Okay, if you like 'movies' I would say avoid this movie. If you like 'films' I would warn you that this movie is still pretty bad in my eyes.
***Spoilers Within*** It's not often a movie angers me so. However, it's not what you might think; I actually wanted this movie to get on with its inevitable climax ASAP! Now, I believe that a movie/film should have 1 of 3 things, a story, a point or a message. This film has none of them. The story crawls along and ends well, does it end? The point could be the style(?). And a message? The irony is, being a fan of such films as 'To Die For', 'Finding Forrester' and 'Good Will Hunting' I find myself asking what was the message of this movie? To show how boring your average teenager's life is? To show how cruel a teenager can be? How messed up? How being a teen isn't easy? Or maybe a warning for those parents who just don't listen to their kids' cries for help? Please!
And if you're going to site the style of this film, I have a problem with that too. Gus Van Sant's combination of...drawn... out... achingly long camera shots and slow moving character development (if you can call it that) simultaneously bore the viewer and develop nothing.
For those of us that survived those tumultuous teen years, this movie is almost insulting in its isn't-this-tragic shock value. This movie is chock full of characters you don't care about, a predictable outcome and even a character that is completely useless (Benny). (I refuse to buy the argument that the emptiness of the characters was supposed represent "realness"?)
The fact that the talent are not actors explains a lot. The banal improvised bickering of the popular girls or the phys. ed teacher is grating on the viewer.
The only part that I did like was the overlapping of lives from one teen to another. Well choreographed and incorporated seamlessly, it seemed to be the ONLY thing that seemed realistic. (C'mon, the shooters like violent video games, are Nazi fixated AND a little homosexual? Isn't that pushing the cliché envelope past its limit?)
For all those that loved this movie I make this promise: I WILL watch this movie again, and if I see what you all gush about, I will withdraw this comment. Until then, final thoughts... This movie fails to entertain, educate or even hold interest. Style does not create substance. Two-dimensional characters. A painfully slow pace. An ending that is hardly that. Shots that are three times longer than they need to be. And a complete lack of satisfaction at the end of it other than: some stuff sure did happen to those kids, huh? Sorry, 2 out of 10.
***Spoilers Within*** It's not often a movie angers me so. However, it's not what you might think; I actually wanted this movie to get on with its inevitable climax ASAP! Now, I believe that a movie/film should have 1 of 3 things, a story, a point or a message. This film has none of them. The story crawls along and ends well, does it end? The point could be the style(?). And a message? The irony is, being a fan of such films as 'To Die For', 'Finding Forrester' and 'Good Will Hunting' I find myself asking what was the message of this movie? To show how boring your average teenager's life is? To show how cruel a teenager can be? How messed up? How being a teen isn't easy? Or maybe a warning for those parents who just don't listen to their kids' cries for help? Please!
And if you're going to site the style of this film, I have a problem with that too. Gus Van Sant's combination of...drawn... out... achingly long camera shots and slow moving character development (if you can call it that) simultaneously bore the viewer and develop nothing.
For those of us that survived those tumultuous teen years, this movie is almost insulting in its isn't-this-tragic shock value. This movie is chock full of characters you don't care about, a predictable outcome and even a character that is completely useless (Benny). (I refuse to buy the argument that the emptiness of the characters was supposed represent "realness"?)
The fact that the talent are not actors explains a lot. The banal improvised bickering of the popular girls or the phys. ed teacher is grating on the viewer.
The only part that I did like was the overlapping of lives from one teen to another. Well choreographed and incorporated seamlessly, it seemed to be the ONLY thing that seemed realistic. (C'mon, the shooters like violent video games, are Nazi fixated AND a little homosexual? Isn't that pushing the cliché envelope past its limit?)
For all those that loved this movie I make this promise: I WILL watch this movie again, and if I see what you all gush about, I will withdraw this comment. Until then, final thoughts... This movie fails to entertain, educate or even hold interest. Style does not create substance. Two-dimensional characters. A painfully slow pace. An ending that is hardly that. Shots that are three times longer than they need to be. And a complete lack of satisfaction at the end of it other than: some stuff sure did happen to those kids, huh? Sorry, 2 out of 10.