Bardlerx Strictly average movie

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

pointyfilippa The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

bmco-247-721025 Maybe if I had viewed this title in 1986, I would have liked it a trifle better. In 2016 it just doesn't hold up.The movie got off to an intriguing start where I felt the protagonist realistically portrayed a sociopathic teen who just murdered a teenage girl "because she mouthed off." The film is based on an actual murder that occurred in 1981. The story attempts to highlight the inexplicable reactions of several friends of the teen after he brags then, shows off the body of the girl that he just murdered. As it turns out, in the case of the actual murder it took 2 days before anyone notified the police.Unfortunately, the acting was over done in most cases. Crispin Glover's portrayal was not remotely believable - actually was irritating to watch. High school classroom settings were equally lacking the authenticity of a classroom in 1981 and simply a forum for more theatrics. Dennis Hopper, as one would expect, played an adult that was out of touch with reality - did nothing to redeem this movie for me. I fast forwarded through most of it. The events were real - the portrayals sadly were not.

tiekbane The acting and writing in this movie are so over-the-top that it cannot possibly have been meant to be taken serious. Crispin Glovers' wild-eyed affected performance is not to be missed. It is the pinnacle of his career. Dennis Hopper is perfectly cast as Feck, the aging biker who claims to have killed a girl in the past but that he loved her so it's OK. The psycho kid with the nun chucks is hilarious in a totally non- speaking role. And Keanu Reeves acts like, well, Keanu Reeves. This movie boasts line after line of quotable dialogue. The killers' nick name is John because his last name is 'Tollet" which sounds like toilet. Check out the reason John killed the girl. You will never get tired of this movie. A classic!

punishmentpark The premise is promising, but things go wrong pretty much straight away with a lot of dubious and bad acting and even more dubious and bad dialogues. I mean, who really thought for a minute you could get away with a character like Layne is played by Crispin Glover? Maybe if you had a comedy in mind... But even the performance of Dennis Hopper is none too convincing.What I díd like was the setting of the '80s smalltown (inlcuding all kinds of smaller or bigger accessories), the metal music of Slayer, Hallows Eve and Fates Warning and the theme of 'modern day' indifference vs. giving a sh*t, but that will never be good enough when you come across such flaws before-mentioned.5 out of 10.

Rodrigo Amaro Remember of "Stand by Me" and the whole thing of the four kids journey trying to find a dead body and on the way evaluating their lives up to that point? Now, picture this scenario: what if one of the kids was involved in a murder and keep bragging to everybody about his act showing a corpse as a way to prove that he killed someone? "River's Edge" pretty much covers such topic except that instead of kids we have a bunch of teenagers (and some kids too) getting involved in a complicated situation. One of them killed a girl and for whatever reasons he decided to share this with his friends who don't know how to respond to such problem. A part of the group who saw the body wants to protect their killer friend (Daniel Roebuck) like his buddy Layne (Crispin Glover), while others more doubtful of the whole thing like Matt (Keanu Reeves) and Clarissa (Ione Skye) want to do the right thing and let this being handled by the cops. It's only the beginning of a snowball effect that will become an avalanche sooner or later when other people get stuck with them in this case such a dangerous lunatic (Dennis Hooper), Matt's younger brother and plenty of others. Dramatic and thrilling enough to make you care about it "River's Edge" is a good film while dealing about the teen angst and how they try to cope with adulthood and its problems (here, throughout this crime they'll learn the value of friendship and also some moralistic lessons). The greatest thing covered here was the lack of communication between the teens in certain moments, when they couldn't express what they were feeling about everything happening to them, that was incredibly real, this anxiety of wanting to say and show something but not being able to do it. Other good point that must be raised is their immaturity, also very credible. They're dumb characters but not dumb enough to let you hating them like some flicks tend to do; you'll understand their idiotic moves and actions as being completely natural to them who are more interested in getting stoned and causing trouble then realizing the consequences for their acts. Sadly, this could be an great movie if wasn't for the creative flights of imagination from its writer and director who put unnecessary and unrealistic things in a story that sounds so real, so credible. Examples: the kids reaction when they see the body for the first time. I mean, do people wouldn't freak out a bit in seeing a friend that was killed by another friend?; the teacher's lousy reaction asking his students how they felt about the girl's murder, that was over-the-top and fake; the whole segment involving Keanu's little brother wanting to get revenge on him because he was beaten by him was very unbelievable, however it's interestingly presented, it's a good thing.What could make this movie better than it is would be erase Matt and Clarissa's date night when the whole disaster wasn't solved, that was distractive (and Keanu's face while getting laid. What was that?). Instead of these expendable tender moments the film should be longer and present more about the character's past, develop them in order so we could know how they were as friends, this sense of company, if they were so close to each other or if their friendship was always moved by some interest. The acting in this film is quite difficult to be analyzed, the result will vary depending of the viewer. I enjoyed the at times over-the-top performance of Crispin Glover, other people say he ruined the film. He's very good in playing this twisted junkie who wants to help his friend, trying to be the lead of the gang. Keanu is quite bad in this, emotionless. Having his role being played by Johnny Depp, even at that time when he wasn't all that famous, and we would have a different and good performance. The rest of the cast goes in between's, some good, some bad.It's well made and it makes some outstanding and relevant social commentaries on youth, family, and what growing up really means. Check it out some time. 8/10