Review of Mean Creek (2004) by Dan G — 08 Jul 2012

Gripping, grisly and intense. Jacob Aaron Estes's 2004 coming of age journey is a surprisingly tender affair. The films young cast is terrific, each performance is powerful and for the most part we find it easy to engage with their characters. It is however a shame that some of the characters remain a little two-dimensional, especially when there seems to be so much potential for them, I')m sure if the film ran for another twenty minutes this wouldn't be a problem. All of the characters are fantastically written; all speak and act like real teenagers, a very impressive representation.

I was very impressed and a little surprised by the performances of Rory Culkin and Josh Peck (the latter I was only familiar with his TV work) who both stole the film.

Billed as 'Deliverance meets Stand By Me', a comparison which any film would find it hard to live up to, I was worried that Mean Creek would struggle to keep it's neck above the water line but I wasn't disappointed. A compelling tale of the loss of innocence amongst six teenagers.