California Scheming

"California Scheming" (2014 release; 98 min.) brings the story of Chloe Vandersteen (played by Gia Mantegna), a teenager in Malibu, and her equally bored friends. As the movie opens, Chloe find a wounded seagull on the beach. Two teenage guys, Jason and Nick, happen to walk by and they help Chloe to take care of the bird. The three of them strike up a quick friendship and are hanging out more and more. Later on, another girl, Hillary, who just moved there from Boston and is still grieving over her mom's death, befriends the three. Meanwhile we get to see Chloe starting to manipulate her friends. But is everything to be taken at face value? Or are we being set up by the script for a major plot twist? And why will the term 'creepy crawling' become a familiar one? At this point we are a good 30 minutes into the movie and to tell you more might spoil your viewing experience.

Couple of comments: first, this is the directing debut of long-time producer Marco Weber. He also wrote and edited the movie. Second, the movie takes forever to get mildly interesting towards the last half four. There is literally nothing happening In the first hour that is of any interest, other than the vague character building, I suppose. Yet even there, we do not understand what makes Chloe tick, or why she does what she does. Third, I get it that this movie wants to be the next "Cruel Intentions" but I have to tell you that compared to this, "Cruel Intentions" is an instant classic and a standard bearer. Fourth, what is with this movie's poster (a naked Gia Mantegna)? Just so you know: there is no nudity in the film, none. I think it is a shameless attempt to lure the uninformed viewer into thinking this movie is something which it isn't. Fifth, the photography in the movie is eye-candy (all filmed on location in Malibu). Last but not least, there are some great indie and surf songs playing in the movie. I was eager to check out what those songs were, but imagine my surprise when in the end credits the songs are not even listed! "California Scheming" opened this weekend on a single screen for all of Greater Cincinnati. I had a private showing at the matinée screening where I saw this at today, as in: I was literally the only person in the theater. I cannot imagine that this movie will play more than 1 week in the theater. But eve if it did, I honestly cannot recommend this movie. "California Scheming" is wildly uneven, with no clear direction for most of the movie and a script that is frighteningly void of good ideas and content. VIEWER BEWARE!

I don't even want to bother to elaborate why this film is so bad, considering enough time wasted watching it.

But since I have to write minimum 10 lines, this is what it is -

The film has NO story. No character development. It's about a girl who uses her beauty to manipulate people around her, but no offence, the female lead's look is below average, how is this convincible?

It's like a bad student film that only the creators get excited about what they're trying to show, while the audiences have no idea what they're watching.

Just stay away from this film. Not even when there's a free show on TV or online.

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME.

(Are those good reviews coming from people associated with this film by the way? Otherwise it's unbelievable that a real audience would say anything good about such a bad film.)

I've read through all the reviews and I'm surprised no one mentioned that this is a pretty obvious remake of Frank Perry's 1969 film "Last Summer". As soon as I saw the seagull with the girl and the two boys that came along, I recognized the plot. Then when the second girl showed up I was convinced they were doing an uncredited remake of that amazing and disturbing film. That said, this isn't bad. Even though I knew where the film was headed, I was interested throughout. I would suggest giving "Last Summer" a viewing, since that is much better and more original.

I just finished watching and the thing that scared me the most wasn't any kind of cheap 'pop out at you' scares, but the fact that these are very real feeling kids in situations that might hit close to home for a lot of teens. I knew girls in school who were just like Chloe. The ones that use their looks to get other people to do whatever they want. And the other kids feel real too. The ones who just want to fit in or the ones that get bullied into doing things they wouldn't normally do. So this isn't the kind of movie that keep you hanging onto the edge of your seat, but it's the kind where it burns really slow and makes you think of people that you know and situations you've been in. Definitely check it out if you want to see something that you'll still be feeling after you're done watching it.

A girl meets a few people after moving to a new town and she teaches them about drugs and partying and things and ends up being a lot more messed up than they thought at first.

I thought the movie was pretty cool. I loved the scenery and the music and there were a few times where the girl had me pretty freaked out. I thought the ending was cool too because it didn't like spell out everything or have it all end up nicely with everything solved. Also it has Ned! But he's older and hotter now.

I don't know why people are hating on this so hard. We went with friends and had a good time. Isn't that what movies are all about?