There's way too many plots in this drama about a beach community threatened by developers who want to buy up all the property to put in luxury hotels and get the residents out as cheaply as possible. The bulk of the plots surround motel owner Edie Falco who doesn't want to sell out and the return of former resident Angela Bassett to visit her mother (the delightful Mary Alice) after years of estrangement. Falco befriends one of the developers who slowly begins to see things from her perspective, while Bassett confronts her past after having left because of a teenage pregnancy. Now the aging mother is taking care of a distant teenaged relative who seems to have pyromaniac tendencies and also confronts the former athlete who left her pregnant.

Smaller story lines show the weariness of seemingly cheerful community leader Mary Steenburgen who organizes a community fair (and whose husband seems to be embezzling money) and Falco's actress/teacher mother (Jane Alexander) who takes on the young black teen as part of his community service. Like many recent films that have a slice of life atmosphere, this is a movie about "moments", not plot, and is well acted, yet far too overlong.

Alan King plays a Greek chorus like commentator who makes wry statements while playing golf. His presence is filled with irony and intelligently written, but at times, he seems like he's a part of another film. As directed by John Sayles, the film has some strong points to make, but it is mixed in with a lot of gobbli-gook that seems trite and unnecessary to the film overall as a whole. When Bassett is on, the film shines (she is both breathtakingly beautiful and filled with inner-beauty),and stage veteran Mary Alice gives the indication that her character is not as fragile as she seems or as one-dimensionally nice. That "there's more to her than meets the eye" quality makes her quite unforgettable, much like Cicely Tyson's recent role of the aging lady in Broadway's "A Trip to Bountiful". I wanted to see more of Steenburgen and get some insight to her character, but with an all-star cast like this, somebody had to be tossed to the wayside. Ralph Waite ("The Waltons") has some nice moments as Alexander's husband and Falco's father, especially in an exchange with young Alex Lewis once he delivers the coffin he made for Alexander's play.

John Sayles frequently focuses on issues affecting geographical areas. The battle over education in Texas in "Lone Star" and the development of Alaska in "Limbo". "Sunshine State" focuses on the development of Florida. We see how the developers want to turn into a resort an area that was part of the state's African-American history, for instance.

As it stands, Florida seems like a giant golf course already, what with Disneyworld and such things. Granted, they have Cape Canaveral and all, but that's about it. Florida actually has a lower immunization rate than Jamaica, and a higher infant mortality rate than Cuba (must have been caused by those rich Cubans who fled the revolution). It's quite literally the Third World of the United States, despite the fact that elderly people like to retire there.

Anyway, John Sayles has created another masterpiece, comparable to "Lone Star". I wholeheartedly recommend this movie.

I have to start with a brief sketch of Muzafer Sheriff's Robber's Cave Experiment, a classic in sociology. Boys were randomly picked up and put into one of two groups in an Oklahoma park. Each group didn't know the other existed, so strong bonds were developed within each group, who named themselves "The Eagles" and "The Rattlers." In the second phase of the study, the groups were brought together for the first time in competitive situations like football games. They began to hate each other. Names like "sissies" were thrown back and forth. It was us against them.

Phase three brought the Eagles and Rattlers together in shared activities, like bean hunts and watching movies. They still insulted each other. It made no difference.

In the last phase, they were faced with a common problem -- the water line to the camp needed fixing, or a trucks was stuck in a rut and needed all the boys to pull it out. Bingo! Faced with a superordinate goal, a common enemy that threatened the welfare of both groups, their mutual hatred disappeared, although the strongest bonds remained within each group. That was the kind of situation that President Reagan was thinking of when he wondered what would happen if the earth were threatened by an invasion of UFOs. It would unite all adversaries, wouldn't it?

John Sayles, who wrote and directed "Sunshine State", has shown us how this dynamic works in his earlier movie, "Matewan." He does it here too. A great big development corporation, like Marriott or something, has plans to take over a sleepy village on Florida's Gulf Coast. Their aim, as one agent puts it, is "to take everything that isn't flat and flatten it." They'll turn much of the land into a huge golf course. They'll dig a deep lake for drainage and use the dirt for a hill on which a mansion will be built.

The plans fall through, not just because of community protests by both blacks and whites, but because an ancient Indian burial ground is discovered on the site. Granted, that sacred burial ground is a deus ex machina, but Sayles seems to realize that a bunch of poor people, however incensed, however loud and passionate, are not going to stop the Devourment Land Development and Exploitation Corporation from building a damned golf course!

That's the main narrative thread, but it's often buried along the way by the romances, family conflicts, and intrigues within the population. And these are intelligently presented, surprisingly so. The local black doctor, a kindly man, is told by a visitor that racial segregation is a thing of the past, but the doc observes that, yes, it is, but in the old days if you wanted the best ribs, if you wanted a taxi to the airport, if you needed somebody to mow your lawn by hand, you could depend on blacks. What do they have now? McDonalds and gas-powered mowers that a child could use. Black people had a secure place and they've lost it.

Some of the best lines are given to Alan King as the head honcho of the Agony Mansion-Builders and Habitat Destruction Megacorporation. The recent attempt to flatten the village may have failed but people must have visions because they'd be lost without them, even if the visions have no foundation in fact. He ponders mining the moon for treasure. It has "poetry." He arrogantly dreams of exploiting the stars. It's an appealing line but St. Augustine had a better one: "You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility."

The problem is that the movie gets bogged down in those family conflicts, which have a frothy quality. Somebody once stole somebody else's man or girl friend. Somebody was once shipped out of town for being pregnant at fifteen. It makes the film slightly torpid.

I was all with the villagers though, hopeless as their situation might be. There was a point near where I lived in North Carolina called "Monkey Junction." Four or five dirt roads crossed there and the only building was a gas station whose owner kept a monkey in a cage outdoors for visitors to play with. The name is still Monkey Junction but it's lost its significance. Where the now-paved roads meet, there is a stupendous shopping center, glittering with lights and noise. A nearby Civil War battlefield was plowed over to make room for a housing development. The improvement, to the extent that it exists at all, seems slight.