Mean Creek

Rating:
Summary: Absorbing and Disturbing
Review: Mean Creek is a brilliantly compelling and disturbing drama. Superbly acted by the all-kid cast, and expertly filmed and scripted by Jacob Aaron Estes. Very, very good.

Rating:
Summary: Innocent kids gone too far to get even with nasty fatboy.
Review: Although this movie was a low-budget indie film, and it had a very short run in the theaters, it had made a quite on impact to me when I saw it about half a year ago, because it was disturbing and powerful on a scale like Carrie, which dealt with bully and revenge in school. The story is not elaborate, but it's intense and real, with some hard to digest diologues. The young cast members all contribute good performances to make this movie a riveting experience.
Sam(Rory Culkin) gets bullied at school by fatboy George(Josh Peck) for no reason. At first, he didn't want to do anything about fighting back, because he was afraid to get in trouble. When his older brother Rocky(Trevor Morgan) found out what George did, he insisted to avenge him. He planned to invite George along to go on a picnic with Sam, Millie/Sam's girlfriend(Cindy Schroeder, and his buddy Marty(played by Scott Mechlowicz, a young Brad Pitt look-alike). While the party of five were rafting a boat up the creek to a remote area where something bad was to be done to George, they played a game a Truth and Dare on each other. It was inevitable that the mean and nasty george would provoke everyone to want to attack him. Everyone tried to stay calm, but Marty was the one that got trigerred to the boiling point and accidently pushed George into the water. George didn't know how to swim, and no one wanted to jump into the water to rescue him until he sunk out of sight. From that point on, everyone was freaking out, and they had to figure out what to do when they found the dead body.....
Fatboy George was very abnoxious at first, but gradually, his character deserved some sympathy, because he was just trapped in a world of his own, and no one wanted to be his friend. Maybe that's why he went around to cause trouble, so that he would get people's attention. Josh Peck was very good, and he played it to the point that you would want to hate him for constantly hurting others emotionally and physically.
Rory Culkin gave his more challenging performance as a victim of bully. He's gotten much better since You Can Count On Me.
Scott Mechlowicz was the one that stole scenes in the second half of this movie. His character was relentlessly wanting to punish George, and being merciless pushed him over the edge.

Rating:
Summary: Teens and Bullying in a Good, Yet Unpleasant Film...
Review: Bullies have entered the minds of many through news coverage of tragedies such as the Columbine shootings in 1999, maybe even through painful personal experience, or perhaps by being the spectator of someone bullied. The social implications of bullying are tremendous as they have lead many young people to commit grave and horrible acts of violence in order to prevent teen harassment directed towards them. Thus, prevention of bullying is a major undertaking that needs to be addressed at every school as some students might become targets for teen discrimination in forms of physical, social, and emotional abuse. Prevention of bullying must be taught through the enlightenment of the issue and the consequences that bullying might produce, and this information cannot afford to be sugar coated or pleasant, as bullying is an anguishing and tormenting issue that sometimes has deadly consequences.

On a sunny school day during a recess for some middle school students when George (Josh Peck) sets up his camera to film himself shot some hoop, Sam (Rory Culkin) discovers the camera standing by itself. Curiously Sam begins to examine the camera, which quickly turns ugly as George screams to Sam not to touch the camera followed by a severe physical beating while Sam is called several derogatory names. This is not the first time George has beaten someone, or called someone names. It appears that this is something of a norm for George, which Sam detests as he wants to teach George a lesson that what he does is not appropriate.

Sam's brother and his friends concoct the idea of luring George by inviting him on a boating trip on Sam's birthday, and on the trip they plan on teaching George a lesson by using his own methods. The trap is set up to perfection, but when they get to meet George they discover a sad character. The group's plan change as they decide not to go through with the plan in sympathy for George. The journey down the creek by the small party of teens becomes a tormenting experience as the story moves in waves. Where each wave brings a new and unexpected emotion as it discloses more about George's persona. Feelings of sympathy, anger, and disgust bounce off the audience's mind with calculated precision as Jacob Aaron Estes lets the story run its course while its looming direction seems unavoidable.

Mean Creek follows the footsteps of several other films that aim their attention towards this deplorable teen behavior. Bully (2001) by Larry Clark is a much darker and nastier story in regards to bullying where the teens take the law into their own hands. Gus van Sant directed Elephant (2003) that won the Golden Palm in Cannes 2003, which depicts the calm before the storm in a similar manner as what happened in Columbine in 1999. Estes brings the audience a different perspective than van Sant and Clark did in their films as he brings the two different parties together on an enlightening journey where they discover the awful truth about bullying and violence.

Mean Creek provides the opportunity for enlightenment in regards to bullying in a genuine and unpleasant manner and should be considered to be seen by most teens. However, MPAA has given the film a R-rating, which limits the number of teens that will be able to see the film. This is unfortunate as Estes seems to have given a sincere version of how bullying can be detrimental in more than one way as it can affect -- the bully, the bullied, and the spectator.

Rating:
Summary: Superb acting--A very worthy watch
Review: Mean Creek is not the scariest, most tense or most action-packed movie you will ever see, but it is extremely watchable and if you pass on your chance to see it you'll be cheating yourself. It is not a fast-paced movie, and you'll likely find it somewhat predictable, but despite these shortcomings, it is a very good movie. How? I blame the acting and the directing. This independent film was made without the gloss and polish of a big budget movie, and knowing that, the filmmakers utilized what they did have rather than what was lacking. This film consistently features some of the best non-verbal acting ever brought to the screen , by virtually all of the players. In the commentary they mention repeatedly all the originally scripted dialogue cut from various scenes, replaced by emotionally accurate looks and expressions from the great cast. As they expertly cover a very emotional range of expression and feeling, you never have to wonder what each character is feeling at any given time. This is what good acting is all about, old-school talent from a young cast who doesn't need special effects or redundant lines---nobody says, "Gee, I feel sad today." You know just how they feel; simply look at their face. Scott Mechiowicz (the Scotty in Scotty doesn't know from Eurotrip) delivers a flawlessly disturbing performance. Trevor Morgan, whom I have previously hailed as one of the greatest non-verbal young actors in the business (see my THE ONES TO WATCH guide here at Amazon) once again easily proves himself. Ryan Kelley, who I first saw as a guest on an episode of Smallville, is an awesome young actor with a brilliantly expressive non-verbal acting skill many of the Hollywood icons would do well to impersonate. I look forward with great anticipation to seeing his remarkable talent in future films. He has also now earned himself a place on my ONES TO WATCH guide. Rory Culkin proves himself here to be (for my money) the best, most talented Culkin yet to emerge in the industry. This kid doesn't need a line, just put him in an acting situation and watch his face. Carley Schroeder also delivers a beautiful, expressive performance. Her eyes are awesome. Look for her in future endeavors, as she is sure to be delighting us for years to come. Finally, Josh Peck, who plays the bully, delivers a very good performance. His role is by necessity a more verbal role, but he makes it real---he is very hateable a lot of the time and quite likeable when the script calls for it. He makes us believe. They all do. A quick kudos to the filmmakers here before I end this. Working with a small budget and a non-traditional lack of special effects and fanfare, you did exactly what a good filmmaker should do; you delivered a good film with a great cast, superb acting , believable situations and an overall feeling of realness. You brought out the best in your (extremely talented) young cast, you displayed your vision perfectly and you left the viewer with a sense of wanting more reminiscent of a good book. By the end we like these people, these kids, we're reluctant to leave them and we wish them well. A film that stays with you after you've watched it is a worthy film. Well done.

Rating:
Summary: His Daddy Splattered His Brains All Over The Wall
Review: Mean Creek is one of the most compelling and dramatic film I'm probably going to see all year. The drama and comedy match up to the highest levels of a movie such as this one. The cast was wonderfully picked, and the dialogue was nothing but mean and hatred against the other person. The ending is what is really sad because he was just trying to get attention the entire time and nobody understood him or his problems. I'm definitely not skipping this DVD on MyDVDList. It is too rich in drama and thrillers moments too miss.

Rating:
Summary: We can never be forgiven
Review: Rarely comes a film about adolescent life that is so powerfully striking and subtle at the same time. Enter Mean Creek.

Mean Creek is the directorial debut of Jacob Aaron Estes, and was accpeted into Sundance, and the prestigeuos Cannes, among others. The story follows the life of Sam, a roughly, 9-11 year old boy, brilliantly portrayed by Rory Culkin (the youngest of the Culkin brothers), who gets beat up by this fat bully named George. His brother Rocky, and his friends Clyde, Marty, and Millie, conjur a plan of revenge apoun George. The plan is to invite George to Sam's farce birthday party and go on a boating trip, only to strip George naked, and throw him in the water, forcing him to get home naked.

After attempting the joke, the plan goes horribly awry, and some consequenses arise which none of the participants ever expected.

The movie is brilliantly written, Mr. Estes does a great job with the directing, and the acting is marvelous, especially Rory Culkin.

If your looking for a cross breed between Fargo and Thirteen, this is your flick.

Rating:
Summary: Sad story. But yet beautiful in some way...
Review: Though English is not my native language (so I apologize in advance for any mistakes you find in this review), I watched the movie on DVD with original English soundtrack and without subtitles.

This is one very good movie.

Acting is just perfect and very realistic. I do like that there are many silent scenes in the movie when you can still clearly understand what each of the kids thinks and feels only by their looks.

There are two characters I like most: Clyde and Marty.

My personal favorite is Clyde, perfectly played by Ryan Kelley. I like that he is sensitive and actually able to enjoy simple things like "smells of the airs". I like that he "never does anything to anybody", because there's mostly no point in doing so. He has the most common sense of all of them and approaches situations in the most intelligent way. My opinion is that he was the one who understood George more than others.

I wish there were more movies with Ryan Kelley.

And the "very male" by looks and character Marty is perfectly performed by Scott Mechlowicz. Being the man who "follows thru his plans", no matter if they make any sense or not, a man who'd rather watch TV than enjoy a boat trip, he is in contrast with Clyde.

I think the movie has several morals, not only that each medal has two sides. Humans are egoists by their nature and they usually don't even want to try to understand what other person may feel or why he does what he does. We just go all judgmental; the easiest way is always to blame and hate as it involves less work to do. The movie also shows what our bad intensions can lead us too, how things can get out of control.

Some attention is also paid to common "issues" of that age connected with sexuality. There's always somebody high school or college called a "faggot" no matter if he actually is or isn't homosexual. Mostly, in such environments, being a sensitive non-smoking skinny teenager is enough to be considered a faggot. Here, we have a boy with two fathers to make the situation more convincing. Other small scenes like the way Millie and Sam's friendship is shown or dialogs between Marty and Kile also make sense.

To summarize: it's very sad. I could feel tears growing while I was watching it. This one is definitely worth a watch.

PS: It's a pity the movie is not rated for people under age of 18. I guess this is because of lots of "f- words" used and the beer-drinking-weed-smoking factor. Anyways, to my mind it won't do much (or any) harm to a bit younger audience.

Rating:
Summary: Needed a point
Review: While there are some elements of decent drama in this flick, it lacked any real meaning. I'm reminded of the movie Slingblade, which dealt with family and teen drama in a low budget kind of film style, and that movie had redemption and meaning in it, this one didn't.

I'm not sure why some film makers believe that the art is all there is, like the movie The Pledge, which had so much going for it but ended up, in my opinion, being a horrible movie.

This could have been a great coming of age flick, the actors were good and much of the dialogue was very believable, it's just that when it was all said and done, I asked myself if I got anything out of watching it, and the answer was no.

On the other side of the coin, my seventeen year old daughter watched it a second time when I saw it and she really liked it, plus, it seems, plenty of reviewers have given it rave reviews, so obviously there is a difference of opinion, and I'm not saying it's a horrible movie or anything, I just didn't like it much.

As a side note, I read with curiosity the review that bashed the flick for using derogatory terms in it. Well, news flash, that's how real teenage boys talk, get real, dude. If anything, that was the best part of the film, the fact that it captured the characters in a convincing way, I was just disappointed that it seemed to me, they didn't grow, or over come a challenge or anything that made me feel good about seeing the story on film.

Rating:
Summary: "He's a spoiled, retarded punk, who's not very nice"
Review: With it's issues of teenage morality, and its hard hitting portrayal of kids on the edge, Jacob Aaron Estes' Mean Creek would have to be one of the most powerful films released in 2004. Yes - it's all pretty grim, and the picture the movie paints of foolish adolescence is far from pretty, but by the end of the film, most viewers will have gained a new respect for this bunch of misguided, conflicted youngsters. The themes of guilt, loyalty, and ultimately courage are woven into this hard-hitting tale of an afternoon river trip involving a prank that goes terribly wrong.

Mean Creek is a relatively simple about five youths who calculate a payback scheme on the school bully. George (a marvelous Josh Peck) is big, fat, and positively unlikable - whether this is through self-hatred or a sense of feeling inferior is unclear - but he takes out his aggression on those around him with his smart mouth and his obnoxious behaviour.

Occasionally he resorts to violence and one afternoon at school he gives the small, shy, and timid Sam (Rory Culkin) a black eye. When Sam tells his older brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) and his friend Marty (Scott Mechlowicz) what happened, they decide to teach George a lesson by inviting him on a trip down the Oregon river. Their intention is to strip him and make him walk back to town naked.

A sensitive and intelligent Clyde (Ryan Kelley) - who is endlessly teased about his same sex parents - follows along, as does the pretty and innocent Millie (Carly Schroeder), doing a fine job and holding her own as the only girl in the group. When Millie finds out about the plan, she tells Sam not to do it, but George's afternoon of endless insults, foul language, and name calling, begin to madden them all, especially Marty. When the plan goes awry, events take a dramatic turn, and the group is faced with a huge moral dilemma.

The film is incredibly realistic in its portrayal of rebellious, conniving teenagers. And each young actor in the film delivers lines that are so impressively crafted that it's almost as though we are there with the kids, feeling their pain and horror at the terrible events unfolding before them. The movie also doesn't shy away from the things that teenagers are prone to do: Marty, the boss, and oldest member of the group - is persistently drinking, offering the others weed, and making disparaging remarks of a sexual nature. But it is the complex character of George that steals the show as he continually makes up stories to impress the older "cooler" kids, then contemptuously mocks their families. There's much pent up frustration in this dyslexic, antagonistic, and cruel boy.

The director is cleverly considerate to the details of the natural world as he is to the minutiae of his characters, and through the lush cinematography we get glimpses of the shore birds and forest animals of the Oregon River, which bring to the movie a lingering, quiet beauty; It's a beauty made even more incongruent when set against the nastiness of some members of the group, and their misguided plan for revenge.

A type of morality play for teenagers, Mean Creek is sincere almost to a fault as it explores the ethical difficulties these kids must face when their dirty deed is done. Whatever the different choices they make, by the end of the movie, most viewers will probably find themselves empathizing with all the characters, no matter how heartsick their situations have become. Mike Leonard February 05.