''Sand'' is a 2000

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

film, directed and written by Matt Palmieri. It stars

Michael Vartan Michael Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is an American actor, known for his role as Michael Vaughn on the ABC television action drama '' Alias'', his role on the TNT medical drama '' Hawthorne'', and his role on the '' E!'' drama '' The Arrangeme ...

Norman Reedus Norman Mark Reedus (born January 6, 1970) is an American actor. He made his acting debut in the 1990s, starring in the role of Murphy MacManus in ', followed by supporting roles in successful box office films ''8MM,'' '' Blade II'', and ''Amer ...

, Kari Wührer,

Harry Dean Stanton Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017) was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Stanton played supporting roles in films including ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), '' Kelly's Heroes'' (1970), '' Dilling ...

Emilio Estevez Emilio Estevez (; born May 12, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. The son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen, he made his film debut with an uncredited role in '' Badlands'' (1973). He later received his first ...

Denis Leary Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Born in Massachusetts, he first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song " Asshole") and th ...

Jon Lovitz Jonathan Michael Lovitz ( ; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990 for which he was nominated for two Pr ...

and

Julie Delpy Julie Delpy (; born 21 December 1969) is a French and American actress, screenwriter, and film director. She studied filmmaking at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including '' Europa Eur ...

Plot

The Briggs family comes together for the first time in over twenty years to attend the funeral and read the will of Marina. It is a very uneasy experience for Tyler, her son. Having been abandoned by his father Gus when he was an infant, Tyler grew up only with his mother Marina and felt no real ties to Gus or his two stepbrothers Barker and Hardy, who were not only alcoholic

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

addicts but also very ill-mannered and an embarrassment. Tyler disliked Gus' good friend and travel companion "Boston" Teddy, whose obsession with the

Kennedy family The Kennedy family () is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P ...

Hyannis Port, Massachusetts Hyannis Port (or Hyannisport) is a small residential village located in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It is a summer community on Hyannis Harbor, 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to the south-southwest of Hyannis. Community It ...

, as well as

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

's sexual exploits in and out of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

even disturbed Gus. Marina left her son Tyler everything that she had. Tyler, in a show of good faith, only took the White 1972 Ford LTD and a photo album and left everything else, the house and $6,000, to his father Gus. Tyler then took off for the coast to where Marina was born and raised to get away from the "family" in solitude. Striking up a friendship with Jack and his friends Max, Andy, and Trip, he befriends the local beach boys. Tyler gets to stay at the Higgins' home on the beach as a handyman. There, he meets and falls in love with Jack's sister, Sandy, who just came home for the summer from college. - Life is good for Tyler, with a sweet and loving girlfriend, a new set of friends, a job and a place to live. The situation changes when, one morning, Gus, Teddy, Baker and Hardy come to town. Drinking hard booze as well as smoking

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

and snorting

, the quartet, mostly Baker and Hardy, made life miserable not only for Tyler but everyone else in town. The brothers find Sandy alone in the Higgins house where Tyler is living and try to rape her, only to be stopped by Gus and Teddy. When Sandy's brother, Jack, finds out that those who tried to rape his sister were Tyler's stepbrothers Baker and Hardy, he and some of his friends go to the motel where they are staying with Gus and Teddy. Finding them drunk and stoned, Jack beats them, leaving them black & blue and knocked-out cold. This leads to Baker and Hardy attacking Jack the next day, who is alone on the beach. Just when they are about to kill him, they get attacked by Jack's friend Trip with his homemade

baseball bat A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal Club (weapon), club used in the sport of baseball to hit the Baseball (ball), ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more t ...

. Planning to get even with Jack for what happened to them on the beach, Baker and Hardy kidnap and torture Jack's friend Max. Jack and his friend Andy try to come to his rescue, only to be kidnapped themselves by the brothers and forced to walk the plank on the pier by the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. Jack and Andy turn the tables on the duo by fighting them off and having all four of them fall down into the water. Baker and Hardy, being drunk and on drugs and also not knowing how to swim, drown. The brothers' father, angry at the deaths of his sons, goes out looking for Jack. Jack turns the tables by showing up outside the father's motel room, with Sandy trying to stop him. Jack rehashes what happened to Gus' sons and Gus chases both Jack and Sandy down to the beach and shoots Jack in the leg. He is then finally tackled by Tyler, who tells Gus that killing Jack won't bring Baker and Hardy back but only destroy his life as well. Sandy and Tyler then leave to begin a more peaceful life together, Jack and Gus' fate is left unknown.

Cast

as Tyler "Ty" Briggs **James Davies as Young Tyler "Ty" Briggs *

as Jack *

Kari Wuhrer Kari Samantha Wuhrer (born April 28, 1967) is an American actress, model, and singer. She is known for her time as hostess of the MTV game show ''Remote Control (game show), Remote Control'' (1988–1989), her portrayals of Abby Holland, Abigail ...

as Sandy *

Marshall Bell Archibald Marshall Bell (born September 28, 1942) is an American character actor. He has appeared in many character roles in movies and television. He is known for roles in '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge'' (1985), '' Stand b ...

as Gus * John Hawkes as Hardy * Peter Simmons as Andy *

Rodney Eastman Rodney Eastman (born July 20, 1967) is a Canadian actor best known for his role of Joey Crusel in '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'' and '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master''. He is also a musician in a band named Kin ...

as Baker *

Bodhi Elfman Bodhi Pine Elfman (born Bodhi Pine Saboff) is an American actor. He is the son of filmmaker Richard Elfman and Rhonda Joy Saboff. He is best known for playing the roles of Avram Hader in the Fox television series ''Touch'' and for his recurrin ...

as Max *

as Teddy *

as Leo *

as Lili *

as Kirby *

as Trip * Kayce Martin as Marina * Carlotta Chang as Maya

Sources

* * *

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, sand_2002, Sand 2000 films 2000 thriller films American thriller films 2000 directorial debut films 2000 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language thriller films