pnoom
Jan 2008
Newbie
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Video- 8
Audio- 8
Movie- 0
First off, props to HLS for a quality release. You can't ask for much more for a film that is still showing at my local theater. The video and audio quality were nothing short of superb, especially for a movie that has not had an official retail DVD release yet.
On the other hand, I gotta say, the actual movie totally sucked IMO. I know you are all going to hate me after you read my review but I felt like I wasted a good hour and a half of my life watching this movie (when I could have been doing something much more useful and fulfilling; like searching for free internet porn or photoshopping pictures of my cat). Don't get me wrong... I WANTED to like this movie. I was actually excited when I started the movie as I have heard so many good things about it and have seen so many rave reviews of it. But, don't be fooled by the mass media avalanche: the movie was so completely B.S. that I could hardly finish it (I ended up stopping it and deleting the file off my HD about 5 minutes before it was supposed to end). I get the impression that some major movie studio saw the success and attention that Napoleon Dynamite received and thought "Hrmm, how could we co-opt this cultural phenomenon to steal more money from the hard working general public and get more awards from easily influenced (and bribed) film awards judges?".
From the very start, the film was trying SO hard to be "hip", "edgy", and "alternative" in some pathetic attempt to gain the approval of the 15 to 30 age group, complete with the constant barrage of idiotic and embarrassing slang usage; words and phrases like "honest to blog", "for shiz", "home skillet" (a derivation of the quite dated hip hop term "home boy"), "junk" (in reference to either male or female genitals), and others I do not care to repeat as it was already painful enough to type the ones I just mentioned. The film's main character, a "hip" and "edgy" young woman in High School, wastes no time in overwhelming the viewer with her absolutely irritating personality and obnoxious dialog and mannerisms. I get the feeling that we, the viewer, are supposed to like and somehow relate to this character but I have to be honest; she's just a spoiled little white bitch who thinks she is better than everyone around her.
The plot reads like a story from a generic Lifetime Made-For-TV drama, but executed with a screenplay of dialog and phrases taken directly from pop culture garbage like VH1's "Best Week Ever" (or "I Love The 80's"), the latest Pepsi commercial, and the complete set of text messages compiled from the outbox of Nicole Ritchie's cell phone (or any other brain dead celebrity-of-the-moment). Don't be fooled by the hipster facade, the references to Sonic Youth or The Stooges, and the indie film-style ad campaign: at it's core, the film is just another tired chick flick about a girl who has a baby under difficult circumstances and eventually falls in love with the quirky, akward (but loveable) "nice" guy. This was quite obvious to me within the first 20 minutes but from all the hype and adulation that this movie is getting, I guess most people don't mind seeing the same movie over and over again (albeit with slightly different packaging and set in a different city/time period).
And the music.... Jesus Christ, I don't even want to get into that but I must. That must have been the worst soundtrack music I think I have ever heard in a movie (and that includes Titanic and the entire Lethal Weapon series). Don't get me wrong here; I happen to like a lot of weird, strange, and even dorky music......music a lot of people would gladly pay NOT to hear. But, if the theme of this movie was irritatingly edgy-cute to the point of nausea, than the music fit the visuals like a glove. Imagine if Jack White from the White Stripes (who I happen to like) went completely acoustic and suddenly transformed into a mentally retarded 15 year old girl with a prosthetic leg and pocket full of miniature sized melted Nestle Crunch bars and you can sorta begin to get the picture. Since I am in the target age range for this film, I was actually personally insulted by the filmmakers and the music was a major factor. Are we supposed to like this crap? Is this what 20th Century Fox's extensive market research revealed when they were trying to find the right music for the soundtrack? I guess they think that all people ages 15 to 30 want to hear a compliation of rejected demo cassette tapes from the local newspaper's talent contest for the mentally challenged residents in and around Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Other than all that, I don't really have a strong opinion about the movie. I guess all I can really say is, see it for yourself and make up your own mind.
-Pnoom
P.S. - About that "see it for yourself..." comment: umm, actually, don't. Unless you like torture or prefer your movies to be the celluloid equivalent of a Hallmark card with cutesy counter culture bumper stickers that try to be offensive (but really are not) stuck all over it than you should avoid this movie like the bird flu.
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01-14-2008 07:57 AM
