''Sand'' is a 2000

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

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

film, directed and written by Matt Palmieri. It stars

Michael Vartan Michael S. Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is a French-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 ...

Norman Reedus Norman Mark Reedus (born January 6, 1969) is an American actor best known for starring as Daryl Dixon in the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2010–2022). He also starred as Murphy MacManus in the film ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999 ...

Kari Wührer Kari Samantha Wuhrer (born April 28, 1967) is an American actress, model, and singer. Wuhrer began her career as a teenager, and is best known for her time as a cast member on MTV's ''Remote Control'', as well as her roles as Maggie Beckett in ...

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

Emilio Estevez Emilio Estevez (; born May 12, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen. Emilio Estevez started his career as an actor and is known for being a member of the acting Bra ...

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

Jon Lovitz Jonathan Michael Lovitz (; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990. Lovitz starred as Jay Sherman in '' The Critic'' and played a baseball scout in ''A League of Th ...

and

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

Plot

The Briggs family comes together for the first time in over 20 years to attend the funeral and read the will of Marina (Kayle Martin). It is a very uneasy experience for Tyler (

), her son. Having been abandoned by his father Gus (

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 ...

) 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 (

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 ...

) and Hardy ( John Hawkes), who were not only alcoholic

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

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 Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy be ...

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

, as well as

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

'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. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

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 (

Bodhi Elfman Bodhi Pine Elfman (born Bodhi Pine Saboff) is an American actor and the child 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 recurring r ...

), Andy (Powers Simmons), 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, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in variou ...

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 used in the sport of baseball to hit the 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 than in length. Although hist ...

. 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 Walking the plank was a method of execution practiced on special occasion by pirates, mutineers, and other rogue seafarers. For the amusement of the perpetrators and the psychological torture of the victims, captives were bound so they could no ...

on the pier by the

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

. 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.

Sources

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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