Sticks & Stones

This movie is an excellent example of film-making on a low budget. Based on the structure of "3 Little Pigs" plus variation, it is well constructed and fairly well cast (the bully, Hayes, is well acted but not really believable. Joey's mother is not believable at all). The story provides excellent opportunities for exploring parental and teenage values. Those that condemn this little gem of a film have, perhaps, a great deal to learn about films and film-making. This is a very useful film in teaching first year students about a variety of aspects of film.

John Hill. Senior Lecturer, Film Video and Multimedia, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa

I caught the film on TV by accident and couldn't pull myself away. I ended up watching it to the end which finished around 3am. I was suprized by the amount of gritty violence and language it included but at the same time became engrossed in 3 young boy's lives.

I thought the film was made perfectly to reflect on the life of school children who are bullied and ignored by the rest of the world. Kids go home crying and parents never have a 'real' idea of what happened. A punch, kick or even something like name-calling is what they will presume but "Sticks & Stones" shows it all. The violence, embarrassment, fear and the friendship of what happens in children's lives.

It was both a feel good and think about film. At times I found myself wanting to hold a gun to Hayes' head but later on wanted to comfort him.

An excellent film without a doubt, one that makes you think about life...

Stick and Stones is an extremely well acted movie about a group friends, who are being bullied and what lengths they go to stop the bully. I have to say though, Sticks and Stones may seen like a teen drama and even though it is, it still features quite a big of bad language and violence, which may not suit everyone. Max Goldblatt and Mark-Paul Gosselaar are just a couple of the great cast in the movie.

I watched this film because it reminded very similarly of a favorite Canadian film of mine, 'The Boy's Club' starring Chris Penna and Devon Sawa. While I didn't care for the baseball elements, I still enjoyed it. It is about three teen boys who have a bully in their life and this bully goes and bully's each one of the boys, they find a gun and they think can solve their problems with it. The film is from 1996 but I still liked it. The acting is good and has a good script. The music is boring though so I wasn't a fan of that. Unfortunately, this movie is not on DVD in the USA or Canada and is only on VHS but if you can find it, I say go and watch it as it is enjoyable.

8/10 stars.

I guess this film served some useful purpose, in that it turned out to be one of the only things the entirety of my house actually agreed on. It is awful. Its complete predictability, its hollow sentimentality, its absolute detachment from reality are all marvels to behold.

The 'bully' is one of the least intimidating characters I have ever seen on film. I completely fail to comprehend just how anyone could feel threatened by such a sweet looking young man. I couldn't give a monkeys whether the main character played baseball ever again and I found the lack of any lifelike character laughable and pitying. The most realistic thing about it was the language, and to all those who complained about this, the truth is out... Kids Swear.