When his drug-dealing friend Troy commits suicide, Dean's life in his suburban neighborhood is thrown into chaos.When his drug-dealing friend Troy commits suicide, Dean's life in his suburban neighborhood is thrown into chaos.When his drug-dealing friend Troy commits suicide, Dean's life in his suburban neighborhood is thrown into chaos.
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
Kathi Copeland
- Parent #1
- (as Kathy Copeland)
David Ellison
- Student #1
- (as David Ellsion)
Featured reviews
I just watched this movie last night, and I can see this movie as being one you either really like, or you really hate. I personally found it very interesting, especially in the portrayal of suburbia being "perfect," but when you look closer everyone has just as many flaws as any other person. The performances are solid as well as the soundtrack, but sometimes the movie moves a little slow, but then again what movie doesn't? If you are not tired of the typical teen angst movie, then I suggest this movie. Although some people gave this a very bad review, I suggest you to just keep an open mind while watching it, you probably won't be disappointed. There are only a few flaws throughout the movie, and also it exaggerates parents not paying attention to their kids very much and has a few unbelievable moments, but some of it is just because of the satire. I really liked this movie and I hope you do too!
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.
10alee513
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.
This movie (please don't call it a "film") is a mish-mosh of styles, themes and techniques lifted from the library of films these dudes must have adored in their short lives (movies like Heathers and Edward Scissorhands). All of these wishful elements that hope to become a film never gel. It really can be summed up in one word: boring. It tries way too hard but ultimately says nothing. Do we need another movie about disaffected teens in a twisted, exaggerated suburbia with crazy Danny Elfmanesque music? Yeah, there's a lot of "hype" about the movie. That's what you get when people spend $ advertising and realize they made a mistake in financing this project. A few performances are good but most are two dimensional. The whole film is two dimensional and superficial, which is ironic because if you try real hard to piece together a theme for this project I think the kids who made it were trying to make a statement against such superficiality. If you find yourself noticing the blue eyeliner on "Crystal's" eyes so much you have to draw only one conclusion -- the story is SO boring, that I'm watching the chick's eyeliner.
We saw this movie at the academy and most in the audience were 70+ years old. But these folks have worked in the business their whole lives and know movies. Guess what they did at the end of the movie? They hissed! The auditorium was full of hissing seniors. Never once have I been to a screening at the academy and heard grandma and grandpa hissing. That was the most entertaining part of the entire evening.
If you want to see an artful film about teenagers go rent "The Virgin Suicides". There's a film where technique exists as a storytelling device as opposed to the technique used in Chumscrubbers which merely exists as a mechanism for the filmmakers to show how "cool" they are.
We saw this movie at the academy and most in the audience were 70+ years old. But these folks have worked in the business their whole lives and know movies. Guess what they did at the end of the movie? They hissed! The auditorium was full of hissing seniors. Never once have I been to a screening at the academy and heard grandma and grandpa hissing. That was the most entertaining part of the entire evening.
If you want to see an artful film about teenagers go rent "The Virgin Suicides". There's a film where technique exists as a storytelling device as opposed to the technique used in Chumscrubbers which merely exists as a mechanism for the filmmakers to show how "cool" they are.
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.
Did you know
- TriviaThe boy that gets kidnapped is playing on a Euphonium, not a Tuba.
- GoofsThe "tuba" that Charlie Bratley plays is not a tuba at all but a euphonium. A band student would know that.
- Quotes
Crystal Falls: You really don't care what people think, do you?
Dean Stiffle: No, I really don't.
Crystal Falls: That's a nice trick.
Dean Stiffle: Thanks, I studied in the far east.
Crystal Falls: Maybe you can show me how it's done?
Dean Stiffle: Step one? Years of ridicule.
- ConnectionsFeatured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Movies with Terrible Titles (2015)
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Chumscrubber
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $6,800,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $52,597
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $28,548
- Aug 7, 2005
- Gross worldwide
- $351,401
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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