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Smart, Daring and Funny

By Jeffrey C. Billman
Orlando Weekly | March 27, 2007
Smart, daring and funny, Live Free or Die centers around the pathetic, fraudulent existence of John Rudgate, a jobless sad sack in a small New Hampshire town. Rudgate desperately wants people to believe he's a badass who decapitated a logger who crossed him and that he's something of an all-around menace. In reality, he's nothing of the sort, spending his time peeling rebate coupons from liquor bottles and subsisting on the meager checks that come his way. No one believes him except a borderline-retarded high-school friend who buys into everything Rudgate says. His false bravado and constant need for attention finally land him in legal hot water and render him a choice: Admit to being a loser or waste his life to keep up the act for his one dimwitted friend. Well-scripted and acted, the film breezes through its 92 minutes and is only slightly overwhelmed by Michael Rapaport's portrayal of a cop obsessed with his wife's presumed adultery.
Tags: Gregg Kavet and Andy Robin, Live Free or Die

Orlando Weekly

In America's theme-park Mecca, Orlando Weekly recently explored these themes: How a private group of developers pulled the strings that directed public land-use policies. How a millionaire time-share mogul made his money selling bogus promises. How an annual Gay Day...
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