Dominique Swain

Average customer rating:

Despite...
Do directors read?
Close but so far away...
An inconvenient truth
A hot and erotic iron.

Lolita
Starring: Jeremy Irons , Melanie Griffith , Frank Langella , Dominique Swain , and Suzanne Shepherd
Director: Adrian Lyne
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Lolita
Damage
Pretty Baby
The Lover
The Annotated Lolita: Revised and Updated

ASIN: B00001IVFG
Release Date: 1999-10-12

Product Description

Excellent condition, includes the original DVD, case, and paperwork, fast shipped, ask me for my DVD List! :)

Customer Reviews:

Despite..........2007-03-08

the inconsistencies with the book, I thought it was great. You need to keep in mind that America is founded on Puritanism. They could never get away with a 12 yr old or any of that. The public had a problem with her just being 14. It's better than Kubrick's and closer to the book without trying to match it too closely. I personally hate when the movie tries too hard to copy the book word for word. In the end,they get the same point across. Not all pedophiles fit the stereotype. Both represent the risk of a sick relationship like his, and both are done so beautifully tragic.

Do directors read?.......2006-12-23

Another movie based on the Cliff Notes, this movie gets everything wrong. It is even worse than the Sue Lyon movie, since that older movie created a parallel story which, while nothing like the book, almost stood on its own. In that one we got a 21 year old Lolita to satisfy the censors. In this one we get a 15 year old Swain who looks 18. She is not a Lolita regardless, by Nabokov's definition of nymphet. She is too curvy by far and entirely too seductive. Lolita is supposed to be 12, weigh 84 lbs soaking wet, with "unflared iliacs" and dirty hair. Instead of this "pale little gutter girl" we get Swain, a "big-breasted and practically brainless baba." Irons is no better. A great actor, he has been wonderful in many roles, but he is not Humbert Humbert. Humbert was big and dark and hairy, handsome and educated but the opposite of Irons' catfoot delicacy. Beyond this, Irons and Swain have no heat regardless. The love scenes have this golden Hallmark falsity to them that could not possibly be further from Nabokov's intent. This movie is a misfire in all ways, an absolute disaster. I can envisage a wonderful adaptation of Lolita; what I cannot envision is where it will come from. The US and UK are more uptight now than they were in the 50's and France isn't much interested in American stories, even when they are penned by a Russian internationalist. Hopefully the world will survive into a new age where some true artist can rediscover this masterpiece and tell it faithfully.

Close but so far away..........2006-09-27

This films greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. This movie plays Humberts obsession with Lolita seriously and sympathetically. You can't help but feel bad for Humbert by the end of the movie as it is really Lolita who takes advantage of him and not the other way around. That is the film's strength but also the weakness; Lolita is 12 years old. That's just creepy. This film tries to make you feel bad for a man who, for all intents and purposes, uses his charm and status as stepfather to sleep with his 12 year old daughter. I find it disturbing. Surely this was not Nabokov's intention when he wrote the novel.

Jeremy Irons is very good at the role he plays, but he isn't the character the books gives us. The character in the book was not a nice man. He drugged his wife, he planned to drug Lolita to take advantage of her while she slept, he lied and manipulated, he planned in his mind to kill his wife and probably would have had she not been killed before he could get to it. But Jeremy Irons is not like that at all. His character is just a lonely man in the wrong place at the wrong time; he is haunted and almost, it seems, justified in his love(?) for Lolita by the sad events of his childhood.

Melanie Griffith is not a good Charlotte at all. She is not nagging enough, she is far too good looking, and until she give Humbert her love letter there is no indication that she is in love with him. There definitely needed to be more time spent developing her character.

Doninque Swain seemed far too aware of what she was doing at times, and far too childish at other times. The film made her look like the bad guy for seducing Humbert and using his obsession with her as a weapon against him. That isn't how the books played her at all.

Clare Quilty is all but absent in this film. He has a very short appearance at the hotel, and then we don't see him again until the end of the film. The book gives him a lot of charisma that was completely absent; in this film he is just a dirty old man. Look to Sellers performance in the 1962 version for a much more rounded and exact portrayal of Quilty.

Overall, this was not a bad film if it stood on its own. The camera work is excellent in expressing the emotions of the film and Jeremy Irons is excellent is his portrayal of a Humbert (albeit a different one that was presented to us in the book) but this film misses the message of the book even if it is a more literal cinematic translation of the book.

An inconvenient truth.......2006-08-24

(4.5/5 stars) Very few films (or the books upon which they are based) portray the relationship between an adult and an adolescent seriously, preferring instead to depict them as monsters, perverts or both. Not so with "Lolita." Humbert Humbert is as normal and as realistic as any other fictional character, and so are his human traits. He just so happens to fall in love/lust with Dolores, the fourteen year old daughter of Charlotte Haze, a widow with a room to rent. It is an unspoken fact that most men are attracted to teenage girls, yet are afraid to admit it because it is not acceptable for adults to act on these impulses. Most people see this as taking advantage of someone not yet old enough to make important decisions like this on their own. Even though Humbert acknowledges the socially unacceptability of this relationship and keeps it hidden from everyone, at the same time he indulges his fantasies and exploits his new-found fortunes. Although details would most likely differ, this sad tale is ultimately practical about the fate of a man who disregards reality and ignores potential consequences when he takes a fourteen year old girl as his lover. Many men would like to do this, John Mark Carr being one of the latest, yet few do because of the consequences. Most men can envision the effects of their actions and conclude both that this girl will not stay this age forever and he would not be able to keep this relationship secret indefinitely. In that sense, it is a cautionary tale for those who fantasize about this sort of thing. Conversely, it allows everyone else to experience a glimpse into the mind of someone who acts on this type of fantasy. Either way, "Lolita" is a tragic story that is faithfully brought to the screen by director Adrian Lyne and a magnificent cast.

A hot and erotic iron........2006-05-21

Beautiful!!
When I saw this movie,I was going to faint.It is a wonderful and succesful remake.I saw even the previous production of Lolita,in black n' white,but this is charming.Simply hits me at first sight.
It might be that Lolita is jealous of her mother.Psychologically,Lolita wants to be her mother's copyright(miniature).The father isn't there to hold back the spoiled child.She is matured enough in 'erotic relationship',but still a child in the mind.
Poor Professor Humbert,he can't be neither a father,nor a man.He should be a priest.

Average customer rating:

Face/Off
One of the best action movies made
who are these people that give films like this five stars?
WOW DANG ONE OF THE BEST TV DVD-MOVE FOR SHORE EVER DONE
Face Off

Face/Off
Starring: John Travolta , Nicolas Cage , Joan Allen , Alessandro Nivola , and Gina Gershon
Director: John Woo
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Rock
Con Air (Unrated Extended Edition)
Broken Arrow
Swordfish
Gone in 60 Seconds

ASIN: 630512762X
Release Date: 1998-10-07

Product Description

At his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. Face/Off marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work (Hard-Boiled). He takes a patently absurd premise--hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery--and creates a double-barreled revenge film driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels.

Amazon.com essential video

At his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. Face/Off marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work (Hard-Boiled). He takes a patently absurd premise--hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery--and creates a double-barreled revenge film driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Face/Off.......2007-06-08

I am a big fan of John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. both are outstanding in this twist of face..... Loved it....

One of the best action movies made.......2007-05-25

Its great but where is a special edition or directors cut?

who are these people that give films like this five stars?.......2007-05-25

I read some of these reviewers and I wonder if they are making my food at restuarants, if they are saving lives in the ER or are the ones who run right out to buy some fools CD from American Idol, or talk in superlatives about the new Snoop Dog video that was on MTV. Do they sell tires in Spokane or crawdaddies in Batan Rouge?

Face off is truly an atrocious film, from start to finish. Cage and Travolta have no on screen chemistry and it is so shallow, so utterly beneath me to even want to describe the assanine plot and utter paltry dialouge.

For years I have thought this, and will continue to until I leave this medium, but Face Off is unequivically one of the worst films ever made. Pure trash.

WOW DANG ONE OF THE BEST TV DVD-MOVE FOR SHORE EVER DONE.......2007-05-08

NOW I COULD EASYLY SAY THIS WILL GO DOWN AS ONE OF THE GRATEST MOVE EVER MADE IN THE WORLD THAT IS SO FOR SHORE & THAT IS PUTTING IT LIGHTLY

Face Off.......2007-01-10

An excellent non-stop action movie. One can definitely tell old Johnny Wu did this one. If you like guns, shooting, and macho mindless bloodshed, I have to say this movie is a must see. Cage and Travolta, after seeing this movie, are the ONLY ones that gave this film what it has.

Alpha Dog (HD DVD and Standard DVD Combo)

Average customer rating:

Alpha Dog Unwatchable
Stuck in the middle again
Just as I anticipated
A Very Underated Film
Insane, wild ride of a movie

Alpha Dog (HD DVD and Standard DVD Combo)
Starring: Shera Danese , Lukas Haas , Alex Kingston , Vincent Laresca , and Harry Dean Stanton
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: HD DVD

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Smokin' Aces (Widescreen Edition)
The Good Shepherd (Widescreen Edition)
Blood Diamond (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The Hitcher (Widescreen Edition)
Deja Vu

ASIN: B000NO39G0
Release Date: 2007-05-01

Amazon.com

With harrowing intensity, Alpha Dog dramatizes one of the most tragically notorious murders in recent history. Ripped from the headlines, writer-director Nick Cassavetes' flawed but riveting crime drama (a polar opposite to his previous film, the romantic hit The Notebook) is based on the real-life case of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer in California's San Gabriel Valley who, in 2000, became one of the youngest men to appear on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Names and details have been changed, but the criminal circumstances remain the same: With family links to organized crime, Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is on the warpath against Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), a sleazebag addict who owes him money. Fate intervenes when Johnny and his stoner pals including Frankie (Justin Timberlake) encounter Jake's 15-year-old half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) and hold him as collateral until Jake pays his debts. What begins as a casual, seemingly harmless situation escalates into a crisis of capital crime, as Alpha Dog employs split-screen, docudrama, and mock-documentary interviews to chronicle a tragic tailspin of reckless events and lawless behavior.

Cassavetes himself became part of the real-life drama when prosecutors (hoping to locate then-fugitive Jesse James Hollywood, who was captured in 2005) gave him legally controversial access to their case files. Alpha Dog clearly benefits from this inside information, and while the film's grueling depiction of underage squalor (including rampant drug and alcohol abuse) is inevitably off-putting and at least partially exploitative, there's no denying that Cassavetes has worked wonders with a well-chosen ensemble cast including Timberlake, who contrasts his music-industry stardom with a convincing performance as a likable, not-too-bright party animal who quickly gets in over his head. The film is ultimately compromised by Cassavetes' ambitious attempt to cover too much dramatic territory, but like his father John before him, he demonstrates a remarkable skill with actors (including Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, and Harry Dean Stanton in supporting roles), and Alpha Dog is full of powerful, dangerous moments that aren't easily forgotten. --Jeff Shannon

Description

They grew up together in the suburbs of LA, living their own version of the American dream, with every day a blur of partying and looking for the next thrill. Johnny (Emile Hirsch, Lords of Dogtown) is the leader in their sordid world of drugs, greed, power and privilege. But when he is double-crossed by another dealer, things quickly begin to spiral out of control, and an impulsive kidnapping leads to a shocking conclusion. Justin Timberlake (Edison), Sharon Stone (Bobby) and Bruce Willis (Lucky Number Slevin) co-star in this powerful and controversial film.

Customer Reviews:

Alpha Dog Unwatchable.......2007-06-14

If you are an adult with brain cells Alpha Dog will be unwatchable. I had to turn it off after torturing through 45 minutes of watching adolescent males posturing with grotesque levels of ignorance. If there was action, suspense, plot, any shred of meaningful dialogue, I may have been able to watch the entire film. But who wants to pay money, and waste two hours, watching a room full of partying teens act stupidly? The characters are so painfully dumb it is torture to watch. The world of the uneducated and brash American teen age boy is not one I want to go to. Maybe there is a social message or commentary by the end of the film, but if you value your time and intelligence pass on this worthless peek into the world of drugged out teens

Stuck in the middle again.......2007-06-12

I have to say that I didn't have the greatest expectations of this film. After watching it, turns out it's better than I thought. Not saying it's a great movie but it's not bad either. Somewhere in the middle. It's inspired by a true story and it reminds me of Bully but without the unnecessary, overexposed nudity. I actually favored their decision to mark every witness that saw the hostage with the captors. Especially the bystanders who have no connection to any of them whatsoever. The acting was pretty good but the entertainment value could've been better.

Just as I anticipated.......2007-06-10

After becoming fasinated with the "Jesse James Hollywood" story about a year ago, I was ecstatic to learn that a movie would be released concerning the events. I think the movie is excellent but also extremely troubling. To have an idea placed in your mind about what that poor boy went through in the end is the most horrifying picture. I cried until there were no tears left. I knew the story like the back of my hand, but I never really GOT it until seeing this film.
I would recommend this movie to anyone old enough to view the sex, violence, etc. it contains. I would highly recommend reading up on the true story the movie is based on before seeing it.

A Very Underated Film.......2007-06-06

I wanted to see this film because I had seen the actual MSN coverage previously. The true story was so fasinating, I wanted to see how it would be dramatized in a movie. I would have to say Nick Cassavetes, the son of the late John Cassavetes, got it right on the money. Knowing what was going to happen in the end I was still unhinged at such heartbreaking violence to one so young. Some movies are sad, some are scarey, some are funny, this movie was just plain disturbing. It will stick with you long after you have finished watching it and you will be surprized at what a good job all of the actors in the film did. Alot was put on Justin Timberlake's shoulders since his character, Frankie is very central to the story and he did a very fine job. He has alot of charisma and it comes across in his relationship with the young victim, Zach, played by Anton Yelchin who also did a wonderful job. It is the basis of this relationship that makes this movie so powerful and poignant. I hope people give this movie a chance, they won't be sorry.

Insane, wild ride of a movie.......2007-06-05

"Alpha Dog" is not a film I would've picked out myself at the video store. My husband did. Now that i actually decided to give it a shot, I found it quite interesting yet the ending, to me, was very unfulfilling.
It is based on true events. In the L.A. area, drugs, drinking, and sex is running amok and Justin Timberlake is in it. He is actually a pretty good actor. He can swear a meanstreak! There is wayyyy to much swearing in this movie. I don't think there is more than 20 seconds of dialogue without a curse word coming out of someone's mouth.
This is an insane film! To think this is all true. Well, I'm sure there was some embellishment. A kid is 'stolen' because his psycho punk of a half brother owes someone money. It takes awhile to get to that point, so the beginning sort of falls a bit flat.
At the conclusion, there are holes. Well, one big hole but I am not one of those reviewers that spoil it for others.
If you like fast, swear filled films with lots of drinking, drugs, fights, and sex involving young beautiful people, this is right up your alley!
Stars include Bruce Willis, Justin Timberlake, and Harry Dean Stanton.
Eileen F.

Average customer rating:

DeVour
Not really Horror
Not much of a Horror Movie
Devour is a Good One to Watch at 3 in the Morning
Think flick that requires 2nds

DeVour [Region 99]
Starring: Jensen Ackles , Shannyn Sossamon , Dominique Swain , William Sadler , and Teach Grant
Director: David Winkler
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Supernatural - The Complete First Season
James Cameron's Dark Angel: The Complete Second Season
Supernatural: Nevermore
Supernatural: The Official Companion Season 1
Cry Wolf (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B00083FZGI
Release Date: 2005-05-31

Customer Reviews:

DeVour.......2007-04-05

The movie was not bad. The ending was a little confusing.
But, loved Jensen Ackles.

Not really Horror.......2007-02-28

If you love blood, guts, violence, blonde bimbos running around in an amusingly stupid fashion then this isn't the movie for you. Though classified as a horror, I suppose it would be fairer to call it a supernatural drama. As there aren't any really jumps but has some interesting characters (well i thought so anyway). Also, though the story isn't the most original and some characters come and go leaving you going what?! the acting isn't that bad. Especially, Jensen Ackles so fans of his should have no problem watching this and most probably will love it, though he doesn't crack any jokes like in Supernatural. Devour also tried to have one of those two points of views but after having watched the movie you'll see they put a lot more effort into one side. Okay, in summary not a bad movie and if you like characters which have some depth then you should enjoy this. If your looking for a horror movie or a bad horror movie with violence and random sex scenes look elsewhere like Crocodile or Frankenfish.

Not much of a Horror Movie.......2007-01-12

I basically bought this because of Jensen Ackles (am a huge fan!). I'm a horror fan as well but this movie disappointed. Although Jensen was good as usual, it's a pity the movie wasn't. It started promising enough but went downhill about half way through. Rent it instead.

Devour is a Good One to Watch at 3 in the Morning.......2006-12-14

Okay, so the unfavorable reviews are somewhat true to life, but since I'd read the reviews before buying the movie, I knew I'd made the decision to buy a really campy movie for like 3 dollars that I'd probably end up watching over and over again at three in the morning.
I actually really enjoyed this movie. No, it doesn't take risks, but sometimes that's just fine. Having high expectations for b-list movies is a gamble anyway.
Ultimately, if you enjoy campy horror movies (guilty) or Jensen Ackles (again, guilty) you'll definitely take pleasure out of watching this movie.
I also want to add that the reason behind why I rated this movie so highly is because, whatwith my given expectations due to reviews and the context of the movie, I got exactly what I expected (and wanted).

Think flick that requires 2nds.......2006-12-03

I was extremely surprised by this movie because it covertly tells a lot of different stories on a lot of different levels, depending on your perspective. On first screening, I had a very low opinion, and would have switched discs had the acting not been so well done (especially after the entrance of Sossamon). However, the ending threw me so much (wondering "how did they DO that?!") that I had to play it again, and the second time around, it was actually riveting. If you like movies that make you think rather than take you for a ride, this one is definitely worth playing twice. If you like the ride? Well, you'll probably be disappointed.

Average customer rating:

Dead Mary
fun while it lasts
HORRIBLE MOVIE;BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS
Pretty good movie...
the best horror/ stright to dvd movie of 2007w

Dead Mary
Starring: Dominique Swain , Marie-Josée Colburn , Steve McCarthy , Maggie Castle , and Reagan Pasternak
Director: Robert Wilson (XVII)
Manufacturer: Peacearch
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Incubus (Unrated Edition) [Region 99]
Barricade
The Return (Widescreen Edition)
Sublime (Unrated Edition)
Turistas (Unrated Edition)

ASIN: B000ION762
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Description

(Horror) Kim and her best friends drive to a remote lakeside cabin to relax and reminisce about their college days. When the group decides to play the ghoulish game "Dead Mary", they unleash a vengeful spirit that possesses them one by one. As the demon forces them to turn on one another, each is faced with a choice. Would you hack your best friend to pieces to ensure your own survival?

Customer Reviews:

Dead Mary.......2007-04-20

I thought after reading the reviews, this might be good, it was ok. It sounds good, several friends go to a cabin for a weekend, play a weird game, and turn into demons. The best and most effective part of the film was not the acting, or the effects. It was when, late at night, they're bored, sitting around the cabin, drinking, and start talking about Dead Mary and decide to see if they can summon her, none actually believing they can do it. For a while there, the movie was scary.

fun while it lasts.......2007-04-10

This is a fun little popcorn type horror flick that amused me for the hour and a half it took to watch it. Its not the grandest idea, although it was refreshing to see a spin off the standard slasher flick premise. And for a B-grade horror flick it did have a decent amount of character developement, not enough to make the characters truly likeable, but they did end up being a little above cookie cutter character A & B. And to tell the truth the added scenes of character developement did kind of make the movie drag a little bit more than the typical fast paced horror flick, but not bad enough to say it was yawn inducing.

So if you are bored one night, nothing to do and your a horror fan, this would be a decent rental. I dont think i would recommend a purchase, as I don't quite think this is worth repeat viewings.

And to those who are craving nudity and a bucket load of guts, look elsewhere cause this movie has neither. Although there are a few bloody scenes in it, this movie would not be out of place on a late night cable channel program like USA or TBS, (save for the F-bombs).

HORRIBLE MOVIE;BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS.......2007-03-24

Being a Dominique Swain fan, I decided to check this horror title out!
This is a horrible movie and the ONLY positive thing about it is the fact that Dominique Swain plays in it!
If you're a fan...watch Lolita instead!!

Pretty good movie..........2007-03-14

...this movie was quite a surprise. It is about a group that go spend a weekend in the woods. They play a game of "Dead Mary" and then mysterious things begin to happen. Reminds me of "The Thing" in the sense of paranoia. Everyone thinks they have become a monster and are not sure who to trust. Interesting flick worthy off adding to you r collection.

the best horror/ stright to dvd movie of 2007w.......2007-03-11

wow!!!!...this movie is really good saw it at best buy on the shelf(just 1 sinle lonely copy), and thought i would give it a chance.....and man....i'm glad i did this is a very very good movie..well done ....

Average customer rating:

Are the previous reviews JOKING?
WOW I DUG THIS MOVIE A LOT
Good movie-Nast language
The Lowdown
Someone got it right

Pumpkin
Starring: Christina Ricci , Hank Harris , Brenda Blethyn , Dominique Swain , and Marisa Coughlan
Director: Adam Larson Broder , and Anthony Abrams
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( P ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Miranda
Prozac Nation
Anything Else
The Opposite of Sex
Tart

ASIN: B00005JLD1
Release Date: 2002-11-05

Amazon.com

Pumpkin scores bonus points for risk-taking satire, but it's the right movie made by the wrong people. Despite an able assist from star and coproducer Christina Ricci, first-time codirectors (and USC film-school graduates) Anthony Abrams and Adam Larson Broder lack the delicate touch required to pull off a comedic romance between an idealistic sorority girl (Ricci) and the semi-retarded, physically challenged boy nicknamed Pumpkin (Hank Harris) whom she's paired with as part of her sorority's image-boosting charity campaign. The movie boldly addresses the taboos and condescension typically applied toward the disabled in movies and hits its satirical targets (social elitism, campus hypocrisy) while undermining the "Jerry's Kids" stereotype of so-called "special" people. It's a valiant effort, but the strengths of Pumpkin are overwhelmed by its ineptitude, with poor character development, choppy plotting, and rampant inconsistencies. Its many flaws aside, Pumpkin deserves credit for trying something new, difficult, and altogether challenging. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Silly, sweet, farcical and subversive, Pumpkin pushes the boundaries of teen melodrama to anabsurd pitch, resulting in a film that is bracing, hilariously funny, and quite often, and in unexpected ways, touching (A.O. Scott, The New York Times)! Sexy Carolyn McDuffy (Christina Ricci) has a perfect lifea good family, a top sorority and a hot boyfrienduntil she meets the not-so-perfect Pumpkin, (Hank Harris), a challenged discus thrower who touches her soul and turns her life upside down. Suddenly smitten, Carolyn finds herself embroiled in a culture clash that will make you laugh with humor, with recognition and with disbelief (Roger Ebert) as you follow her hysterical journey from popular insider'to ostracized outcast!

Customer Reviews:

Are the previous reviews JOKING?.......2007-04-15

To give this movie any rating better than among the top ten worst-made movies ever, yeah, EVER, you'd have to be way more brain-crippled than Pumpkin (one of the main characters). I have to believe, in order to keep going with my life, that this movie was MEANT to be as it is.

The acting is so melodramatically amateur you'd just about have to DIRECT for it to acheive such terrible performances. The reaction of the stock character-refinedly-thuggish poetry teacher when Caroline drives off is like no other on-screen reaction you'll ever experience.

There are so many pricelessly terrible one-liners in this film that you could make a book off of it entitled "Terrible Quotes That Are Terrible."

Once you've subjected yourself to the first few seconds of torture, you're drawn into this catastrophic film like, yes, the over-used cliche of staring at an aweful car accident. Watch it, love it, find the sound track if you ever wish to torture yourself further (although the inappropriate screen-to-song arrangements help in fully showcasing the sountrack's absurdness). I want the part of my life back that it took to watch this film. Do yourself a favor - make better use of your given time slot and learn to withstand water torture or bamboo shoots up the fingernails - at least those would be good stories for the grandkids.

Don't get me wrong - I know there's a slot for reflective, thoughful movies and that there are also enough silly moviewatchers to think that this is one of them, but it's not. It's not not not. Think of my brilliance which you should have further considered if you ever choose to subject yourself to this Monster (should have been the name of THIS Christina Ricci film).

WOW I DUG THIS MOVIE A LOT.......2007-03-14

If you like something off the wall,maybe Pumpkin is for you. I was very surprised watching this film and that doesn't happen often. The Dvd is a good transfer and I am happy to own this film!

Good movie-Nast language.......2007-03-13

I saw this movie on TV and evidentally it was edited. I have an autistic grandson who loves the girl actress in this movie so I ordered it for him. Well, needless to say, for a movie for young people, this one was trashed because every other word was a slang word...the 4 letter kind! It was so appauling that the swearing took away from the movie. The story itself is wonderful. I was so dissappointed.

The Lowdown.......2006-11-05

If you look for movies that are reflective of real life, maybe you won't like this. Or if you harbor intense guilt/dislike/shame towards handicapped people. But if you watch movies because you like to stretch reality, stretch your mind, and use your imagination, then I would recommend Pumpkin. I bought it after seeing it only one time, but I thought the characters were a great study on relationships, stereotypes, and social norms. No, it is not always realistic- hence it is a movie. The characters and their reactions to their environment are all exaggerated. My only issue is that I felt it could use a little more editing. It stretched out a little too long- I kept thinking it was going to end but didn't. So if you are feeling open and enjoyed movies like Ghost World, or anything with a slightly darker humor, give it a chance. You'll probably like it.

Someone got it right.......2006-10-26

Wow. What a mix of perceptions and opinions from all reviewers. Read other reviews for plot details.

SPOILER. I think that the reviewer J. F. Rick got it right with a possible explanation of the filmmaker's methods: "My interpretation is simple: Carolyn succeeds at suicide. The rest of the movie, after the suicide attempt, is simply her imagined happy ending as she slips into the beyond."

Makes sense. I'm satisfied with that insight about the movies uneven and ludicrous 2nd half. A lot of it is a metaphor and dream exaggeration.

Obviously this movie is not for everyone. I would not rank it a "must see," but I enjoyed it when my other options were limited.

Average customer rating:

Quick and Perfect!
The Best
Low-Budget Indie..
Why Even Bother??
Good Film - For Some People

Tart
Starring: Dominique Swain , Brad Renfro , Bijou Phillips , Mischa Barton , and Alberta Watson
Director: Christina Wayne
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Plain Dirty
New Best Friend [Region 99]
Girl
Happy Campers (Ws Sub)
Intern

ASIN: B000062XH6
Release Date: 2002-04-23

Customer Reviews:

Quick and Perfect!.......2007-04-02

The DVD came sooner than I expected and it was in amazing condition for a used product.

The Best.......2007-01-04

Tart Is One Of The Best Film's I've Seen Dominique Swain Is One Of The Best Acttress I Know, I Just Love Her.

Low-Budget Indie.........2005-11-03

The only reason I rented this to start with was on the count of Dominique Swain. I knew ahead of time about all the bad reviews & negative feedback, but I wanted to give it a shot anyway.

NO..It is definitely not even in the margin of the best 200 Films you've ever seen, but it isn't THAT horrible. I thought Swain did very well in it. All of her actions in the film seemed real and justified. I agree some parts throughout the core of the movie made no sense, and made you wonder "Why was that even in there, or that doesn't even relate to anything in the story". But, there were a couple of good moments...the beginning & the end. (You will understand what I mean, if you've watched this film). I won't give it more than 1 and a half stars/2 stars, but I won't say watching this was a complete waste.

(As for the other actors-Melanie Griffiths part was almost merely a cameo, Mischa Barton did Ok, Lacey Chabert was her usual self, and Bijou Phillips was fair...But this definitely was one of Brad Renfro's worst.)

Why Even Bother??.......2005-09-20

"Tart" is a good illustration of the old the Yogi Berra saying: "If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up someplace else". Writer/Director Christina Waye (in her first feature) has managed to make a $3 Million movie that never goes anywhere. "Tart" is either a coming of age story devoid of characters that a rational person can connect with, a black comedy without any humor, or a sexploitation movie without anything that is particularly sexy.

Unlike the standard Swain film, "Tart" actually employed a competent and experienced production designer. Good enough to provide two extremely nice shots: the scene of Swain and Barton taking a bubble bath together and the scene of Swain in the park-featuring a nice montage of the "Alice in Wonderland" sculpture. The symbolism incorporated into these elements supports the possibility that Waye (despite the absence of a linear logic or unity of tone) actually has some visionary talent and aspirations for making a quality film.

It is even possible that Waye was trying for a fusion of the somewhat expressionistic "Metropolitan" and the camp classic "Cruel Intentions" both of which also dealt with the Manhattan upper class. There are many camera shots framed by windows and doors yet few tight shots of faces and eyes. The former technique hinting at symbolism and the latter at intentional distancing from the characters and their motivations. "Tart" seemed on the verge of veering into camp territory at least twice and would have been well advised to keep going in that direction. First there was the scene where they try to dump the seemingly deceased Swain into the garbage chute. Then there is the whole bit about her father being Jewish (played to the same extreme as Joel Grey dancing with the Jewish guerrilla in "Cabaret").

In her other films Swain's acting technique is to overwhelm each scene in which she appears (insert scenery chewing here) but in "Tart" she actually shows an ability to restrain herself. This is the best performance of her career. It also provides some clues about her physical deterioration from willowy super cute in "Girl" to hulking lumpy-faced in "Pumpkin". This transformation was about half-complete by the time she made "Tart"; so go the ravages of time.

Mischa Barton ("Sixth Sense's" I feel better girl) and Lacey Chabet are excellent in supporting roles. The rest of the cast is simply horrible, although some of the blame for this should go to Waye's script and direction.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Good Film - For Some People.......2005-08-24

Straight to the point. . . .there are a lot of mixed reviews here, but I would say that this movie is a really good film. Now, i'm in to the quirky, eye-catching, think you can't stomach what is going on with this film kinda movies that have young up and coming actors/actresses in it. Bijou Philips can always be spotted in most of the films, that's how you know it might fit the mold. Anyway, if you aren't into the crazy larry clark films such as "Kids" and "Bully", or any movies such as that, then this probably won't interest you a bit. Oh, and to that reviewer at the top. . . Megzi i believe their name was. . . .Mischa Barton who is great in the film, she doesn't throw on a fake english accent in the movie. . . she really is from London. . . do your research first!

Average customer rating:

Slick, subtle, and worth a look see
If You Want to See Soccer Moms Playing Undergraduates
Cut Them Some Slack - New Best Friend Rocks!
Taye Diggs Owns
A great movie for a hot date!

New Best Friend [Region 99]
Starring: Mia Kirshner , Meredith Monroe , Dominique Swain , Scott Bairstow , and Rachel True
Director: Zoe Clarke-Williams
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Tart
Plain Dirty
Happy Campers (Ws Sub)
Girl
The Smokers

ASIN: B000068QJR
Release Date: 2002-07-16

Amazon.com

A breath of fresh air in a stale genre, Zoe Clarke-Williams's canny look at the catty world of college cliques is the smartest dissection of the complex world of class envy, social acceptance, and the seduction of privilege since Heathers. But this drama plays it for tragedy. Local working-class girl Mia Kirshner is transformed from social outcast to campus Cinderella and adopted into the hedonistic party world of a trio of rich fun-loving sorority princesses (Meredith Monroe, Dominique Swain, and Rachel True), and comes out the other end in a drug-induced coma. Confidently directed and elegantly constructed in puzzle-piece flashbacks, this sensitive, sympathetic, smartly made drama is refreshingly free of glib moralizing, the rare young-adult film that twists the usual clichés and leaves its audience with more questions than answers. The DVD also features an audio commentary track by director Zoe Clarke-Williams. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Slick, subtle, and worth a look see.......2006-08-03

This is a movie I did not fully appreciate until after it was over and I wanted to watch it again. The premise is, poor girl Alicia goes to a rich person's school where everyone except her is amoral, meaning in plain English they like sex and drugs. But wait a minute. Who is really into sex and drugs in this movie? Who is really envious of whom? Alicia, who is supposed to be the moral poor girl, ends up in hospital due to a drug overdose. Is Hadley, who is far wealthier than Alicia, really envious of her and not the other way around? Why do we feel such intense sympathy for the comatose Alicia? And why is some of the music, especially the music that plays at the end while the credits are running, so haunting?

This film plays with your mind as you watch it and does not get caught in the process. Great acting doesn't hurt, either.

This movie critic says, check it out.

If You Want to See Soccer Moms Playing Undergraduates.......2005-10-03

"New Best Friend" is another entry in the "steal another woman's life" sub-genre; the best of which are "Single White Female" and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"; the worse of which you can catch almost any afternoon on the Lifetime Channel. For some reason this type of identity theft happens exclusively to women.

There are just two basic ways to play this type of story. You can make the woman evil at the beginning and let the audience watch knowingly as she hatches and implements her evil scheme. Or you use misdirection to make her appear a good person, as a seemingly unplanned series of events break in her favor until she is revealed to be evil in the climatic scene. Unfortunately the makers of "New Best Friend" could not decide how they wanted to play it and things crash and burn early. We first meet Alicia (Mia Kirshner) scamming the college's financial aid office for scholarship money. We now know that she is a bad person and will view all her subsequent activity with suspicion. But the director and editor apparently forgot that this revelation had been made and spend the next 50 minutes laying misdirection to make us think that Alicia is a good person. This introduces the only element of suspense, not about whether she is evil but about when the director and editor will wise up and stop wasting our time with transparent misdirection.

"New Best Friend" suffers more than most from the teen movie curse of a cast too old to be portraying undergraduate students. There are really only two big parts, Hadley (Meredith Monroe) and Alicia (Kirshner). They were 31 and 26 respectively at the time of the production. It almost works for the 26 year-old Kirshner when she plays the mousy version of Alicia but it becomes glaring when she is transformed into the glamed-up version of Alicia. Monroe's casting is simply a joke, about like having Nicholette Sheridan try to pass as a classmate on "Lizzie McGwire". She looks much closer to a mid-life crisis than to a term paper.

The producers must have owed a lot of favors because this age issue extends to most of the supporting characters. Taye Diggs who plays the town sheriff is younger than most of the students.

The basic setup is that Hadley and two other rich party girls (played by Dominque Swain-age 21 and Rachel True-age 35) are undergrad roommates at college. They share (as their student residence) a mansion that is nicer and better furnished than the mansion on Real World-New Orleans (a premise more believable than soccer moms playing students). Alicia moves into the mansion and begins to take over Hadley's life. At least that way Swain finally gets a roommate from her own generation so the two can have a lesbian scene. Swain's supporting performance is the only good thing about "New Best Friend" and her love scene with Kirshner is fantastic, so cool and artsy that it doesn't fit with any of the other segments, maybe it was subcontracted out to a good director and cinematographer.

The unintentionally hilarious story is presented in a series of dreary flashbacks of rampant sex and nonstop parties, each proceeded by a shot of a comatose Alicia in a hospital bed. About half of Kirshner's screen time is spent lying motionless with a tube in her mouth. Not a good career move Mia.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Cut Them Some Slack - New Best Friend Rocks!.......2005-03-01

As both a big fan of this movie and a film student, I feel that critics have been quick to judge this film as bad trash. This film has a sexy edge to it, that many other films in the "teen film" genre dare to exhibit. New Best Friend fullfills a fantasy for those girls who secretly desire to live dangerously and party every night, without it actually becoming a reality. The house is every girl's dream, and these girls are alluring and suavely tempting. The acting is far from terrible, and it was great to see Meredith Monroe in a more sophisticated and darker role than her role as Andie in Dawson's Creek. Dominique Swain once again puts in an A+ effort for her role as the cheeky deviant Sydney. For anyone who loved films like Tart and Cruel intentions,this is the film for you.

Taye Diggs Owns.......2004-03-22

New Best Friend is one of those films that grabs your attention and maintains your suspicion all the way through until the incredible ending. The screenwriting is nothing short of miraculous and Taye Diggs' ability to capture the role of the school detective is truly awe-inspiring. Why Diggs' wasn't up for an Oscar is beyond me and others of his extensive fanbase. If you want an example of acting at it's finest, tune into the scene featuring the drug dealer and witness the intesity Diggs' displays. While the rest of the acting is rather lackluster, Diggs' performance pinpoints him as the obvious catalyst of this marvel of the modern film making industry.

A great movie for a hot date!.......2003-11-13

A poor girl who falls in with rich girls suffers an overdose, and the local sheriff wannabe is brought in to investigate. The rich girls are young and very attractive, especially when they're partying in their spaghetti-strapped dresses. And the poor girl, played by Mia Kirschner, is no slouch in the looks department herself with her dark features and jet black hair.

Mia eventually ingratiates herself with all of the friends; smoking, drinking, and doing drugs - and sharing dark secrets - like when she and Dominique Swain discover that both of them had been molested by their fathers when they were ten-years-old, which causes them to bond by exploring each other's mouths with their tongues, pawing at each other's clothes, and then falling asleep in each other's arms soon afterwards.

Mia then uncovers that Rachel True, a gorgeous fair-skinned black girl, is bulimic; and Mia offers to help her quit when she's ready. Rachel is touched, but rather than make it with Mia, she shares a deep soul kiss with Ms. Swain to continue an on-going relationship with Dominique (who is bisexual).

Dominique is on a roll, but the only girl among her circle of friends she doesn't kiss is Meredith Monroe, who plays Hadley, the story's main character - and main suspect! Meredith looks a lot like Natasha Henstridge (`Ghosts of Mars'), so watching her is definitely easy on the eyes. The most risque thing she does in the movie, though, is get naked (from the back) with her boyfriend in bed. But her performance as a seemingly innocent and helpful best friend is excellent.

Besides Meredith, another fine appearance is made by Taye Diggs as this Southern college town's interim sheriff. He approaches his task with sensitivity and determination, and it is through his eyes - and the flashbacks that he's told - that we get to enjoy the girls' divulged sensuality.

Taye solves the crime, and one of the girls is brought to justice. She ends up behind bars at the movie's end - while we see Dominique, asleep and naked in bed - and lying between both her own boyfriend and another girl! (Gee, I don't remember college life to be this good!)

Amazon.com

As Ben Stein notes in his introduction, Totally Awesome has a lot in common with "the great teen movies of the 1980s," like Dirty Dancing, Footloose, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Karate Kid, and Teen Wolf. (To that list, you can add Pretty in Pink, Soul Man, Weird Science, and Some Kind of Wonderful.) He doesn't let on that it's a spoof, presenting it as a lost classic from 1986. As with Footloose--or 1990's Beverly Hills 90210--two siblings move to a new town just in time for the school year. In this case, Charlie (Mikey Day) and Lori (Dominique Swain) relocate from Pennsylvania to California. He's a senior, she's a junior. She wants to dance. He just wants to be cool, like Kipp (Joey Kern) and girlfriend Kimberly (Brittany Daniel). Naturally, dancing is not allowed. As expected, the two plucky teens find ways to achieve their goals. Just as predictable as the plot is the dialogue, which couldn't be clunkier, and the acting, which couldn't be more over-the-top (Swain's screaming, for instance, get old fast). Still, like the Scary Movie series it emulates, there's a laugh or two to be had, and Day is a likable lead. Written and directed by Neil Brennan (Half Baked, Chappelle's Show), this VH1 production features 1980s tunes from the likes of A-Ha, Cinderella, Wang Chung, and Katrina and the Waves, along with appearances from Chris Kattan, Tracy Morgan, James Hong, and Tone-Loc performing "Crazy Stuff," the prototype for "Wild Thing." --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

Remember 80's movies? Let VH-1 take you back to a time when the hair was big and the shorts were small. From the co-creator of Chappelle's Show, this hilarious send-up of 1980's teen movies has it all - the music, dancing, the fashion and, of course, the lingo. Whether you were preppy or new wave, this movie will be awesome, Totally Awesome.

Customer Reviews:

Lives up to the title.......2007-05-13

This movie is fantastic. Sure the acting stinks-that the way the movies of the 80s were. This is well worth buying and will make a great movie to watch on a long day.

AWFUL.......2007-04-16

It is an insult that they try to pass this off as comedy. The story was none existant, and the acting was appauling. As if movies like "Scary Movie", "Not Another Teen Movie", "Date Movie" and "Epic Movie", and all the other nauseating cookie cutter sequels they spawned weren't bad enough, VH1 puts out this 90 minute borefest. Instead of doing the same lame obvious "jokes" over and over try coming up with an original comedy. This is not even worth 1 star.

funny stuff here if you like scary movie type humor.......2007-03-30

lot of silly laughing by actors ....over the top performances seems like thier were pushed to hard by the director to overdue a line ....lol the actors are a little to old to be high school ???

Totally Awesome Says It All.......2007-03-14

This is a VH1 Original. I saw this on VH1 and waited for it to rerun. Unlike every other thing on VH1, it didn't. So I bought it. It puts together a ton of great 80s movies (Not another teen movie style) for great entertainment. It has all your favorite characters, with some slight exaggerations of course. If you like slapstick humor and/or 80s movies you will love this.
I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because it could have a few more familiar references in it. Great overall!!!

totaly tubular flik.......2007-02-22

If you like movies like sweet 16 , pizza the movie and nerds strike back you'll love this film!! Vh1 did a "what ever happened to..." on the cast .
Gunderson went on to do 3 more of these and the cool black guy went on to do a showtime show. Kimberly went on to do Pittsburgh steamer videos.

Average customer rating:

Worth Seeing
A Big Waste of Time
If went to summer camp you'll love this
Total disappointment!!
Was expecting much more

Happy Campers (Ws Sub)
Starring: Brad Renfro , Dominique Swain , Keram Malicki-Sánchez , Emily Bergl , and Jordan Bridges
Director: Daniel Waters
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Tart
New Best Friend [Region 99]
Plain Dirty
The Smokers
Confessions of an American Girl

ASIN: B000067J13
Release Date: 2002-06-18

Amazon.com

Happy Campers vacillates from being a ridiculous parody of summer-camp life to being a genuine examination of adolescence. Camp counselors Brad Renfro (Apt Pupil, The Client) and Dominique Swain (Face/Off, Lolita) have very different approaches (she's super-perky, he's a moody rebel), but find themselves irresistibly attracted to each other as the camp falls into chaos over the course of the summer. What keeps this basic plot from being completely cheesy is a basic honesty about youth--Happy Campers doesn't shy away from the cruelty, sexual frustration, and general awkwardness of being a teen. Despite its inconsistencies of tone, the movie is a more compelling portrait of adolescence than any John Hughes movie, and the attractive, likable cast--also featuring James King (Pearl Harbor) and Emily Bergl (The Rage: Carrie 2)--will keep you engaged. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Worth Seeing.......2006-05-29

I liked this movie. I lose interest in almost all movies half-way through, but this one kept me watching. The cinematography is excellent; the colors and lighting are nice to look at. The characters are attractive, interesting and funny. It's not 'Meatballs,' and it's not 'Lolita,' or even a combination of the two. It's a unique film.

A Big Waste of Time.......2005-10-12

"Happy Campers" is a useful movie only because it prompts basic questions about its writer/director Daniel Waters and his breakout film "Heathers" (which he wrote but did not direct). Did he use up all his good stuff writing the Heathers screenplay and have nothing left for "Happy Campers? Did he lose most of his active brain cells shortly after making Heathers (an event that would account for both the 'Hudson Hawk"and the "Happy Campers" screenplays)? Was Heathers just a happy accident? Or is Heathers so open-ended that critics and viewers attributed significance to a very ordinary movie. All these explanations are possible either jointly or collectively.

For "Happy Campers" Waters tries to weave "Breakfast Club" themes into a "Meatballs" story. So you get tedious voice-over suggestions about how the artificial bounds of the high school hierarchy can sometimes be bridged by spending a couple months together as summer camp counselors. Like each detention server in "The Breakfast Club", each counselor is an easily identified stereotype. And over the course of camp each is supposed to go through changes, at least that appears to be the premise.

Unfortunately the script has difficulty communicating this process despite an unprecedented amount of voice-over narration. All seven of the main characters get some voice-over time, a device that is very confusing and pretty much destroys any possibility of the movie having any unified theme.

Dominique Swain has the biggest part as Wendy, the terminally peppy cheerleader type (appropriately pictured in a cheerleader outfit on the DVD). Swain is the only good thing about the movie, it is an over-the-top caricature that plays to her acting strengths. This is the type of role Swain should be playing, one that requires self-parody rather than subtlety. She also benefits by relative comparison to James (Jaime) King-whose acting skills are in the Kathy Ireland mold, as well as from being paired with the physically miscast Brad Renfro-who manages to drain all energy from each scene in which he appears. The other four counselors have a fair about of screen time and some lame misadventures but nothing particularly memorable.

Some effort is made to introduce the actual summer campers to the story but none of it even remotely works. "Meatballs" was able to get away with shallow character development because it was basically just a Bill Murray vehicle. Although Swain might have been able to carry the whole thing like Murray the script does not allow this and things never really get going in "Happy Campers".

Waters apparently believed that audiences would react positively to a movie where 90% of the comedy involved sexual references that most preteens would consider moronic. Hey Daniel, did you pay someone to write that Heathers" screenplay for you.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

If went to summer camp you'll love this.......2005-08-15

What I mean to say is that if you've done the camp thing before and are of a propper age, you'll understand and like this movie. Some of the humor in this is not meant for the young on's. Ive been going to summer camp since I was 7 and have since worked at that camp. I'm 11 years older (I'm 18 now) and wiser; I know the dark sexually drived stuff on the part of the staffers, about how at night u get with your fellow staffers and talk about the opposite sex, sex, and sexuality in general. That's exactly what this movie is with its seven 19yr old staff members, each with their first year of college and extreme persona behind them. The staff does try to hide the darker things (well, no, that's not exactly true) infact, i like the movie so much because all the campers knew what was going on with staff (better than the staff at times) and all real summer campers know to evesdrop on the cool older staff. The staffers in the movie find the naitivity around them charming and indulge their campers' curiosities and questions; either that or they have no control over their emotional outbursts. It actually is a sweet, well-acted, dark comedy. About summer love (gag me with a spoon), fate (double gag me) but mainly about the relationships between staffers, campers, and how the two groups mingle. Anyway, part of it is about first love but it is not mushy romance, guys and girls alike will enjoy this, and while it wont be the camp you went to, u recognize the components of the movie that relate to your camp. and it's just hysterical. The movie IS camp condensed into an hour and a half with different aesthetics. So, yeah, i love this movie, me and my camp buddies get a kick out of it, i hope this helps
Oh, if you're a fan of Heathers (made by the same guy) like me then you wont be disapointed with this, unless u liked all the suicides in Heathers and find them a necessity for a film to be enjoyable

Total disappointment!!.......2005-06-21

Blech! I really like all the young actors that were in this movie and expected it to be really funny and cute. WRONG! It was a bizarre combination of shock tactics trying to show how edgey they all were. The only redeeming actor was Justin Long. The rest of the movie was a waste of brain cells.

Was expecting much more.......2005-01-02

I enjoy watching teen movies because I'm ever so curious about how the director sees this particular age group and the misconceptions present in his view as much as in the teens' view of things.

This movie is unlike most teen "romantic comedies" I've seen, and not necessarily in a good way. First of all, the main characters are unlikeable and don't represent actual categories of people in real life:

We have the good looking rebel who's actually not so rebellious after all but then gets back to his old ways (stupid twist if you ask me), the nerd who can't get any (they picked the worst possible guy to play the nerd; he's actually pretty good looking and a funny guy...), the nerdy girl who hasn't grown up yet (ends up hooking up with the rebel but they break up), the gay guy (I have no idea what his role in this movie was), the aggressive victim of child abuse (...), the freaky nympho with a tint of lesbian (what the hell were you thinking Daniel Waters?) and finally the rebel's childhood best friend who falls in love with him and is rejected (the film focuses about 5 minutes of its total 88 on this character... I don't know why she's even here, she has no obvious role and her situation doesn't reflect at all in the real world).

Next up, I think the director is sexually obsessed or something. Ok, I know sex is an important part of a teenager's life but this movie is about lame 13 year old girls aching for sex and even lamer 19 year olds who have nothing else better to do. If I wanted to see hormonal imbalance, I would go watch Discovery Channel. There are more important things in life than sex, and this "masterpiece" definitely doesn't illustrate them. The characters' thoughts and actions are limited to the camp itself and the director focuses too much on useless stuff and tries to create stereotypes, but fails miserably. Most teen movies have a moral side to them, they teach the audience certain values, unlike "Happy Campers". This movie only taught me that it's so cool to be obsessed about sex, it's cool for 12 year old girls to think they're oh-so-hot women, that only the absolute best looking guys hook up (not true in the real world) and more [...]. Also the director makes completely ridiculous situations seem normal, such as the camp leader getting hit by lightning and then acting completely weird, the counsellors buying 47203 boxes of condoms (there's only so much sex you can have in 40 days...), the whole "Don't-touch-me Todd" thing, and so on and so forth.

This movie isn't worth the $2 I paid to rent it. Those who think this is better than the American Pie series should go out more. American Pie was a work of art, this is a piece of [...].

Actress:

Actress

Actress