Review of River's Edge (1986) by Melody Z — 07 Dec 2016

RIVER'S EDGE is one odd little movie. It's got a terrific premise, but it also paints a pretty bleak and unflattering picture of teenage life in the 1980s. For the most part, our teen characters are not terribly sympathetic or likable people (the little brother of Reeve's character, for example, is one of the most hateful, awful child characters I think I've ever seen); this lends the film a seriousness of purpose to a certain degree, but it also makes it difficult for the audience to have a rooting interesting in the proceedings.

The decision-making of all the parties involved is bafflingly bad, almost to an absurdist effect (so much so that I'm not quite sure if this is actually intentional). Even the characters who (more or less) try to do the right things go about it in screwed-up ways.

The film does have one great thing going for it, though, and that's Crispin Glover. This is essential Glover, featuring him at his most delightfully unhinged; he's almost over-the-top in a way which threatens to overpower the whole movie, but somehow that doesn't happen, and he's a riot throughout.

Putting him together in scenes with Hopper (turning in another of his patented weirdo turns) is almost too much to take, but in a good way. In short, the attitudes of the central characters are too difficult to relate to, so I didn't enjoy the movie very much.

.. but Glover is great.