Kids

A crazed teenager (Leo Fitzpatrick) just wants to skate, slack and have sex with young virginal girls. What he does not know is that he is carrying HIV and infecting all those he happens to bed. Classmate Chloe Sevigny learns she is one of the unlucky victims and attempts to find Fitzpatrick before he sleeps with anyone else. Of course Fitzpatrick and best friend Justin Pierce (about as rotten a kid as his pal) move all around the city and are near impossible to track down as we see teenagers on an endless ride of sex, drugs, parties and general mischief. "Kids" is one of those films that ultimately falls due to the fact that it wants to shock and disgust rather than educate and convince. Thus we have a movie that has very little upside. It quickly becomes a cheap way to make society wonder if this could actually be going on in our nation. By the finale, the primary characters were all so backwards and out of their element that I was numbed by the experience and had no legitimate feelings for any of the teenage players (this by the way is not a good thing). Pierce, admittedly a potential talent, committed suicide a few years after this was released. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

This is not a super super film, but it stays with you, which was sort of the point - especially if you saw it at the time it was released, before the onslaught of "dark" teen movies over the decade following. This was the granddaddy of the genre and remains one of the darkest and grittiest of them all, in both subject and style. Perhaps in part because the subjects were an urban group of kids, rather than the angsty suburban set we've grown accustomed to seeing, there is a rare and truthful ferocity to the characterizations. The emotive mechanism isn't their redemption as mere children, but their total fallibility as young adults. Though obviously this represents a small sample of teenagers in the united states, it will make you think twice about how much earlier we seem to lose our childhood these days. Great ensemble cast with very believable performances. Its attempt to approximate the reality of a documentary is a unique success. In addition to stong dialogue and direction, credit should be given to the cast for that; obviously, chloe sevigny was a standout here. A really important subject for its time and a very credible portrayal.

It might seem dated when watched almost 20 years after it came out, but it was showing a side of Kids that many movies were ignoring. There is the problem with identification (even more if you're not in the target group) and of course religious people or people with a threshold when it comes to sexuality and teenagers will have more than a few issues too (smoking and other drugs included).

But it is very well played, no matter what your opinion on the matter is. The end might either be exactly what you expected and somewhat rounds a very open story up pretty tightly. It may be hailed as one of the first roles of Rosario Dawson, but don't just watch it because of that, it's the others who shine in this. Kids these/those days ...

Kids is one of the best movies I've ever seen. It's funny, horrific, but realistic.

Despite the cast having no previous acting experience, the performances are all wonderful, especially Justin Pierce's (as Casper). The realistic story line, the classic dialogue, and the horrific finale are the film's best features.

What bothers me is that many people discredit the film. Saying that the movie is exploitation, or something even more ridiculous. I think that people are unable to except the fact that Kids is accurate. Not all teenagers behave like Telly or Casper, but you'd be lying if you said that teenagers don't talk like that.

Kids is not exploitation, but rather a brutally honest piece of social commentary. Kids is a deterrent for high risk sexual behavior. The film is also a wake up call for insensitive parents who take no responsibility for their children.

Therefore, Kids is a truthful portrayal of urban life. it is not exploitation.

When I saw this movie I was 13 years old, and back then I manage to understand the message that the movie was trying to send.

Sometimes it doesn't have to be a "why" or a "how" for people get in this kinda life, you just have to grow up in the middle of it...

This movie is all about life, the feeling of emptiness you get near the end credits, and you start to think how did the world become so messed up.

Maybe nowadays kids are much more informed and have different perspective of the real world, back in 95 I dint have a clue, and Kids kinda open my eyes a bit...