Outrage

Exciting drama about a talented and gifted sociopath and his 2 excitement loving buddies who, after noticing a man, begin a crusade to not just annoy the man but to really mess up his life. These plans go from crank calls to low grade terror tactics and finally to life altering problems for him and his family. Good picture from start to pulse pounding finale.

This is ostensibly the story of a man's fight to defend himself and his family against three punks who have decided to make a target of him. What the story is really about is one of the problems with our legal system -- specifically the manner in which the police and the courts deal with juvenile criminals.

An independent insurance salesman named Tom Casey (Rob Lowe) is targeted by three well-to-do preppies that like to boost car stereos and trash other peoples' property for kicks. Casey observed the kids about to break into a car and reported their activities to the police. The cops arrive just in time to see the three breaking into Casey's car, with the head kid fondling a loaded revolver Casey kept under the front seat.

The cops arrest the trio of Yuppie larva for breaking into Casey's car and we learn that the head slime's mommy is a lawyer. A Rich Lawyer.

Casey, whose car has been completely trashed by the time the cops arrive, is arrested and charged with felony possession of a loaded handgun, for which he draws fifteen days in the lockup thanks to the truly lame defense offered by his brother-in-law.

Meanwhile, Mommy goes to Family Court and gets the charges against her Little Darling reduced to a wrist slap. Money fixes all, the kids walk away laughing and singing `I Love New York,' and get on with the serious business of harassing Casey's pregnant wife.

The remainder of the story unfolds in a fairly predictable manner, with so-so performances from the kids and a very good performance from Lowe.

The moral of this story seems to be, if you want something done right, do it yourself. If you want excuses, call the police.

This is worth spending the time to watch. I was entertained.

Rob Lowe plays a man that is angry about things in his life - justifiably in the case of three teen boys who he reports to the police and then who harass him and his wife (Jennifer Grey)to the point of breaking! Rob Lowe's character is a person who can not let things go, and for every harassment against him and his wife he feels he must retaliate.

Rob Lowe does not convincingly portray rage, but otherwise his acting is good. Jennifer Grey does well as the pregnant wife opposite to Lowe's rage. It would have been difficult for Grey to portray more confusion and desperation since the husband's rage did not seem to warrant it.

Even though the film was made in 1998, the topic is current and it does accurately display how rage will escalate into something very bad if left unchecked.

The three young men - especially the ring leader - were excellent as spoiled prep school hoodlums!

This is a made-for-TV thriller in which Rob Lowe stars as Tom Casey, who witnesses three teenage punks stealing from cars and reports their crimes to the police. As a result, the teenagers begin to terrorize him and his wife in retaliation.

This movie has its few suspenseful moments at times, making you eager to know what Tom Casey plans to do in dealing with those teenage boys and to stop them from their constant terror. Lowe wasn't bad in portraying Casey, doing the best as he can in this movie that lacks a lot of satisfying moments. You really want to root for him in giving those punks a taste of their own medicine, but, of course, with the lax judicial system, justice isn't swift.

You also really want to hate on the teenagers after all the pain they've cost; the actors who portrayed them did an OK job, with actor Eric Michael Cole's role being the most sinister and evil. Jennifer Grey, who portrays Casey's wife, though, was quite mediocre. She doesn't appear to be very believable in her emotions at times, although she tries. You do end up generating sympathy for her and Rob Lowe's characters.

Overall, it's a movie with some decent thrills, but you'll be left craving for more good guy vs. bad guy action.

Grade C-