mike-320

This movie may set a bad example for children who watch it. It will teach them that it's okay to be spoiled, selfish little brats who would get in the way of their parents' dreams instead of trying to work with and help them. It shows families that they have to sacrifice everything in their lives for their children. I understand that sacrifices have to be made but these parents have given up their entire careers and life work because these selfish children don't know how to act. The teenagers in this family could be helping out much more instead of adding to the problem. I am a teenager myself and watching this movie makes me hesitant about having children if I can't have a life outside of them.

I (a high school student) rented this movie without many expectations. I have seen movies that take place in "high school" before. This did accurately portray high school somewhat but also included a lot of the same old stereotypes I have seen over and over and have yet to actually witness firsthand. Anyway, to Gus Van Sant, I have three things to say. I love to nitpick, and one of the worst overlooks I have seen in this movie is that no one apparently could muster the brain power to call the police. I didn't see a single officer in this entire movie. I did see people standing around outside the school while they know two gunmen are inside killing people, but I didn't see a single cellphone pulled out. Next, when the boy and girl (don't remember names) at the end of the movie hide in a meat locker instead of leaving through the exit a mere 20 feet away, that really didn't sit well with me. What kind of dense people bypass the exit to hide in a meat locker with no means of escape? Finally, I didn't like the shooters. Of course, no one does, but others on this site explain their lack of depth by saying Van Sant didn't know what made them tick, he just portrayed the events. I don't really know what else to say. Rent the movie to understand what I mean. I give this movie a 1/5 but actually recommend a rent so you can see what I mean and why I am dissatisfied.

While this movie may on the surface pretend to be a masterpiece, it is really overall just a way to get depressed. The only emotion this drama really brought out in me after watching it is anger. Intense, firey hatred. Others say that it is "real" and that is what makes it so intense, but...no its not. I can see why some people would come out of the movie and say, "Wow, that was good." Those people are people who only have a passing interest in intelligent entertainment. The choices made by some people in this movie wouldn't even be options in real life. The character you are supposed to identify with and feel sorry for, I had no emotions for at all except, you guessed it, hatred. The writers of this movie took a wrong turn when they, toward the end of the movie, go about things the "new movie" way and deal a drastic blow to our emotions in an attempt to get us to remember the movie after we leave the theater/pop it out of the DVD player. The end of this movie makes me want to do drastic things involving forward motion and large cliffs. It portrays life as being (searching for the right words) really crappy.

P.S. (Not specifically related to this movie because it only pretends to be "real") Why can't writers STOP writing movies with the "real life" in mind where the bad guy wins and the ending isn't happily-ever-after? We see enough of the "real world" on the news. We get depressed enough watching that. We don't need to see more of it when we are paying for it.