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Poor White Trash

Poor White Trash

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Story-telling & Characters Save This Low-Budget Comedy
Review: Now what? This provaking title with the cast like this? Anyone who remembers Sean Young in Ridley Scott masterpiece "Bladerunner" might bitterly think about her career decline since "No Way Out." And Jamie Pressly played the same kind of role as the one she did in "Ringmaster" starring ... Jerry Springer.

However, in spite of (or because of) this low expectation, "Poor White Trash" turns out a fairly good comedy following astory of a boy and his mother (Sean Young) plus his airhead buddy, all of whom get involved in a train of stupid situations. It starts from a minor crime of shoplifting a pack of beer, but their sheer stupidity of handling the case leads them into the spiral staircase of other crimes such as hitting a local berger shop (while ordering bergers at the same time) and an attempted murder (with a gun in a frying pan).

The characters are all typical ones that you might imagine from the film's title, but the movie wisely avoids the mistake of laughing 'at' them. Instead, it gives a set of likable characters with a bit crazy streaks. Not so many laughs would be there, and some of the obvious attempts to get them fail, but its well-written story keeps on going with a good pace. The standout is Jamie Pressly's too sexy "grandmother," and Sean Young's mother Mrs. B, who preaches her son to have a strict moral sense while discussing a plan of burglary!

Obviously made with low-budget, and it sometimes suffers from the fact, but the result is better than you expect from the title and the cast. Worth a try.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Don't Kick This 'Trash' to the Curb...
Review: Once upon a time in a trailer park to close to say lived two boys who are bored and decide to score some 'Near Beer" from the local quickie mart. This turns bad and the two are arrested. They meet the grandfather attorney who gets them off.. for a price. A chain reaction of hillarity insues. Sean Young is effective as the white trash mother who will do anything to make sure her son gets into college, and doesn't have to live in a trailer the rest of his life. Not as stupid as it appears to be. The screenplay is smart, even with such lines as "You're hot as doughnut grease, babe." That line is a gem. Bound to be a redneck classic, Jeff Foxworthy would be proud. The only thing missing was Jerry Springer.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: White trash with a heart
Review: Poor White Trash is a hilarious film! Aside from the humor, what is most interesting about it is the dichotomy between the bad behavior of the lead characters coupled with their good intentions.

The best performance in the film is given by Jacob Tierney as the pyromaniacal and not very bright best friend to Sean Young's son.

I recommend this film for those seeking easy entertainment. A good film to see with friends over several beers.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: CLeVeR!
Review: SeaN YouNG aND JaiMe PReSSLy aRe BRiLLiaNTLy CaST iN THiS HiLaRiouS TRaiLeR PaRK RaGS To RiCHeS TaLe!
QuiCK-WiT SCRiPT aND LoTSa aCTioN MaKe THiS a PiC WoRTH WaTCHiNG!!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Pretty Awful.
Review: The lithany of bad jokes, fowl and obscene humor from "Grandpa", and constant bizarre but stupid twists make this a hard pill to swallow. Towards the end of the movie, there's even a poorly-edited giant shoot-out involving seemingly every member of the cast, which really has no place in the film at all. And really, the end was the worst part of the film. Really painful.

I kept on waiting for something to happen, but I should have trusted my instincts and turned the thing off. The humor was really more appropriate for the teens crowd (watch out for a painfully long and drawn-out scene in which one of the boys makes out with his favorite blow-up doll), but the amount of language (i.e., constant references to being molested in prison) and graphic violence make it inappropriate for young people. I think this movie probably looked a lot better on paper.

The script was clever in parts. Perhaps with a better cast, a better director, and a stern copy-editor, Poor White Trash could have been something. However, I can't even think up a decent drinking game to accompany this terrible movie. I gave it two stars for the two times I laughed during the film.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: As the Title Promises
Review: This film details the tribulations of a lower class white family from Southern Illinois. While the story may have a mild "camp" appeal, it seems forced and without any of the real virtue of camp films such "Flesh Gordon," "Barbarella," or "Uptown Saturday Night." It does not even measure up to the best of campTV like Showtime's "Sherman Oaks" because of poor acting, even in roles that present very little challenge, from everyone in the film except William Devane and the widely advertised but not-so-prominently featured Jamie Pressly. This film does have a few solid one-liners that will put a smile on your face and watching it will not feel like a complete waste of time, which puts it in at least the 50% of films, but do not place it too high on your list. ...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: This film was hilarious! For a low budget movie, I was surprised how well paces, and fun it was to watch. The acting was particularly good. Sean Young was a trailer park mom. That's something I haven't seen before. William Devane and Jason London almost stole the movie. A lot of quotable dialogue. Well written! And very well directed!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great entertainment
Review: This is a highly amusing comedy with heart. It's a shame that lots of people won't see it because it lacks notority - but I urge you to take the "risk" and give this a watch. It's definitely worth two hours of your life!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Lots of Problems but Lots of Laughs
Review: Welcome to Sunrise, Illinois, a town that plays host to a significant contingent of lower class, trailer dwelling, criminally prone hillbilly types loving referred to as "Poor White Trash." Starring such recognizable names as William Devane, Sean Young, and Jaime Pressly, the film focuses on the antics of the Bronco and Lake families, with several other individuals floating around on the periphery. Linda Bronco, played quite well by Sean Young, only has one wish in her miserable existence of one night stands and fly by night jobs: she wants her son Michael to go to college at the University of Southern Illinois to major in psychology. After yet another fight with her washed out professional wrestler husband, Linda must step in and take control of Michael's life if her dream is to be realized. Regrettably for Linda, Michael and his friend Lenny Lake find themselves in a heap of trouble after swiping a six-pack of near beer at the local convenience store. This thoughtless action throws Michael's plans for school into turmoil, thereby requiring Linda to lead her son and his friend on a robbing spree for tuition money and enough scratch to hire a decent lawyer to fight the robbery charge. Along for the ride is Brian, the son of the local sheriff who Linda picked up in a bar and who now wishes to take part in the antics.

To disentangle her son from the robbery charge, Linda and her son turn to Lenny Lake's grandfather, Ron Lake. The elder Lake is a strange character, a one-time felon who now works as a big shot lawyer. Ron just married the gorgeous but dangerous Sandy, and the two live in Ron's trailer adorned with a garden of sculptures made out of beer cans. Ron is as crooked as they come, though, and to get his help Linda and her trio of would be criminals must agree to split their take with Ron and his wife. Everything goes down the drain from this point, as the four rob a retirement home and a local eating establishment. They get the money, but they get double crossed too, an incident which leads to hilarious trailer trash retribution involving trailer stealing, fireworks, automatic weapons, and duct tape.

There are more problems with "Poor White Trash" than there are pluses. The organization of the film is a disaster, with scenes that run too long, sloppy camera work, and a script often bogged down with too much detritus. What this movie desperately needed was an excellent editor, someone to go through the scenes and cut out all the awkward dead weight. About half way into the movie, I started to suspect that somebody, maybe a studio, mucked around with the finished product and left us with a movie that is more often a hodgepodge of scenes than a seamless film. Another big minus here, at least for me, was the relegation of Danielle Harris to a minor role as Suzi (the one with an "i"), an employee at the local restaurant robbed by Bronco and company. Harris, who in my opinion could never appear in enough films, gets marginal screen time. At least we get one good shot of her smiling face, and I guess that is better than nothing.

Despite these problems, "Poor White Trash" works on many levels, and works spectacularly. I would be completely insane if I did not mention the stellar performance of William Devane as Ron Lake. I have never liked Devane as an actor, probably due to his appearance in too many of those unctuous "movie of the week" productions. But here he shines like the sun. Devane has all of the best lines of the film, none of which are reproducible here because they usually deal with romantic entanglements in prison. His outfits are hilarious, his law office, located in a mall, bears the name "Land o' Law," and his philosophy about beautiful women is a scream. Devane chews the scenery in this film and it is a better movie because of it. Devane's role along with numerous effective sight gags, helps propel "Poor White Trash" to easily watchable levels.

The DVD throws in a commentary by Sean Young and director Michael Addis, as well as some production stills, three trailers for three obscure films I never heard of, and cast and crew profiles. Add in these extras with the actual film, and you have yourself an effective way to burn a few hours. "Poor White Trash" will never win any awards, but it ultimately delivers with good performances and some good gags.


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