The White River Kid (aka White River) (1999)

Set in Arkansas, a con man (Bob Hoskins) passes himself off as a holy monk doing God's work. His sidekick is an illegal Mexican immigrant (Antonio Banderas) with ambitions toward being a lawyer. Their lives are interrupted when they fall in with a serial killer (Wes Bentley) that the con man feels fatherly toward, much to the annoyance of his sidekick. Based on the novel THE LITTLE BROTHERS OF ST. MORTIMER by John Fergus Ryan and directed by Arnold Glimcher (THE MAMBO KINGS). A highly uneven attempt at mixing comedy with a disturbing undercurrent of corruption and violence. The film sees the serial killer as an innocent which may explain why Hoskins' con man takes him under his wing but I saw Bentley's character as dangerously mentally ill. With one exception, the movie also views its Southern characters as stereotypical backward rednecks. The exception is Ellen Barkin as a mysterious blind prostitute. The film never quite gets it right which is a pity because in more assured hands, this could have been an offbeat sleeper of a black comedy. Released theatrically overseas in Europe and Asia, it went straight to home video and cable in the U.S. With Beau Bridges, Swoosie Kurtz, Randy Travis and Kim Dickens.