Review: Half Nelson (2006)
It’s premise has the kind of pat irony that would make for an unwatchable Lifetime or IFC late night movie (he’s an inspirational inner city teacher, and a crack addict!) but Ryan Fleck along with Anna Boden (who co-produced and co-wrote the script with him) show a sure hand, an empathy, a tangible sense of human understanding that elevates the B material into something memorable and promising. “Half Nelson” has an appealing free from three act shagginess, and many of its key scenes manage to pay off in a way, just slightly off from your expectations.
Ryan Gosling gets the show-off part, he gets to give the inspirational classroom lectures that inspire students, as well as walk around half drunk and stoned. But he resists the kind of false, humorless, “actorly” showboating that has plagued Sean Penn recently. His character, Dan Dunne, is allowed to be charismatic and funny, and the film is perceptive in acknowledging that the bruise in his personality that nurtures the drug use, is also why he’s such a good teacher. He empathaizes with his students, he shares their disenchantment with the system around them. As good as Ryan Gosling is, Shareeka Epps matches him as the student who discovers her favorite teacher is a drug addict. Epps gives a soulful performance ahead of her years, and her give and take with Gosling (which has a sexual current the film doesn’t seem to know what to do with) is the reason “Half Nelson” will stick with you.
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