Review of The Chumscrubber (2005) by Emery — 16 Jun 2008

*** stars (out of 5).

Directed By: Arie Posin.

Starring: Jamie Bell, Ralph Fiennes, Glenn Close & William Fichtner.

Synopsis:

The film begins in modern suburbia when Dean Stiffle, (Jamie Bell) a local teen finds the body of his friend Troy who has just committed suicide. Thinking that nobody would care, he doesnt even bother to tell anybody. Troy had been the high-schools unofficial "pharmaceutical rep" and he owes some a very determined group of kids a very large stash. After kidnapping Deans brother, the group instructs Dean to sneak into Troy's room and use the drugs to ransom his brother. The only problem is they kidnapped the wrong kid.

Review:

I will start by saying one thing; you absolutely cant tell that this is Arie Posin's directorial debut. I think he did an exceptional job with a mediocre script (which he co-wrote). Although there are some lapses in continuity in the film, the overall flow was relatively slow, so you dont necessarily notice when it lulls.

This was a film that contained some very good performances. Jamie Bell and Ralph Fiennes were particularly good and I also enjoyed William Fichtner as the expert father who is oblivious to his own family. But, overall the flow of the film did not allow the character development to reach it's full potential.

I know that it's not exactly in the same genre but, I have officially nicknamed this movie "the poor man's Donnie Darko.".

If you are a big film buff who just cant resist a film with a headless teenager on the cover and perhaps the weirdest title ever, you should probably pick this one up. I didn't hate it but I don't think it will make it into my collection. I think I would rather just watch Donnie Darko twice.