Review of The Vicious Kind (2009) by Deb S — 01 Oct 2010

The story revolves around Caleb (Adam Scott), an embittered misogynist with a fervent belief that "all women are whores". While giving his brother Peter (Alex Frost) and his new girlfriend Emma (Brittany Snow) a drive home for Thanksgiving, he develops ambivalent feelings for her. On the one hand, he repeatedly warns her not to cheat on his brother. On the other, he can't quite leave her alone.

Only after seeing her can he get some sleep; an insomniac, he seems to be hurtling toward self-destruction, saying awful things and then apologizes for them sincerely. He gets into fights and treats people like dirt. Caleb is the lovable anti-hero and we find ourselves, against our better judgment, rooting for him and sympathizing with his spiraling depression as he's dealing with a heartbreaking break up and having to be reminded of it based on the fact that his younger brother's girlfriend looks so much like his two timing ex. Veteran actor J.K. Simmons puts a great performance as the father who has issues of his own and Brittany Snow is brilliant as the confused Emma who perfectly illustrates that women are attracted to 'bad boys' and not wimps.