Review: Black Snake Moan

With an entertaining blend of humour, music, and shift-in-your-seat sex scenes, Black Snake Moan flirts with the crossroads of southern goth and pulp fiction. Pea farmer Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) is kicking his ex-wife's belongings to the curb when he stumbles upon a bloodied and naked Rae (Christina Ricci), a poor cracker with a sex addiction. Lazarus accepts what he sees as God's challenge to cure Rae of her "wickedness". For the next hour, Ricci slinks around the pea farm in chains and underwear, so while not a movie to watch with your grandmother, the costume selection alone would be sufficient for at least three readers of this blog to see the film.

Weaving a superbly cuss-laden script together with a near-perfect cast, is a celebration of the blues, largely performed by Jackson who spent a year learning how to pick guitar. I say near-perfect casting because of the inexplicable appearance of Justin Timberlake playing a critical role in the climax as Rae's troubled boyfriend. I'm quickly building a list of actors who single-handedly destroy movies. To that list, which includes Ryan Phillipe and Owen Wilson, I've now added Timberlake. A price must be paid by directors who make these ghastly choices and, for this unforgivable error, on a go/no-go scale, I give Black Snake Moan a "no-go".