Dear Wendy

In what will probably stand as a bizarre footnote to his ambitious "USA" trilogy — DOGVILLE, MANDERLAY and the projected WASHINGTON — Lars Von Trier's silly script about a group of pistol packing misfits gets better treatment than it deserves, thanks to a fine young cast and the game direction of Thomas Vinterberg. For the men of Estherslope — the Dixie flags and vague accents suggest this small, tired mining town lies somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line &151; you're either a miner, or you're a loser, and Dick (Jamie Bell) is definitely a loser. Refusing to follow his widower father (Trevor Cooper) into the dark tunnels of the Estherslope Mining Company, Dick has...