If you're like me, a lover of the cast and/or indie films themselves, you might be able to sit through this film. But if you aren't a fan of either, and take an interest in this movie based on the cover and description, you'll most likely be disappointed. Even I wasn't exactly blown away, which is one of the first time's I can say that after viewing a film with Brad Renfro in it.
Tart tries to add some interesting sub-plots to the otherwise overused plot (awkward, unpopular teenager wants to change her life, joins new crowd, falls in love, new crowd and new boyfriend turn out to be bad people etc.) with things like Cat, the main characters (played by Dominique Swain), younger brother being a 9 year-old hypochondriac, Cat's father being Jewish (one of Cat's "new friends" is anti-semantic, another thing that just pops up out of nowhere then goes away) and all these other new girls among the popular crowd just kind of come on to the scene without a really good introduction (with the possible exception of Eloise, played by Lacey Chabert). Another problem is the lack of character development. One minute Cat is shy and set against doing any of the "bad stuff" the popular kids do, another she is at a ball with her love interest, William (Brad Renfro) suddenly getting, high, drunk, and losing her virginity. Everything after that film is sped up and not very thoroughly explained, like William suddenly starts rumors about her and leaves her, all the girls (who are basically all clones of each other, plus Mischa Barton with a British accent) stop talking to her, and suddenly there's about twenty minutes left of this film. How is everything going to be explained by then, you may wonder. well, it's not.
Instead, it just ends with Cat rekindling her friendship with Delilah (Bijou Phillips) her jagged, but one true friend who she ditched at the beginning of the film for the popular crowd, then it follows Delilah catching William in a compromising position with a man in the woods, and is soon after murdered for her remarks. I guess this was the director, Christina Wayne's attempt at a big "twist" ending, but instead it's just frustrating that the entire movie is wrapped up on that note, and the ending is just Cat having a loving moment with her mom, who she had spent the entire movie arguing with.
That being said, I could still bear to sit through this film again, but if you've seen just about any other works of Renfro, Phillips, or Swain, this doesn't compare.
Tart tries to add some interesting sub-plots to the otherwise overused plot (awkward, unpopular teenager wants to change her life, joins new crowd, falls in love, new crowd and new boyfriend turn out to be bad people etc.) with things like Cat, the main characters (played by Dominique Swain), younger brother being a 9 year-old hypochondriac, Cat's father being Jewish (one of Cat's "new friends" is anti-semantic, another thing that just pops up out of nowhere then goes away) and all these other new girls among the popular crowd just kind of come on to the scene without a really good introduction (with the possible exception of Eloise, played by Lacey Chabert). Another problem is the lack of character development. One minute Cat is shy and set against doing any of the "bad stuff" the popular kids do, another she is at a ball with her love interest, William (Brad Renfro) suddenly getting, high, drunk, and losing her virginity. Everything after that film is sped up and not very thoroughly explained, like William suddenly starts rumors about her and leaves her, all the girls (who are basically all clones of each other, plus Mischa Barton with a British accent) stop talking to her, and suddenly there's about twenty minutes left of this film. How is everything going to be explained by then, you may wonder. well, it's not.
Instead, it just ends with Cat rekindling her friendship with Delilah (Bijou Phillips) her jagged, but one true friend who she ditched at the beginning of the film for the popular crowd, then it follows Delilah catching William in a compromising position with a man in the woods, and is soon after murdered for her remarks. I guess this was the director, Christina Wayne's attempt at a big "twist" ending, but instead it's just frustrating that the entire movie is wrapped up on that note, and the ending is just Cat having a loving moment with her mom, who she had spent the entire movie arguing with.
That being said, I could still bear to sit through this film again, but if you've seen just about any other works of Renfro, Phillips, or Swain, this doesn't compare.