancée's hillbilly parents. Crooked singing sheriffs, blind madams and a dysfunctional Ma and Pa Kettle all cross their paths, making this offbeat comedy, if not totally successful, certainly original.