Probably Bruce Willis's best & least known film. It's a solid movie about a young girl learning about the father she would never meet & a Vietnam Vet still searching for his place in a post war world. It's never over done & never preachy just a solid movie with great characters interwoven into a realistic plot. But it's also a working class drama, if you're looking art house drama or "Platoon" politics you will probably be disappointed. There are no strong statements about the war, either pro or con. There is no "First blood" action. It doesn't make a statement like "Causalities of War," it's simply about people in the 80's that are still feeling the affects of a "police action" that defined the politics & attitudes of a generation. It neither promises nor strives to be anything more. If anything "In Country" is brilliant because it is understated.

We almost didn't watch this movie, based on the IMDb ratings, but something told us to have a look anyway. What an excellent movie, and the best acting I ever saw Bruce Willis do before. If you have watched this move and haven't rated it yet, please do to help others know how good this is. This is a touching movie from the perspective of the daughter of a Vietnam soldier killed in the line of duty. The use of flashbacks was done well in this movie, as some movies make flashbacks too often and in unrelated order. The relationships among the characters were believable. This is a movie worth watching. Although it's a bit old, it didn't matter. This movie is timeless and could easily be related to the soldiers and their loved ones of any war.

I love this compelling drama of self-discovery, partly because I was an extra in it as a nine-month-old baby on holiday in New York with my parents!!! (I'm afraid I was on the cutting room floor this time, but watch out for a flash of red hair in the soldier's graves scene and tell me if you do!!!). English rose Emily Lloyd (known to all you 'Only Fools and Horses' fans as the daughter of Roger Lloyd Pack, who played Trigger) convincingly portrays a young American woman attempting to discover the father she never really knew. Bruce Willis does a real turnaround from the characters we are used to seeing him play, as Lloyd's rather crazy uncle Emmet. I'm not a patriotic person, especially since I'm from Northern Ireland and not the U.S., but the stories of the forgotten men who made the ultimate sacrifice for a cause which in the end was not worth it, is still tragic and heart-wrenching for me. A real human story.

"In Country" is a film that, to me, gets better with each viewing. Bruce Willis' portrayal of Emmett, a troubled Vietnam veteran, seemed right on; and if he's done any better pure acting, I'm not aware of it. I strongly disagree with a couple of the negative comments on Emily Lloyd's performance in the film. I thought she was quite outstanding as Emmett's inquisitive niece, Samantha, who was searching for answers about her father who had died in Vietnam. As for why monotonic Winona Ryder wasn't selected for the role of Samantha (as mentioned in a prior comment) now that WOULD have been a drab, annoying performance as far as I'm concerned. There were also fine supporting performances from Joan Allen, Kevin Anderson, etc.