Um Crime Entre Amigas

When you watch "Jawbreaker," you can't help but sense echoes of "Heathers," "Clueless" and "The Craft." So it is a bit of a derivative teen bopper flick. But it's not a total rip-off and does stand on its own two feet.

However, it's a fun movie. And it has a great soundtrack, which I have. I love the use of the song "Rock Me Like a Hurricane" in the Marilyn Manson cameo. Pam Grier also had an interesting bit role, as a tough-as-nails private investigator. "Jawbreaker" has its flaws, but it's fast-paced, energetic and sometimes pretty funny.

The only big letdown was the ending. Couldn't they come up with something more torcherous to do to Courtney? Evidently, the writer Darren Stein was too anxious to complete the script and pasted on this snappy, thoughtless ending.

Jawbreaker;; There's always that group at rule the school. At Reagan High, it's the foursome, Courtney, Liz, Marcie and Julie. The plot is set in motion on the morning of Liz's birthday, when Courtney, Marcie and Julie break into her house, shove a jawbreaker in her mouth and lock her in the trunk. But their harmless prank goes horribly wrong when they discover Liz has choked on the jawbreaker. The rest of the running time involves the girls trying to cover up the murder and bribing a nerd to keep her mouth shut.

I am a fan of teen movies and black comedies. Assuming Jawbreaker falls into both of those genre's I was expecting to adore the film. The problem with 'Jawbreaker' lies in the fact that the conflict is set into motion within the first 5 minutes, leaving the rest of the film running of low gas. But it offers enough one-liners, laughs and style to make up for the flaws.

Performances are good around, and a keen sense of the bitchy high school girl stereotype is cleverly constructed here. After all, everybody has a Courtney in their life. She's the girl who loves to be feared, and MCGowen does a great job pulling her persona off.

3 from 4.

Much like the candy that bears it's name, "Jawbreaker" is a sweet, infectious dark comedy that wants you to enjoy it for a good, long time. Unfortunately, also like the candy, the film is a little hard to swallow, and it doesn't last as long or come on as strong as it's name would lead you to believe. But even though you know that much candy is bad for you, you still want to have it.

On her 17th birthday, popular girl Liz (Charlotte Ayanna, here as Charlotte Roldan), a member of the "Flawless Four," is kidnapped by her best friends Courtney (Rose McGowan), Marcie (Julie Benz), and Julie (Rebecca Gayheart) as a prank, her screams muffled by a huge jawbreaker. The prank goes horribly wrong, however, when Liz chokes to death on the candy. Instead of going to the authorities, as Julie insists, Courtney devises a massive plan to cover up the death, a plan discovered by the unpopular and awkward Fern (Judy Greer). To win her silence, Courtney makes Fern in her own image, renaming her Vylette and allowing her to hang and commiserate with the most popular people in school. As Fern becomes intoxicated with her new-found power, Julie becomes more concerned with her friend's death, and Courtney spins a devious web of lies and trickery. Enter Detective Vera Cruz (Pam Grier), the only person who may be able to get to the bottom of the crime. But what does all this mean for the Prom?

Writer and director Darren Stein as obviously seen "Heathers" a good number of times. Like that classic film of teen angst, "Jawbreaker" is a dark comedy set in a high school, featuring an accidental murder of a popular student. While "Jawbreaker" is certainly more colorful than "Heathers", both in terms of set design and characters, it also comes off as a pale imitation. The students live their lives in near-vacuums, with parents showing up only occasionally, and then only as ineffective or ignorant. The impact of their actions on the community at large is only hinted at, and as a result, you never feel as if anything important in the reality of this film has ever happened.

That being said, the movie is still pretty sweet. Rose McGowan is cruel and calculating villain, terrifying in her powers of manipulation and contingency. Julie Benz is the perfect toadie, existing only to buoy Courtney's already swollen ego. Rebecca Gayheart's warm-natured Julie is a stark contrast to Courtney's "Satan-in-heels" persona, and Judy Greer is wonderful to watch as she goes from under-appreciated geek to power-mad diva. Pam Grier is, as always, a pleasure to watch, even if her role seems too small. The interactions between her and Rose McGowan are some of the highlights of the film. A good supporting cast also deserves mention, most notably Carol Kane as the slightly daffy school principal, Marilyn Manson as a seedy barfly, and Ethan Erickson as the dumb jock being relentlessly manipulated by Courtney's sex games.

While the script is full of caustic one-liners, it never succumbs to its own hipness. The characters are witty, but not nearly as unrealistically urbane as the characters in movies like "Scream." Some scenes and interactions come off as gratuitous, and to be sure there are a number of times when Stein really wants you to notice to how well he paid attention at film school. But there are a number of scenes that gain new meaning when analyzed in the larger scheme of the movie, and a repeat viewing may be in order to catch the full signifcance. You may sometimes get so distracted by the candy-colored schemes (McGowan's lips alone may send you into insulin shock) that you'll forget about the plot.

Some may see the movie as derivative, and there are certainly a large number of detractors. But taken on its own merits, "Jawbreaker" is a fun, giddily dark comedy that requires more than few licks to get to the bottom of. Just keep your consumption to a moderate amount, and you'll do fine. 7 out of 10.

`Jawbreaker' is an obvious aspirant to the mantle of the legendary `Heathers' - one of the smartest, sassiest, and sharpest teen movies ever made. An ostensibly similar plot sees the most popular - and most spiteful - clique at school accidentally murder their classmate. The school nerd is their only witness. In return for her silence, they agree to make her over in their image, tempting her with the promise of popularity. Unfortunately, `Jawbreaker' lacks everything that made `Heathers' great. As a `Clueless on Crack' it fares a little better - but, given the intriguing possibilities of its concept, is still a disappointment.

Where the earlier movie was intelligently malevolent, `Jawbreaker' is a surprisingly mean-spirited film. Its characters never rise above caricatures, making them difficult to empathise with. The journey of Fern `Mayonnaise' Mayo from school nerd the babelicious Vylette is hollow and unconvincing. Unlike Veronica Sawyer of `Heathers' who undergoes a similar transformation, Vylette seems to gain precious little wisdom from her experiences. Perhaps this has to do with the nails-on-a-blackboard performance of Judy Greer, who seems to believe she is in a John Waters film. This would be fine, if `Jawbreaker' could decide whether it is one or not.

A lazy and sometimes implausible script hanging uneasily between reality, satire, and surrealism offers some clever one liners and sequences, but does little to showcase the talents occasionally on offer. Rose McGowan is the most enjoyable thing about the film for the simple reason that it's clear she isn't taking proceedings too seriously. Rebecca Gayheart's performance is also refreshing; a puddle of reality within the screeching teen-stereotype world around her which throws Judy Greer's Fern/Vylette into even higher relief. Both act as if they are in a better film.

Perhaps the real difference between the two is that `Heathers' had heart and actual insight. `Jawbreaker's heart is as hollow as the view it espouses: it's bad to murder your friend, but it's worse to be a b*tch.

"Jawbreaker" has all the predictable, clichéd elements of past teen comedies, but I can't deny the fact that I enjoyed it. I think part of its appeal is that it's a darker comedy, like "Heathers"--though this movie certainly isn't in the same league. Everybody in the cast gives fine performances. Rose McGowan's is a little over-the-top, but I think it fit the tone of the movie. The running time is about 85 minutes, so it doesn't go on long. There are plenty of funny moments that keep it entertaining. You can argue that the Karen Carpenter joke was too cruel, but that joke alone didn't ruin the film for me. The ending is certainly a cop-out. There could've been a MUCH better pay-off! But despite the fact that "Jawbreaker" is undoubtedly a flawed film, it's energetic and fun. There are much worse teen movies out there.