Parents' Guide to

Arkansas

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Violent, vulgar, but entertaining story about drug dealers.

Movie R 2020 117 minutes
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What's the Story?

In ARKANSAS, Kyle (Liam Hemsworth) is a low-level drug dealer who works for a mysterious boss named "Frog," whose identity is unknown. Once Kyle proves his loyalty, he's teamed with Swin (Clark Duke), and they're sent to work under park ranger Bright (John Malkovich), posing as maintenance workers. Though they're ordered not to get involved with women, Swin meets and falls for Johnna (Eden Brolin). Coming back from a deal and distracted, Swin fails to notice that they're being followed, which results in Bright's death. Kyle and Swin decide to cover it up and keep working. But soon, Frog (Vince Vaughn) starts to realize that something's fishy.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Duke's feature directing debut has the same goofy confidence that his character Swin demonstrates, and the movie entertainingly balances humor, smarts, surprises, and brutal violence. Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine, I'm Dying Up Here) co-wrote the screenplay (adapted from a novel by John Brandon), and Arkansas feels novelistic. It's divided into chapters, it has well-placed flashbacks, and it paints a vivid array of characters who quickly and efficiently reveal their personalities in just a few lines of dialogue. These include Michael Kenneth Williams as "Almond," a veteran drug dealer who works out of a fireworks shop, and Vivica A. Fox as "Her," a go-between who prefers to remain anonymous.

Perhaps the movie's best trick is to slowly develop these characters from criminal misfits into three-dimensional people we actually care about. Swin wears ridiculous clothes, an awful mustache, and long, straggly hair pinned up in a little bun, but he has a kindness and wisdom that eventually appear. Even his relationship with Johnna comes to feel genuine. Hemsworth is, at first, a thug, but he starts to seem like a clever older brother (his interactions with Swin have a certain comfort). Vaughn is a real surprise, however. Rather than being a paper-thin force of evil, he becomes a truly fascinating, tragic character. Arkansas is a careful, casually paced underworld chess game that thoroughly entertains.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Arkansas' violence. Is the strong brutality/gore intended to shock? Is it for humor? How does the movie achieve these effects?

  • Is drug use/dealing glamorized? What are the consequences?

  • How is sex depicted? What values are imparted?

  • Even though the characters are criminals, are there examples of loyalty and teamwork?

Movie Details

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