Génération RX

Many people will hate this movie because it is so off the wall, but I didn't want it to end. It was full of surprises, interesting characters, strong emotions, and bizarre twists. I left the theater in a daze that lasted a couple of hours as "reality" intruded again. The cast is great and stars like Glenn Close and Ralph Fiennes show their talent by underplaying their roles or playing offbeat characters like they never have before. The director did a great job with continuity; the chumscrubber shows up early on before we even know who he is. There is a lot of humor amid the tragedy and it would probably take a second watching to catch it all. Probably the 15 to 25 crowd will like it the best, but I'm almost 60 and I loved it. Great job by the director and writer.

I just saw this at Sundance, and I sincerely hope this film ends up with distributor and a good marketing campaign, because it is worthy of a wider audience. What was particularly interesting was listening to the director's comments after the film. He pointed out that his biggest challenge in working with this extremely talented ensemble cast was making sure everyone was on the same page in terms of mood. "It's not exactly a drama and it's not exactly a comedy," he said. "We didn't want them playing for laughs, although there are some comedic moments, obviously." Now, usually when movies can't figure out their tone, it's a kiss of death. But this film succeeded because of, not despite, it's delving into the gray area between drama and comedy. The result was a movie about teens that didn't play like a "teen movie," at all. It doesn't exploit and it doesn't play down to any sort of perceived teen audience. Part of that was due to the excellent cast. Jamie Bell was sensational. The adults were equally solid, particularly Glenn Close. I'm interested in seeing how this film is marketed. Some comments I've seen have been critical of the title, but it makes perfect sense once you know the story. All in all, this is one of those movies that obviously started with a great story — full of dramatic tension and social satire — and built from there. All too rare these days.

Awful. Just another stick-it-to-suburbia watered-down David Lynch/American Beauty/Donnie Darko/Larry Clark pastiche. It's all about confused teenagers (yawn) and clueless parents (big yawn) and all those pills they keep popping. The filmmakers think they're creating some clever, witty satire but they're just banging the same nails into the same spots that we've all seen before. It's a soul-less drone making a film about soul-less drones. But these phony create-a-cult indie films always find chuckleheads all too easily floored by this kind of material, so it will be praised to the skies by some. They'll find the dolphin imagery deep and mysterious, and the idle kidnapping of a young boy a comment on the new generation's dis-association from criminality and its consequences. And those parents, all so corrupted and uncomprehending of their children's lives, and so consumed with maintaining appearances. Gosh, I haven't seen stuff like this since.... since I last turned on my TV set at primetime. But, golly, ain't it funny when a kid gets killed by a cop in a car crash and no one cares because they're stoned, and even the cop takes no notice (the dead kid splattered across his shattered windshield) because his mind is on other things. What, no musical number, ala Monty Python's 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"? Oh, but we do get a video game wraparound that gives us the title of the film. Too bad the title is useless and meaningless either as the game's title or the film's.

I saw this movie at Sundance and just loved it. The director introduced it and sort of nailed it on the head. The movie cannot really be easily explained - it's a sort of dark comedy. It has a lot of society commentary that if you paid attention was really great. It also had a bit of a teen type of movie theme but was also very adult. The actors were great. Everybody seemed to steal the show and you really got into their characters. Also there was a lot of symbolism/themes that were very nicely inserted in the movie. I hope it gets a lot of exposure as it is my favorite movie right now. The whole audience was laughing during the movie as well as gasping at certain moments.

If you are a fan of Independent American Cinema then this film is a must as it is a beautiful and clever criticism of modern suburban (American) life and its effect on the family structure. It has themes of social alienation, which are pre-eminent, as are the themes of artificial happiness and self absorption. Many of the performances are top drawer as are the unexpected cameos and all of these aspects culminate to a cult dark comedy.

Some will be pre-emptive as the film is about drugs, teenagers, high school, bullying and well-worn characters with a cool soundtrack thrown in for good measure. Yet through utilising some inventiveness the film re-tells the clichés of the classic dramatic traditions of tragedy and comedy via a funeral and a wedding and rewards the viewer with the questioning and re-evaluation of such tragedy and comedy.