Prep School

We all had friends in high school that we didn't think were particularly good people. Nevertheless, we clung onto them like life rafts amidst the storm.

Prep School plays like an 85-minute morality play devoted entirely to this concept, and what happens when those "convenient friends" become so volatile and dangerous that your social standing becomes secondary to preventing a tragedy (or in this case, multiple tragedies).

This isn't a new concept for a movie. Heathers and Mean Girls both covered this territory, but those films had satirical spins with larger-than-life characters, while this film plays out with a (mostly) straight face. First-time filmmaker Sean Nichols Lynch gets a little self-indulgent in places, like an English teacher's take-down of a student's essay (also entitled Prep School) that could be interpreted as a meta analysis of the movie itself.

Among the actors, Carly Schroeder and Ben Bellamy are the clear stand-outs as Kyra and Caleb, although they also have the most interesting material to work with. Taylor Lambert also deserves credit for effectively pulling off the toughest role of the film, narrowly navigating a mostly unlikable protagonist's journey from whiny do-gooder to wild-eyed insurgent. It's a difficult and thankless performance in the middle of much flashier heavies, so kudos to Lambert on that one.

This film was recommended to me and I have watched it. At first I had reservations. Is this a film for young people ? Am I too old for what looks like a preparation for life when I have lived most of mine ? I was wrong. The story reviewers will mainly know by previous reviews, so I will not linger on that. What the script and the excellent direction proved to me was that despite even possible failure in doing so we must call out the rotten in society, and that these rotten and morally corrupt people are often ( by turning a blind eye ) allowed to flourish and grow in our schools. The so-called weak are driven to the wall, and when a strong defence speaks out for them the moral truth is kicked into the school dustbin. I felt numb at the end as the camera briefly lingered over the expression on the faces of those who had been cast aside, and saw the ' victors ' receive their glittering prizes. I cannot single out one poor performance. For an independent film it was far superior to most mainstream films, but despite the fact that popcorn pap will succeed in the world perhaps more than this, give a cheer that independent film exists. Many countries are trying to suppress it, and by supporting brilliant films like this we support moral truth and humanity.

I happened to randomly catch a festival screening of Prep School in LA recently and was glad I did. Obvious from the title, the movie is set at a fancy private school and concerns the trials and tribulations of the students and some of the faculty.

The first 10-15 minutes of the movie is a little meandering, with some promising young actors and funny dialogue peppered throughout, so I was totally unprepared (and pleasantly surprised) by a very dark and twisted turn the movie takes.

Without giving too much away, the main character Thomas is slowly realizing that his friends are not who they appear to be. One friend is a bully, another has emotional issues, and one friend in particular is revealed to be one of the most vile characters I've seen in any high school movie (there were audible gasps at my screening over some of the things coming out of this character's mouth).

I was ultimately surprised by how involved I got with the plot and these characters, especially after the slow start, and I was actually left wanting more by the time the end credits rolled.

The movie has some problems, mostly stemming from its small budget. The conceit of a European style (and rugby-obsessed) boarding school existing on the West Coast doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Also, while most of the lead actors are quite good (particularly the messed-up friends of Thomas), some of the one-scene or two-scene players don't fare as well.

That being said, if you're a fan of small indie dramas, this is an unusually gripping and memorable one. Not sure if this will get a wider release, but I'll keep an eye out for this to pop up on Netflix to give it another watch.

Watching Prep School my mind hearkened back to Scent Of A Woman and the fact that more than anything else Taylor Lambert needed someone like Al Pacino's blind colonel in his corner. He was going up against one of the training grounds for America's elite and he needed someone good to be speaking up for him.

That's what Prep School is about, it's a look at one of those exclusive schools where old connections and old or new money is needed especially if you get yourself into a jackpot. It's also about the struggles of an intensely moral young man who has taken a good look at his peers and commits an act of singular bad taste by exposing them for what they are.

Stephen Brookins who is a star rugby player one night walks in and finds his girlfriend en flagrato with another kid. He goes all to pieces and quits the team. Teammate Austin Scott decides how dare he quit the team and let his fellow players down. Another teammate Ben Bellamy decides it's the girl who needs to be taught a lesson good and proper. Scott with a few friends and Bellamy zero in on their targets and Brookins and Carly Schroeder head for disaster.

Brookins and Schroeder did some stupid things themselves, but nothing warranted what happens to them.

All this is observed by Lambert who knows all who are involved and he commits a grand gesture that might just kill his chances for mixing with the elite.

I tell you I would not have wanted to have gone to this school. High school was hard enough without the pressure these kids are under and the way it makes them behave.

Note in keeping with times this Prep School is coed. Can hardly imagine Groton or Phillips Exeter being coed, but the times they are a changing.

Interesting also how the headmaster Lewis Sims and Austin Scott are both black. Couldn't have happened in the old days, but note how both Scott especially adopt the attitudes and traditions of the place.

In the end you hope that this will not scar Lambert. His ambition is to be a writer and writers if they have the natural talent are made through their life experience. Prep School is not necessarily your ticket to the good life.

This was an amateur production to be sure from a lot of film students, but it was far above the average for tyros. The writing was superb and the characters created were people you cared about. Prep School is a real undiscovered diamond in the rough.

This is Cruel Intentions in another dimension and on a different level. Aside from pretty woody acting from some of the supporting cast, I must say Taylor Lambert really stood out for me as the story progressed. His character was quietly subdued in the beginning but I'm really impressed by him at the end of the movie.

If I'm a casting director, I'd pick him in a major motion picture. He truly has a potential as a leading man. Not being too much about it but as I'm writing this, I'm picturing him in a historical epic directed by a prominent director like Scorsese or Spielberg or even Ridley Scott.

So I really hope to see Lambert in bigger roles.

As a movie overall, it has good direction and solid writing.