Monster's Ball
dir. Marc Forster
Opens Fri Feb 8 at Guild 45th.

Monster's Ball is the kind of movie that fascinates people who've never been to the South, and insults anyone who has. It's full of sound and fury and sex and death, but it's about as real as Billy Bob Thornton's dentures.

It tells the story of Hank, a racist prison guard (Thornton, perfect), son of a retired racist prison guard (Peter Boyle, who doesn't even try an accent), and father of a young, non-racist prison guard (Heath Ledger, who tries his hardest) in a Georgia state penitentiary death row.

Hank falls into a desperate affair with Leticia (Halle Berry, semi-plausible), a black woman, after both of their sons die. Also, Hank executed her husband (Sean Combs, puffy). Hank's dad says "nigger" and "porch monkey," and Hank fires a shotgun at some black kids, so we know that the film is about breaking the cycle of bigotry. A few nice notes are struck, but too many coincidences motorize this melodrama; its morality is tinny and safe. Via their affair, Hank is cured of racism, and Leticia is cured of grief. She even gets a truck!

"I thank we're gone be all right," Hank says at the end. I thank I'm gone puke.