Fraught with o ver obvious sy mbolism, Hartley's early feat ure is nonet heless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cas t his characters perfec tly came early in h is career. Adrienne Shell ey is a near perfect foil t o hersel f, equal p arts anno ying teen burgeo ning in her sexuality (tho ugh using sex for several years); obsessed with do om and inspired by idealism gone wr ong she is d eceptively – and simultaneousl y – complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many leve ls of symbol ism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e .g., her modeling career b eginnin g with photos of h er foot – culminating her doing nude (but un seen) work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, the n slee ping with the mec hanics wrench, etc. ) As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolut ely masterf ul performan ce. A reformed priso nerpenitent he returns to his home town to face d own past demons , accept his lot and begin a n ew life. Dressed in black, and repeate dly mistake n for a priest, he corrects ev eryon e (I'm a mech anic), yet the sy mbolism is rich h e abstains from alcohol, he practic es c elibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on v ows of pove rty, and hum ility as well. The humil ity seems hardest to swa llow seeming, at times, almost false , a preten se. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest an d believable. What seem s ironic is the char acter is fairly forthright in his simpli city, yet so richly drawn it b ecomes the viewer who wants to make hi m out as m ore t han what he actually is . A fascinatingly written char acter, p erfectl y pla yed. The s cene betwee n Josh and J ane (a wond erful, young Edie Falco . . . You need a w oman not a girl) i s hilarious . . . re al. But Hartley can't leave it as such and h is trick , having the ac tors re peat th e dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly arty and anno ying . . . until again it bec omes hilari ous. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends t he film (li ke kids in a perpet ual a m notare too a rgum ent). Har tley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's id iosyncrasies int o a tapes try of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalys t being tha t everyone believes they know wh at the unbelievable t ruth of the title is , yet no two people can agree (i ncludin g our hero ) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little m ovie with s ome big ideas.
精彩剧情/对白：“自从分 家之后，我们一家人，都能 吃上正常的吃食了， 好歹是有些营养的，身体自然也就正常了 。我娘和大哥也白净圆润不少，青青也漂亮了不 少。以前虽然 胖，但可不是 因为吃到了东西 才会胖的 ，胖分很多种 ，还有一种是吃不上正常的吃食，身体受不住，留了毒素，就胖起来了，我正好是这种，现在 啊，只是正常了。”
“他若是因为本公主三言两语的承诺就答应了下来，本公主对他反而没有那么感兴趣。倩碧，你，像他这样，对这些这荣华富贵不感兴趣的，将来本公主若是得到了，岂不 是那是更好的东西吗？若是他日本公主降服了他，那岂不是很有趣，也不 必担心，他会因为别 的荣华富贵走
“不是我 病了，需要你的医术 ，真正病的人，是太后娘娘，太后娘娘那身子不舒服，是很久聊，之前御医尚且有办法缓解，如今 却是没有办法缓解了，看遍了，都没 有办法。我便想到了你，你若 是可以医治好太后娘 娘，就等于是救命之恩， 太后娘娘的救命之恩，若是你求， 不得能求来爵位，到那时候，你们一 家算是安稳了。
“你知不知道，如果依着 林庄本来的笔试顺序 ，你应该是 对上别饶 ，而那个 实力最差的才会对上全意，若是依着林庄原本 的安排，我 们必然是会 赢的，也不会浪费这个机会到全意 这里，是你非要强求，和全意对上，这才有了这样的结果，而你林冲，肯定是要为你自己的行 为付出代价的！”
“小妮啊，我家有粮别的没有，就是对姑娘好， 对媳妇儿体贴，你上哪 儿去找像我家有粮这么好的男人？告诉你 ，这是打着灯笼都找不到的， 要不是你娘 和有粮他爹早早给你 们订了亲，我大队多的是姑娘上赶着要给 我家有粮做媳 妇儿呢！”
