Check Out the Trailer

This film is a darkly satirical look at modern life in the suburbs. It deals with topics ranging from the over medication of our youth to suicide.

Dean Stiffle (Jamie Bell, UNDERTOW) is a high school student, who doesn’t have many friends and carries himself with a sarcastic detachment. After a death, his father, Bill (William Fichtner, CRASH), who is a famed psychiatrist, is worried that Dean isn’t expressing the right emotions and gives him medication, which Dean is happy to take. Dean’s mother (Allison Janney, TV’s THE WEST WING) sells herbal supplements and desperately wants her family to be together as a family. As the plot unfolds, Dean gets wrapped up with Billy (Justin Chatwin, WAR OF THE WORLDS), a tough kid who wants Dean to find some missing drugs for him. Billy’s plot involves Crystal (Camilla Belle, THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE), toadie Lee Parker (Lou Taylor Pucci, EMPIRE FALLS) and Charley Bratley (Thomas Curtis, RED DRAGON).

The film is what is being dubbed as a “hyperlink movie,” where various characters’ stories overlap throughout the course of the film. The cast also includes Ralph Fiennes (THE CONSTANT GARDNER) as spiritually inspired mayor Michael Ebbs, Glenn Close (FATAL ATTRACTION) as mourning mother Mrs. Johnson, John Heard (POLLOCK) as heartbroken police officer Lou Bratley, Jason Isaacs (HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS) as clueless, pushy father Mr. Parker, Carrie-Anne Moss (THE MATRIX) as sexy mom Jerri Falls, Rita Wilson (AUTO FOCUS) as selfish bride-to-be Terri Bratley and Rory Culkin (SIGNS) as Dean’s video game obsessed little brother.

The film has a lot of smart things to say, however critical plot points in the film undermine tension and Dean’s motivation at every turn. There’s a twist in the film regarding the main plot point that is funny, but hurts the film for the rest of its running length because it just doesn’t hold credibility.

Nonetheless, the film develops most of its characters well. However, Fiennes’ character never works and doesn’t flow with the rest of the film. First time feature director Arie Posen makes the crucial mistake of trying to say everything with his first film like he won’t have the chance to ever make another film. There is a lot here, but it doesn’t work as a whole and other films like AMERICAN BEAUTY and GARDEN STATE mined the themes to better affect. Fans of the two aforementioned films will find stuff of worth in this film and might actually like the film more than I did. It’s not a bad film, just a sadly flawed film. Posen shows real talent and definitely has a great film in him; he just needs to focus.