Diagonaldi Very well executed

TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

sol- Disinterested in kids her own age, a precious preteen girl scout from an affluent neighbourhood decides to befriend a man twice her age who mows her parents' lawn in this captivating drama from 'The Year My Voice Broke' director John Duigan. A talented director of youngsters, Duigan gets an excellent performance out of Mischa Barton in the lead role, while Sam Rockwell holds his own as the lawnmower man. Reluctant to accept her friendship because of what others may think, Rockwell is nevertheless won over by Barton's natural charm and charisma and the film becomes filled with tension from then on in. From onlookers eyeing them at a petrol station, to Rockwell touching Barton's scar at her own request, uncertainty lingers in the air as to what will be misconstrued and at what point will someone get the wrong idea about their platonic relationship and accuse Rockwell of terrible things. It is a thought-provoking film as it challenges general preconceptions out there about the inability for an older man to be friends with a younger woman with nothing else going on between them, but it is the hypocrisy of the town that they live in that is most striking here with Rockwell suspected by many of petty thievery simply because he is poor and Barton's father caring nothing about a local teenager fondling her chest because he is the son of a powerful figure in town. Not everything works here, especially how Rockwell handles a dog incident late in the piece, but it is an unexpectedly gripping ride, capped off with a magical ending.

mementojetee It's a gem because it is quirky, yet real, and well-done. The rough being that most people have never heard of this movie and then one has to hope they are not a square. I watched this movie 2 times, at least 10 years in-between, and was surprised at how good of a film it was both times. It has some disturbing moments, as I remember, but overall is a sweet heart-felt film with cinematic surprises to boot. When I think of IMDb ratings being flawed, this film comes to mind. Perhaps, this is just do to the word still not getting out, or perhaps it is never going to reach approval by the masses, but if you like to see something different with excellent writing, direction, and acting it would do you good to watch this film and give it a 10 too. By the way females seem to like this movie better than males according to the demographic breakdown but maybe the guys thought this was going to be like Reservoir Dogs, a good film, but not this one.

FilmCriticLalitRao John Duigan is a great cinematographic author who has made many admirably charming films such as Wide Saragasso Sea,The year my voice broke etc.Most of his films are about some important issues related to human behavior in our fast changing society and its implications on mankind.Lawn Dogs is a nice tale of inhuman indifference based on class,status which affect the lives of two lonely people:a young drifter and a young girl.These two roles are nicely played by Sam Rockwell and Mischa Barton.Apart from the two main protagonists, remaining characters of this film are absolutely unusual as they are much too protective of their children.It is for this reason that this theme of this film is absolutely novel and not so much is heard about another film handling a theme of child molestation.As the film takes places in a small town full chance is given to viewers to make an assessment of its bored citizens who have some dark secrets hiding with them.There has been no film before Lawn Dogs which has so deftly handled a difficult subject of child molestation.

macpet49-1 When I was a little boy, my mother told me to be careful when in the company of young girls, particularly preteens. I asked her why and she said that they lied and believed the lies and that could get me into a lot of trouble I did not need. When I asked her how she knew this, she said, "Because I was a little girl once, trust me!" Well, her advice was based on the assumption that I was straight and would be interested in girls other than for occasional acquaintance. I avoided them mostly because they seemed to detect that I was a young gay boy who was 'not in the market' and just another form of competition, I suppose, so the advice was moot.This movie illustrates my mother's warnings to a tee. It ought to be required for hetero boys. On the surface, this movie seems to have a lot going for it--adequate actors all, plot, subplots, etc. You are slowly drawn in and then the tension builds which Hitchcock would have appreciated. It unfortunately loses me with the rather abrupt contrived ending. This little girl, first of all, is obviously extremely aware of her power over the people around her. She may not be obviously manipulating her parents, but nonetheless, with the lying, withholding, going along with their lies, she aids and abets. The parents mimic every Republican I've ever known, having grown up in a mixed community of both wealth and middle to low-middle class. The two young men, Sean (closeted gay attracted to Trent) and Brett (hetero gigolo servicing Kathy Quinlan while her husband barbeques himself silly) evoke every town bully I've ever run into--both gay and straight. They are just idiotic testosterone driven manimals played adequately by Mr. Mabius and Mr. Gray. The costar to the main character, Sam Rockwell (aka Trent) is extremely James Dean enough to get you to pathos and empathy for his hard luck life and lack of breaks. Actually, if one looks differently at the film, the manipulative little girl ends up being his answer to freedom. Unfortunately, in the process of plot, I assume to move things along in the time allotted, they have her implicate Trent (her supposed friend) and again, let events go where she wants them to. I think it was intended to be more about the perceived powerlessness of youngsters who are shown to be actually pulling all the strings with their deviant daydreams and behavior towards the adult world that they both long to be a part of and detest and rebel against. In life, I do NOT believe this girl would have shot the young man with the stick. I think she'd have let it happen and watched voyeuristically. Trent would have been dogmeat. Perhaps, years later as a repentant adult she'd have told a stranger what really happened or written a book and done the talk shows after having gone through some fake therapy. I just don't believe that particular character capable of that ending. I think it was obvious where she was headed from the start. She knew the power of her seductive behavior in the guise of friendship with this poor slob, Trent, and what she could do with it. She also knew how predictable her parents were and set them up constantly. This doesn't exempt them from being the most horrible parents on record for alienation of affection and misteaching of general rules of life. The parents are like the Bushes or Kennedys, externally real but internally vacant. Even when they are present, nobody is home. Like most wealthy people, they are masters of self-deception and withholding. All is surface. I think, however, the notion that those two bimbos could've raised a young woman with somewhat human attributes is silly. As most animals with genetic programming, we tend to turn out very much like those who sired us. She more likely would've toyed with this guy because of her boredom and lack of friends, but then set him up (which she does in fact) and walk away. It would've given her a sense of power, having some control. That ending would've been believable, but not very popular with audiences. Rank was famous for taking risks, however, I think they gave in to pressure to 'normalize' the message. The chance that Trent in the end would get away is not reality based either. Anyone with that much money would hire lawyers and detectives to drag Trent to justice (alive or dead) and then massage the media to conjure up and prove the false stories they would create to live with this situation. So, nice try guys, but no 10s here.