Smartass

This movie makes light of a completely insane and self destructive lifestyle centered around a 15 yr old girl that runs away from her single mom and brother. All her friends are junkies and HARD drug dealers. She takes the wrap for a needle her older guy friend had stashed and is then released on her own in the middle of the night. She almost gets gang raped, she smokes crack for the first time like it's no big deal, she has a pervert pleasure himself while giving her a ride, and then gets drugged and sold for $200 by someone posing as a nice guy to some man that looks around 50 yrs old.. and narrowly escapes that... I've lived and seen the dark side of the "life style" this film makes light of. It's not funny and it's not a subject to joke about. Pure deceptive trash that kids will see and think this "life style" is fun and cool. They'll find out it isn't after it's too late though. This movie could not send a worse message to "teens".

I watched this on Amazon streaming, only because Joey King is in it, as 15-yr-old Freddie. As she is preparing to skip out she tells her mother, just imagine I am at summer camp, if you don't hear from me for a week don't worry.

The thing about Freddie is she goes into any situation totally unafraid, whether it be jail or a drug deal with guns pointed at everyone. It is as if she can't get hurt, but others may get killed and often do. She always "smartasses" herself out of any situation.

It isn't a good movie per se but a few of the situations are really entertaining. Like the time she caught a ride, the guy drugged her, put her in a cheap motel room and "sold" her for $200. When she realizes what is going on and what was expected she went into action to escape and even get money from the motel manager by threatening to expose his scheme.

No question Joey King is the only good thing about this movie, all the other actors and characters are worthless. Most viewers will not enjoy this movie.

Most of the time, movies that end up being mediocre will at least start strong and present a good premise, but fizzle out, lacking a reasonable ending. This movie does it backwards--the first act is a confusing mess, and the best parts are near the end. Joey King is the main character, and she is pretty grating--the lines they give her to try to make her seem jaded and streetwise are just cringe. In fact, I didn't like ANY of the characters. None of them are well written. I didn't quite understand her motivation either--why was she in this situation? I'd say this one is for the teen audience, but it's a little too messed up. Because the main character doesn't seem to take anything seriously, it's like they are making light of sex trafficking, gang wars, racism, and addiction. They main thing I enjoyed is how she got revenge on one of the characters that did something horrible to her. But since none of the comedy works, I don't see any reason to ever recommend it.

A Teen road move almost good as Superbad! Insane and nonsense. Just like life.

15 year old delinquent skater girl Freddie (Joey King) leaves suburban San Diego to join Nick and his group of petty criminal druggies. When a needle is found in the van by LAPD, she takes the fall and in short order, she gets released from jail. It's a rough neighborhood and she skirts danger every step of the way. Meanwhile, Nick is trying to close a deal with Donny.

This is trying to be quirky indie but mostly, it comes off as quirky lowlife stupid. Freddie is suppose to be a smartass but she's not so smart. I don't blame Joey King whom I hope for better things. It's all in the writing. Freddie has no common sense or any sense for that matter. She's written as a smart character who does dumb things. She is too annoying and too self-destructive to root for. Joey King can't play dumb anyways. This could still work as a night road trip through LA but the movie keeps going back to Nick, Donny, and the rest of them. As flawed as Freddie is, Joey King is still compelling enough to make this work but Jena Serbu doesn't know where is the best part of the story.