Nicolas Cage and Tye Sheridan are amazing in here. Cage should stick to this kind of cinema.

I haven't found many movies that show a mentor that isn't a true Law enforcer, but has some courage, but this one was. I wish there were more "Joe's" in the real World and on a daily basis without the mouthy "activists" and this has nothing to do with color. Joe has his own problems and worked through them, until this young man comes along and needs just the right touch of Human interaction, the right kind. Too many people have an agenda today to actually DO something positive, this movie proves there are no needs for color, religion or monetary statute to stand up and do the right thing...loved it, loved the story line and found it believable and heartbreaking, all at once. I stopped watching N Cage for a while and now I'm playing "catch up" and glad I am. Give this movie a chance, it's well worth it.

A truly impressive American rural story set in the South where you would never believe life could be so tough. Much of the supporting cast were non-professional actors but they are vivid and authentic. It's difficult to take one's eyes off him also due to Cage's character, a very intense and unpredictable presence, with excellent acting. Joe is a gripping drama with a powerful moral core, that has sympathy for those trying to make their way alone in the (bad..)world, but doesn't give them much of a chance. Friendship and hard work are its characters' only paths to redemption, which seems to arrive for the guy but not for Joe.

The latest offering in a genre of movies that audiences are eating up because it's so depressingly dismal that it would make whatever darkness a watcher is going through look like a bed of roses. A slow and plodding start eventually opens up to reveal . . . well, what? If this is any passable sort of representation of the American south, it is a skeleton that perhaps should have been left in the closet and not lauded before audiences. The performances are believable, well acted out. But the source material limits what the actors can do with it. Nicholas Cage's performance of the part was OK, but I find myself disappointed that he would attach his name to such a work. Perhaps he had gambling debts to pay off? Tye Sheridan was the only possible twinkle of hope -- but one has to plod through dysfunction and shocking displays of what Americana has come to call "normal". It's hard to believe this movie rated such returns or such reviews. One might find some small nugget that shines in a mountain of turds. But mostly, one will just stink after finding said small nugget of worthwhile entertainment.