The Book of Virginia

<p> With the unlikely success on Broadway of <em>The Book of Mormon</em> and the unlikely ascent of Mitt Romney, Mormonism is moving toward the center of pop culture. Now along comes another look into the strangeness. Out Aug. 21 on DVD, <em>Virginia </em>is about a politically ambitious Mormon sheriff (and married man), Richard Tipton (Ed Harris), whose sexual kinks find release in a long-running affair with the vulnerable, mentally disturbed Virginia (Jennifer Connelly). He promises that when he dies and receives his own planet as his reward, she'll be there with him (a planet with polygamy?). When she claims she's pregnant, he turns tail on his professed beliefs and insists, in the film's funniest moment of satire: “In this case I support your decision not to have the baby.” She had made no such decision. </p> <p><em>Virginia</em> might have been more dramatic, more insightful and maybe even funnier had writer-director Dustin Lance Black (Milk) composed Tipton as more than a stick figure of hypocritical rectitude. But perhaps the real problem is that Black crams too much into his screenplay, including the love between Virginia's son and Tipton's daughter who might be half-siblings (or might not be). Did I mention that Virginia may be dying of cancer and tries to rob a bank? And then there's the cross-dressing Ferris wheel operator… Despite strong performances by Harris and Connelly, the good ideas of <em>Virginia</em> get a little lost. </p>