Unfortunately, the film collapses under the weight of its own subject, which is a shame because it wastes a great performance from Melissa Leo and also the story is fascinating.

My god whoever did the wardrobe and makeup should be fired. Poor Melissa Leo is not fooling anyone with her wigs and fake belly.

The director, who was also the co-writer, seems overwhelmed with so much information (the film is only an hour and a half and it could've been more). All the actors, beside Leo, are terrible and wasted.

I would love to see this subject in the hands of a capable director. It could've been so much meatier.

Melissa Leo is a great actress. Madalyn Murray O'Hair, as presented here, was not a likable person. Coming from the fifties as she did, the ugliness she was subjected to, just as with the civil rights movement, would tend to make anyone re-act like a snarling badger. She was the point of the spear in the fight against the religious tyranny that is, and has always been, right around the corner. The right to say: "I don't believe it and you can't make me." was fought for and should not be taken for granted. A very American story in every detail. In the beginning, I got the feeling it was going to have a 'Coenesque' flavor to it. If the same thought occurs to you, dismiss it. It's a dramatized bio rearranged to feel like a thriller.

Well, what to say. A couple of really good actors. Good camera and sets. But to my disappointment I have to say that the sadistic killing is the climax and thus the real star of this movie. The last minutes of the movie belong to the horror genre. It leaves you behind with a depressed view on the world. I am from Holland, I did not know this woman at all. But after a quick research online it seems to me there's more to this woman. Now we are just presented with some general story line through time. A display of what Madalyn Murray O'Hair did and with whom and then this whole vehicle is going towards her killing, someone sawing off an arm and some more killing. The characters were kept rather one-dimensional. And it ends with pure nastiness. Perhaps the main people behind this movie were very religious? Anyway... it looked all like it could become a really good movie but then it all ends, all of sudden, with the explicit scenes of them being murdered. I mean, why? What is the purpose? Why show it? For what reason? Where's the intellectual and artistic motivation to show this all so explicitly? How is this serving this plot? Perhaps the David Waters character was meant to be the center of attention? This ending would serve a story about the f*cked up killer David Waters. I think there should have been put much more work on this flick. It probably should have become a series. With an in-depth story line displaying real people with complex personalities, who we really get to know. You see that many people put some love in this movie. But then the script just disappoints and thus the overall production. Was it planned as a series and then they decided to turn it into this movie? Seems the best explanation to me. Or was it meant at first to tell this story from the point of view of David Waters but then Melissa Leo jumped on the wagon and she needed to get a bigger part? Overall people just did a really bad job here. With some real effort, with some real good script, developing over a couple of episodes this could have turned into a price winning drama. Especially for Melissa Leo: it could have been an Emmy Award winning role. Melissa Leo is delivering on a high level. But the whole construction of this thing is just letting her down. Disappointing. A 6 for all the good acting that is going on by most of the cast, for the set dressers, the editor and for some choices in directing.