Sometimes I forget just how badly the Bush Administration has fucked things up for the rest of us.

During their reign, the worst stereotypes about America have been realized and amplified. And, what's worse, every transgression they've made has been done right under our noses, taking full advantage of the fact that, given a choice between action and non-action, we as a society choose non-action every time. The reason they were able to get over on us like they did was they acted like it was completely normal, and the media did the same. The fact that they've tried to repeal our civil liberties under something named "The Patriot Act" is just a brazen, in your-face "fuck you" to our nation’s values and common sense. These are the thoughts I had while watching the first few minutes of Southland Tales, Richard Kelly's much-maligned, allegorical, apocalyptic sci-fi brainteaser, now out on DVD.

No matter how much you choose to ignore politics (as I'm wont to do), you can't escape the effects. Because there's a war in Iraq, my psyche is inevitably harmed by it, because it affects how I perceive reality. I would be much happier if my life existed in a time when there was no war, or in a world where there never was war. It seems like we have so much else to focus on besides that bullshit. We're all gonna die anyway — do we really have to kill each other?

Southland Tales is experiencing a sort of peak period of relevancy right now, as it's set in an exaggerated version of our reality and takes place during the 2008 elections,where the democratic ticket of Clinton-Lieberman battles the impending evil of (fictional characters) Eliot and Frost.

The movie is ostensibly about Stiffler and the Rock suffering déjà vu at the end of the universe. In Kelly's world, the terrorists have messed with Texas, society has collapsed on itself, and sex and war are in the air. The anarchist liberals are engaged in guerilla warfare against the fascist republi-nazis, and the world may end at any time.

None of this is particularly hard to swallow.

The casting is beyond inspired. Besides the aforementioned Seann William Scott and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, we get a cornucopia of off-beat choices and unexpected comebacks. Seriously — any movie that’s got Amy Poehler, Christopher Lambert, Nora Dunn and Justin Timberlake in it is worth your time. But Buffy? Booger? Cheri O-freakin'-Teri? Even Jon Lovitz stops by to contribute a fine bit of "acting!!!" The only person missing from this bizarre hodge-podge is Alf.

Not only that, but you've got entire scenes set to the Pixies’ "Wave of Mutilation" and "Three Days," perhaps the finest Jane's Addiction song ever.

So why did the critics chew up and spit out Southland Tales? For one thing, it's the kind of movie that really should come with a pause button. I had to rewind it a thousand times to understand what was going on (mainly because I was writing this blog). It took me three viewings for Kelly's last film, Donnie Darko, to go from something I didn't like to one of my favorite movies.

So what if Southland is a movie that doesn't make sense? I don't remember any movie by David Lynch ever making sense. Southland Tales is the type of movie that seems like it makes no sense, but instead makes a kind meticulous, unrelenting sense. All the reasoning behind every head-scratching line of dialogue are in the accompanying graphic novels, which serve as an answer key to all the questions raised by this movie. Is that a fair way of doing things? Maybe.

Maybe arty movies that are constructed so that you have to watch them over and over to understand them are in fact just a carefully designed capitalist ploy to get our money in an insidious way.

But if you haven't seen it, by all means, give Southland Tales a chance. Before the world ends.