Wow what a bad movie, such a great, famous and talented actors and such a slow movie. Richard Gere did you even read this script before you said YES ? awful, don't waste your time, watch something else

A psychologically disturbed history teacher Paul (Steve Coogan) and his wife Claire meet with Stan (Richard Gere), a prominent politician and wife Katelyn, at an exclusive restaurant to discuss how to handle the crimes of their sons. Paul and Stan are brothers. Paul's son (Michael) instigates an attack and murders a homeless woman. Stan's son (Rick) is a reluctant accomplice. Paul is obsessed with the Gettysburg Battle and other wars and justifies wars as a way of cleansing undesirables from society. Evidently this dark reasoning influenced his son to commit the crime. This guilt weighs on Paul's conscience and drives him insane. Stan has another adopted son Beau, who is black. Beau was conscientious enough to leaves the scene before the crime. The parent's discussion comes down to a strategy for what is best overall. Stan is alone in choosing to have his son turn himself in. The two wives and Paul, on the other hand, choose to protect their sons by cover up. Paul has in the past openly confesses to not being a bigot towards blacks. At the climax of the movie, Steven goes to Stan's house and murders Beau in an act that affirms his position about removing undesirables from society (in this case blacks) and thereby contradicting his denials of bigotry.

The Italian version didn't have the marquee actors, but it was well written, well acted and had all the ingredients to make the audience identify with the moral dilemma of the characters.The American version by comparison is grotesque: one of the characters is mentally ill - which makes it impossible for the viewers (at least the ones who are not mentally ill) to identify with; the story of the senator's bill keeps distracting the main plot without rhyme or reason.I watched it to the end in the hope that the sheer presence of great actors is going to somehow redeem the film. It did not.

This movie was not well crafted. It had too many plots that did not correlate. I initially thought it was about Paul's mental illness, but the plot veered into a million different directions. Although the mothers seem to be fighting to protect their sons, they come off as callous and show no thought of how their sons murdered a homeless woman with no remorse (until they believed they would have repercussions). Finally, the ending is so abrupt and left me confused about what the entire purpose of the movie was because nothing was resolved.