Review of The Chumscrubber (2005) by Edward B — 19 Mar 2009

I hate movies like this. Movies that try to analyze teenage angst as a result of poor parenting and the drab, artificiality of suburban life. What The Chumscrubber tries to do is go the Donnie Darko route, only to end up with delivering superficial, cookie-cutter ideas about teen rebellion.

Jamie Bell plays a loser teen who relies on drugs to feel good about himself. His parents try to understand him, but they do all the wrong things, because quite simply, parents just don't get their children.

I guess Jamie Bell delivers a good performance, since he's in almost every scene, and is able to look consistently depressed through the entire ordeal. Maybe he really was, having realized the movie he just signed on for.