Vegas (2009) User Reviews

Three troubled youngsters

[OJT · 7/10 · 4 November 2009]

Vegas is about three very different troubled young kids finding each other at a home for youngsters in Bergen, Norway. A girl without parents, a boy who accidentally pushes his mother off a ferry abroad, making the father hating the son, and a boy which mother is a victim of abuse by her boyfriend.

They are all well cared for by foster parents and a loving attendee at the child care center, but still they can't adjust. The story is told in a very realistic tone, but is is a tragic story, with not much hope for a solution.

The kids are doing a great job, though being amateurs. Though they don't manage to steal the screen, any of them. Maybe the girl is close to taking this role, with a childish charm. I'm not usually the gay wanting the happy ending, but maybe this film would be much better off with a less depressing conclusion. Well, it could be much worse, but still it seems like the film is lacking something in the end.

But the plot until this maybe flawed end is quite good, and the professional work with the film is great. Jobs made in the cutting room is great, making a good pace, and filming is solid.

This film comes out on a 7 out of 10, but some more work with the manuscript could have made it better.

A somewhat misleading title, with a surprisingly good movie

[rudiedirkx · 9/10 · 16 February 2010]

Not many 'drama' movies like this I like. Probably because most (common) movies these days are American, and Americans always have a way of making movies... dramatic. This one though was easy to watch, believable AND (for some people important) easy to relate to, even when having grown up in a perfect family. The predictable parts of this movie (because there are a few) are the structural parts, not the actual content, which makes it all the better. It's still full of semi-exciting (not bad in this case), catching, surprising moments. Together they make the whole thing enjoyable every second.

Maybe because it's European, maybe because it's not American, maybe the director, maybe even the story, but this Drama movie pulled me in at the very start and only let me go at the very end. In one very simple word: brilliant.

Like I said: I don't watch many of these, so I'm definitely not a connaisseur, but I know what I do and don't like and this one I liked a lot!