On the Outs

Three teen girls at three different forks in the road, and they all manage to go the wrong way only to meet up in juvenile hall. What will they do when they get out? I'm not telling, but I will say that Judy Marte ("Raising Victor Vargas") has grown up and even though her character wears a sweatsuit for most of the movie she's still the one of the most gorgeous Latinas ever to fall under the Hollywood radar. As a 'tough girl' she plays it so perfect that most people on the street would take her for a 'thug' instead of a female 'homie'.

Overall a strong drama that might look like an afterschool special on paper but raises the bar by not pulling any punches. Parents might with troubled teens might want to check this one out and then decide whether it could be useful for starting discussions with their own teens.

The vicious cycle of 'poverty-to-jail' has got to come to end sometime. Communication is one of the keys and this film is certainly a conversation starter. Check it out!

On The Outs is a gripping movie that every teen should see this season. The film is about three young girls living in Jersey City whose lives intersect at a juvenile detention center.

Oz is a 17 year old drug dealer. She is very butch and really carries herself as one of the guys. She fights like the guys, dresses like the guys, talks like the guys and sells drugs on the street corner with the guys. The only person she seems to have a real emotional connection with is her mentally disabled brother. In a case of irony, Oz despises drug use and people who use drugs--despite the fact that she is a drug dealer. On top of all of that, Oz has a mother who is addicted to drugs.

Suzette is 15 years old and meets a neighborhood boy named Tyrell. He shows just a little bit of interest in Suzette and she gets hot and heavy with him real fast. The two become sexually active and Suzette becomes pregnant, much to the dismay of her hardworking single mother. After becoming pregnant Suzette runs away from home to be with Tyrell, a street drug dealer who doesn't seem to have a place to live himself. On the streets Suzette finds trouble far beyond her unplanned pregnancy.

Marisol is a young mother and a crack cocaine addict. She spends much of her time on the streets. When she is arrested following an accident she is forced to face her demons face on. While in juvenile detention her daughter is put into foster care. Marisol thinks a quick fix will help her regain custody of her daughter. She is faced with the prospect of having to stay clean and become responsible to get her daughter back.

On The Outs is the best film created for young teen girls in years. Young women today are faced with so many obstacles and choices lead to consequences. This is an excellent film and the voices of the young girls seem authentic.

Five minutes into this movie, I thought that I was going to hate it. The initial setup of three tragic stories seemed a little trite, but the incredibly believable, candid acting of the three female leads blew right through my preconceptions. The stories are probably all too common, but the film-makers managed to make each girl's story very personal. The film's style is gritty and the camera work emphasizes that well. I really liked some of the candid shots of people hanging out on the streets. It really gives you the sense of what it would be like to live in those circumstances. Kind of sad and frightening, really. One gets the impression that the film-maker's were working from personal experience. I would highly recommend this movie, especially to people looking for something non-Hollywood main stream. No stars, but really, really good acting.

The plot tells the partly interwoven story of three girls living in New Jersey. What makes this movie interesting -at least to me - is that it steps away from this male-ghetto-hero bullshit and shows how life as a young girl in a town like New Jersey can be. And it surely shows that prisons are a quiet helpless effect to just makes problems invisible instead of solving them. When i saw this movie at the Berlin Film Festival it really impressed me, and even more so when i learned that the makers really did it with the people in New Jersey and especially the people in the Girls Youth Prison. Let's hope there gonna be more movies of those guys!

There are few movies that are so honest about what's going on in the modern American poor cities. The topic of three intertwined stories from three women could be heavy-handed and awkward in the wrong hands. It isn't here. Some people might think what happens in this movie isn't real but it's quite real and happening right now in most cities to many people. The fact that there are no recognizable faces in this movie just adds to the realism. But that isn't to say that the acting was bad. It wasn't. A lot of movies are just afraid to tackle the topic of drug abuse accurately and I think this one did a fine job of showing what goes on. This isn't an uplifting movie but life isn't always uplifting. It's also very easy to blame the victim in these situations and I think this movie is sympathetic to its characters but not overly sympathetic. Well done movie. One of the best films of 2004!