Iowa (2005)

15% of critics liked it
(13 reviews)
29% of users liked it
(83 ratings)

Matt Farnsworth wrote and stars in the independent drama Iowa, which also marks his feature directorial debut. Farnsworth and associate producer/co-star Diane Foster had previously worked on Poor Man's Dope, a documentary about tweaked-out Midwestern methamphetamine addicts and dealers, and that… More Matt Farnsworth wrote and stars in the independent drama Iowa, which also marks his feature directorial debut. Farnsworth and associate producer/co-star Diane Foster had previously worked on Poor Man's Dope, a documentary about tweaked-out Midwestern methamphetamine addicts and dealers, and that inspired them to make this feature. Farnsworth plays Esper, whose father, a meth addict, dies as the film opens. Esper stands to collect on an insurance policy, but as executor Irv (John Savage) tells him, only if drug tests on his father come back clean. Esper is involved in a serious relationship with Irv's daughter, Donna (Foster), and plans to marry her with or without the money. But Esper's scheming mother, Effie (Rosanna Arquette) has other plans. She's teamed up with corrupt parole officer, Larry (Michael T. Weiss from television's The Pretender), in a vicious plot to get Esper out of the way and collect the insurance money herself. Larry busts Esper and assaults Donna while he's in jail, but Donna finds a way to bail Esper out before Larry can have him killed. Together with their junkie friends, Nick (David Backus) and Dominique (Amanda Tepe), Esper and Donna start up their own meth lab. But Larry is still after Esper, and the methamphetamine business turns out to be more dangerous than any of them had imagined. Iowa had its world premiere in competition at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 44 min.
Directed By: Matt Farnsworth
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Apr 22, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Feb 10, 2009
Studio: Koch Vision

Critic Reviews

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
A mish-mash of familiar cinematic would-be jolts and shocks that don't convince for a more than a moment or two.
Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times
Cut with distractions: tweaky visuals, borrowed touches and cartoonish characters.
Sam Adams, Los Angeles Times
Farnsworth's frenetic, often hysterical first feature tries desperately to find a style, or styles, to call its own, but there's never a moment that doesn't feel as if it's been chewed up and spit out a dozen times before.
Kyle Smith, New York Post
There's not much story but there are plenty of colorful, almost David Lynchian drug freakouts.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
A sour vanity project: trash posing as a socially relevant 'cautionary tale.'
Laura Kern, New York Times
Matt Farnsworth's low-budget cautionary tale takes a 'drugs are evil' premise and pushes it to the extreme.
Frank Lovece, Film Journal International
This is just stylistic plagiarism, without any sense of self.
Linda Cook, Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
Here's a strange, moody movie about "Iowa" that's never going to make to a Chamber of Commerce dinner.
Mark Olsen, L.A. Weekly
As director, Farnsworth lets tricky visuals run roughshod over dramatic unity, while as a performer, his lack of screen presence makes him seem sullen and uninterested instead of darkly charismatic.
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
The most unflinching look yet at the meth pandemic that is sweeping across the Midwest as family values are plowed under by modern corporate agri-business.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
According to this first-time feature filmmaker, the entire Hawkeye State is a hotbed of crime, corruption and clandestine chemistry, with home-cooked crystal methamphetamine replacing pot roast and Mom's apple pie.
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine
Iowa is so stupendously slipshod that even mentioning the classics it vainly attempts to emulate would be to give it too much credit by association.