| MEAN CREEK |
 2004 - USADirector: Jacob Aaron Estes
- Reviewed by Linda
All the characters of note in the film are basically kids. Young Sam (Rory Culkin, one of the talented Culkins) gets the crap beaten out of him at school by relentlessly mean bully George (Josh Peck). George is a chubby kid, older than his peers for being held back in school over and over, but he is also one to be feared, as we hear from other characters his past exploits of beating up the hapless for no good reason. Sam's older teenage brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) and his pal Marty (Scott Mechlowicz) think up a scheme to get back at George (for the sake of Sam) and humiliate him to teach him a lesson. The older boys plan a boating trip down a river, in the guise of Sam's birthday, and invite a bunch of their pals, and the clueless George. You know that things won't go well. As time passes, even as the kids feel guilty about their impending plan and call off the prank. But you just sense that trouble will arise regardless. And of course, trouble does. Let me just ask this: Do kids really say "fuck" all the time these days, as they do in Mean Creek? What is this world coming to? This kids in this film are jaded, most seemingly by boredom alone. They are not bad kids, but just aimless. Even George is portrayed as potentially a nice guy, with a very mean streak which erupts in violence (sometimes verbal, sometimes physical). The characters, for the most part, are interesting and believable, but still I wanted... more. For all the intensity that builds in the first half (and believe me, it is intense), the second half just doesn't match it. It should have wrapped up, or at least justified its dragging out of the story. Mean Creek doesn't resolve itself, but slowly meanders like the river itself until it just sort of peters out. |
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Mean Creek has a lot going for it. In fact, I *do* recommend it as a rather nerve-racking teen drama that is as disturbing as it is realistic. The problem is that the climax happens about halfway through the movie, then it meanders trying to figure out a way to wrap things up, while still maintaining the viewer's interest.
