The only reason I gave this movie a two was because it had nice lighting. The actors were all well-lit, and they all looked fairly nice. Except the dad, who looked pretty rough. Oh, and the colours were nice; some interesting compositions in the frame (to take us away from the blasé story, of course) This was a movie that went nowhere. If you loved Election, Blue Car and American Beauty; if you love film-making and want to see films that have scripts that are finely hued and well-thought out; if you like a certain degree of artistry present in a film, or even if you just like to watch a dang good flick, avoid this at all costs.
It's a film that goes nowhere and fulfills nothing. We rented it because of what was written on the back, but it was deceitful. It's not a black comedy because three funny moments do not a funny black movie make. Lifting the "kid constantly trying to off herself" concept straight from Harold and Maude is nothing short of thievery. Oh, no, wait, it's cleverly done because she tries to use a plastic fork... that's right. Even the half-hearted attempt to tackle a somewhat taboo subject (which might really take it into "black" comedy territory, or at least "black" something) like incest is thwarted by this throwaway line about the character's "dead" father, obviously saying that this father isn't her blood father anyway, so, phew, it's not so bad. And, like everything else in this movie, that subplot died a thin death with no resolution.
So not only was this film lame, but spineless, too. It was too scared to tackle a real, disturbing issue with a certain degree of resonance, in preference of the "disney world" subtext.
One of my problems with this film was that it just didn't seem well thought out. The dialogue felt sloppy and obvious. The characters were cardboard characters; the slutty daughter, the suicidal daughter, the pot smoking mom, the dad who just doesn't give a sh*t and never did... the mom writing postcards to the daughter, signing them "love dad", so she'd at least feel like he loved her; It had some interesting ideas buried way beneath the melodrama and weak storyline. It's too bad it was treated with such a heavy hand.
It's a film that goes nowhere and fulfills nothing. We rented it because of what was written on the back, but it was deceitful. It's not a black comedy because three funny moments do not a funny black movie make. Lifting the "kid constantly trying to off herself" concept straight from Harold and Maude is nothing short of thievery. Oh, no, wait, it's cleverly done because she tries to use a plastic fork... that's right. Even the half-hearted attempt to tackle a somewhat taboo subject (which might really take it into "black" comedy territory, or at least "black" something) like incest is thwarted by this throwaway line about the character's "dead" father, obviously saying that this father isn't her blood father anyway, so, phew, it's not so bad. And, like everything else in this movie, that subplot died a thin death with no resolution.
So not only was this film lame, but spineless, too. It was too scared to tackle a real, disturbing issue with a certain degree of resonance, in preference of the "disney world" subtext.
One of my problems with this film was that it just didn't seem well thought out. The dialogue felt sloppy and obvious. The characters were cardboard characters; the slutty daughter, the suicidal daughter, the pot smoking mom, the dad who just doesn't give a sh*t and never did... the mom writing postcards to the daughter, signing them "love dad", so she'd at least feel like he loved her; It had some interesting ideas buried way beneath the melodrama and weak storyline. It's too bad it was treated with such a heavy hand.