I lived in Florida a good part of my life and traveled to areas like Vernon. I had "country boy" friends in these areas, people I truly enjoyed visiting. They had time for life and time for others. I once came into Perry, Florida to see a preacher friend, but did not know where he lived. I stopped in the first church I came to and asked if they knew him. I was motioned into the pastor's office, where the senior pastor was seated in camos sharpening hunting knives. He got on the phone to my friend (who pastored another church a few miles away) and said, "Boy! Got folks here lookin' for you."After supper as we were getting into our van to go to Wednesday prayer meeting, one of his goats jumped in and sat proudly on my velour seat. My friend said, "Yep . . . She'll load up on ye."So, this documentary is true to life in slower rural areas. The folks seem funny, only because we are used to our fast-paced and so called "intelligent" suburban lives. In the final analysis, who ends the game happier, he who took time to live, or he who lived wishing he had found time?

First of all, any documentary film that doesn't include the director guiding the responses is a huge plus. To the viewer that called this film dull, I'm glad you don't get paid to critique film or the industry would be in serious trouble. This film was anything but dull. It's not full of action sequences or special effects because....IT'S A DOCUMENTARY!!!!! Absolutely unique film that I doubt we'll ever see the likes of again. Errol Morris comes through in a big way on this one. The editing was absolutely superb. Everything just flows together seamlessly. It is definitely a humorous film. I grew up in the south and it's view of small town rural life is spot on. I don't know how this portrayal of elderly southerners is offensive when all Morris did was put a camera in front of them and let them go. If anything, from my experiences, it's pretty much spot on. The film was excellently done! If you have never seen it you need to give it a whirl. It's on streaming Netflix now.

For historical reasons, I can understand this film. It documents a way of life and people that are very unique and a dying breed. So the film has SOME value. However, as far as entertainment goes, I think this is one of the dullest and least interesting films ever made. Errol Morris seemed to pick the most boring old coots in a small Florida Panhandle town and just let them ramble and ramble about mostly uninteresting hobbies and passions. We are 'treated' to a very, very dull guy talking about his turkey hunting experiences (his MANY, MANY, MANY experiences), a guy talking about raising worms (and he didn't even show us any!), an old guy showing off his possum, the world's dullest minister (I mean no disrespect, but he was just terrible--at least on this particular day as he talked on and on and on about the word 'therefore'!!!) and other such completely dry as I was listening to their dull and pointless rambling. I'm sure they are nice people but still, who cares about their dull lives--at least the way they were presented here?! I like fishing, but I think if I spend 30 minutes showing off my fishing lures, it, too, would bore practically everyone to death. So why, oh why, would you want to watch someone talking about their hobbies that have no interest to practically anyone else?! Amazingly, there are some who found this film funny or interesting. I don't. However, despite this being a terrible film, I DO recommend you try watching some of the film maker's other films--such as "Mr. Death" and "Fast, Cheap & Out of Control". As Morris worked on more and more films, he was able to take seemingly ordinary films and put together interesting vignettes about them--here, however, he hasn't yet learned this fine art and the people just seem like dullards--which, given editing and proper direction, they might NOT have been. Unless you are a die-hard Morris groupie, find some other documentary--ANY other documentary to watch!

I am grateful to Werner Herzog for convincing Errol Morris to become a filmmaker. "Vernon, Florida" is an intriguing look at the inhabitants of a small town with a beautiful setting in the southern United States. Like most of his films, if not all, Morris remains completely aloof, and instead allows his subjects to speak for themselves. One can easily mock the old, toothless men and the man who just loves "gobblers" (turkeys) but that would be too easy. There is something poignant about the way the people of this small town attempt to express their feelings, as if in many cases, they do not have the vocabulary to articulate their ideas. However, underlying their simple way of life is something that touches humanity. They love their lives and live them day to day without a care in the world. A friend of mine said that these guys are actually a lot smarter than we think because they know something better than probably anyone else around, even if it is cultivating worms. I think perhaps they know a lot more than we think about what it is to be human; they are earnest and humble. I watched this film three times and after each viewing I came to have a deeper appreciation for every one of them. Errol Morris is perhaps the best documentary filmmaker around today and this film was a little treat. A must see for all.