It's not often the world gets to see young actresses really make their mark in the film business, there's really only a handful in the past few years, Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Abigail Breslin and the cream of the crop of them all, Chloe Grace Moretz. It's pretty much impossible not to like this great actress in everything she's in, from Diary of Wimpy Kid all the way to Let Me In, she has stolen the screen away from everyone. Largely thanks to her breakout role as Hit-Girl, she is pretty much a household name and rightly so, and with her role in Hick she can add another stellar performance to her belt.
The film itself has a lot of problems, the script isn't that strong and the supporting characters are somewhat wasted, but for a first time screenwriter it's a damn good effort. I'm actually intrigued to see what the book by Andrea Portes is like in comparison to the film, I'm guessing it would be the same as I'm sure an author wouldn't want to change her own story. Anything that's wrong with the movie is made up for by all of the fantastic performances from everyone, Juliette Lewis is great as the white trash mother, Eddie Redmayne is funny and terrifying as the drifter and Blake Lively is pretty good in her small role, I would have loved to know more about her character but oh we'll, and of course Miss Moretz is amazing. The film lags a little in parts, and it steers into strange directions at times, particularly around the Blake Lively character. Some people disagree with the fact that Chloe has really only done adult films thus far, but I think it goes to show what a mature actress she is that she can do these roles and still stay a regular teen.
The main problem I had was the lack of memorable soundtrack, it would have benefited from some classic country tunes to accompany a lot of the scenes, I noticed quite often that there was hardly any music and it took away from the overall greatness of the film.
All in all it's an enjoyable little film, rent it and just enjoy the good and ignore the bad. :)
The film itself has a lot of problems, the script isn't that strong and the supporting characters are somewhat wasted, but for a first time screenwriter it's a damn good effort. I'm actually intrigued to see what the book by Andrea Portes is like in comparison to the film, I'm guessing it would be the same as I'm sure an author wouldn't want to change her own story. Anything that's wrong with the movie is made up for by all of the fantastic performances from everyone, Juliette Lewis is great as the white trash mother, Eddie Redmayne is funny and terrifying as the drifter and Blake Lively is pretty good in her small role, I would have loved to know more about her character but oh we'll, and of course Miss Moretz is amazing. The film lags a little in parts, and it steers into strange directions at times, particularly around the Blake Lively character. Some people disagree with the fact that Chloe has really only done adult films thus far, but I think it goes to show what a mature actress she is that she can do these roles and still stay a regular teen.
The main problem I had was the lack of memorable soundtrack, it would have benefited from some classic country tunes to accompany a lot of the scenes, I noticed quite often that there was hardly any music and it took away from the overall greatness of the film.
All in all it's an enjoyable little film, rent it and just enjoy the good and ignore the bad. :)