Mean Creek

MEAN CREEK reminds me a lot of Stephen King's STAND BY ME and William Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES, looking at the issue of childhood bullying and exploring what happens when the tables are turned on a bully by one of his victims. It's a haunting, evocative, beautifully shot little movie, one of those low budget indie efforts that eschews special effects and melodrama in favour of solid characterisation and tight, focused scripting. You get caught up in the lives of the characters right from the outset and the film keeps you glued to the screen until the last moments. The young cast members are excellent, bringing to life the grittiness and authenticity of the storyline. As the bully, Josh Peck is particularly engaging, remaining an irritating and unpleasant character throughout but somehow eliciting sympathy from the audience at the same time. All in all, this is a tough, uncompromising little movie that proves a refreshing alternative to the latest Hollywood blockbuster.

"Mean Creek" is a film about high school aged kids who conspire to get even with a school bully with a prank which goes seriously wrong. The story is so simple that the end is almost a foregone conclusion reducing it to just so much of the obvious elements required to develop the meager plot and see it through to its conclusion. "Mean Creek" fared well with critics and public alike scoring a marginal two thumbs up and is very well executed considering its one man indieness. However, it lacks the intensity and edge of similar much better films such as "Bully (2001)" and "Elephant (2003)" and spends most of its time just showing kids behaving like kids. This film is just one of a long list of films about teens with nothing very special to offer. (B-)

One of the greatest movies ever made is 'A Place in the Sun'. Based on a true murder case, this story features a protagonist who takes his pregnant ex-girlfriend on a boating trip with the intention of drowning her so he won't have to marry her. At the last moment, he has a pang of conscience (or did he just lose his nerve?) and he confesses his intentions to her ... but then the boat capsizes by accident, and she drowns anyway. The film refuses to let the protagonist off the hook, asserting that -- if he felt relieved by her death -- then he is morally guilty of murdering her. SPOILERS COMING. 'Mean Creek' raises similar moral questions, in a plot line that evokes not only 'A Place in the Sun', but also 'River's Edge', 'Stand by Me' and 'Deliverance', the latter film even quoted in the dialogue. Four adolescent boys lure teenage George on a boating trip, intending to play a cruel prank on him. A girl comes along too, unaware of their intentions. When she learns what's planned, she persuades the conspirators to call off their plot. But then tragedy intervenes, and George drowns. How culpable are the boys? They literally dig themselves into a deeper hole by burying George's corpse, hoping to conceal the tragedy. 'Mean Creek' features some of the most realistic adolescent dialogue I've ever heard. The boys bait each other with insults that are misogynist and homophobic. (One boy, Clyde, has two gay fathers.) Although the dialogue pulls no punches, the camera set-ups pull several. At one point, a boy urinates into the river: we see the stream of urine but the boy is out of frame. The most aggressive of the boys, Marty, makes several boasts about his genital endowment. Eventually, he is goaded into dropping his shorts and showing his stuff: the camera shoots this scene from behind, so we never find out what the fuss is about. Director/screenwriter Jacob Aaron Estes shows a great deal of talent, but makes a few strange decisions. At several points, the camera shows us printed words on a sign or a bumper sticker ... but then the camera pulls away, or the object recedes from the camera, before most of the audience can read what's written. The script is nearly as good as the dialogue, with splendid exposition and only a few pacing problems. MORE SPOILERS. Very early in the film, we learn that Marty owns a handgun. Chekhov's rules of drama stipulate that if a gun shows up in the story, it must eventually be fired. The payoff for this weapon shows up very late in the film, in an unexpected way (and the gun is never fired). In this case, it would have been better if the gun had never been mentioned nor shown until Marty decided to use it. Throughout this film there is a running directorial conceit, with sequences shown from the P.O.V. of George's video camera, but there turns out to be a valid payoff for this. Every performance in this movie is splendid. I was especially impressed with Rory Culkin (Macaulay's more talented brother), Carly Schroeder as the well-intentioned girl, and Josh Peck as fat unpopular George, who clearly wants to be popular yet can't help being unpleasant. I'll rate 'Mean Creek' 9 out of 10, and I look forward to more films from Jacob Aaron Estes.

A nasty fat kid beats up Rory McCulkin (who wouldn't), and Rory's older brother and friends decide to play a MEAN joke on him, while on a boat trip in a CREEK. Geddit? I know the film has its fans, but I hated it. To say it's a poor man's Kids or Stand By Me, or that Rory is a poor man's River Phoenix, would be an insult to the poor. The characters are either utter clichés (the "yo dude" guy and the family problems guy) or utterly unconvincing (the doll-faced homunculus Rory as angst-ridden old-before-his-time brooder). Predictable and dull. The shaky camera work and mood shots would like to say "this is an indie film", but instead they say "this is an establishment dross trying to wear indie clothes". In one word: nuh-uh.

With an all-child cast, it bears resemblance to "stand by me." A group of kids plot to pay the school bully back for years of abuse. They take him on a boat trip. If you want more, go see it. It was the best film I've seen this year. Throughout the duration of this classic, one element stuck out for me: Carly Schroeder. She is going to be a star and a half. She blows that annoying cherry blossom, Dakota Fanning, away. Rory Culkin, Macauly's little brother, was just perfect for the part of a naive kid, susceptible to his older brother's overbearing testosterone. Go see this film, because you will talk about it for hours on end. Perfect dinner movie. Take your girlfriend, boyfriend, significant other. Kids under 13, though portrayed in the film, just aren't ready for the material of this film, so don't bring your children.

Mean Creek is an amazing movie. It is so refreshing to see a good movie when there are so many worthless ones around presently. There are many great things about Mean Creek, and a few not so good things. The writing is excellent, the directing is great. The acting is so well done, it seems more real than half the "reality" TV shows on TV today. The young actors which consist of Trevor Morgan, Ryan Kelley, Scott Melchowitz, Rory Culkin, Carley Shroader, and Josh Peck. I was blown away by their performances. There is another thing that makes Mean Creek so unique. It's cinematography (sp?). Most of the action of the movie takes place within one day, and at a Creek. The filming of the Creek is so magnificent, there are great shots of the Creek itself, the water, the forestry around it, and there are some great pictures of the animals that call the creek home. The subject matter of Mean Creek is extreme and dramatic, which is another reason for the amazement at the young actors in this film! The main subject revolves around the themes of forgiveness and revenge. The first five children plan a simple revenge trick on the bully, yet something horrible happens are all of the children are forced into an extremely difficult situiton in just a matter of minutes. The ending is a bit ambiguous, and open ended. WHich, I think is good in a certain way but I would have wanted more closure about the fate of the children. I am surprised by the lack of representation at the award shows for this picture. I truly believe this film in underrated and under viewed, because it's an indie and it's a directors debut.

It should be a 7 but I give 1 because of the Snail that fool girl stabbed with a knife for nothing, for nothing at all. I hope someday the director and the actor will pay for that cruelty.

This movie completely took me by surprise. I saw it mostly because I love independent films and have been a fan of Carly Schroeder and Rory Culkin for awhile now, and make it a point to see whatever either of them are in. But wow, was I shocked. I have never seen that kind of depth (acting wise) from kids like this. Every actor was brilliant and unique in there performances. The characters were realistic and relate able, the writing and directing (by first timer Jacob Aaron Estes) are immaculate, and the story is completely believable and leaves you thinking about it after you leave the theater. I can't even pick a stand out performance, because unlike most films today, all of the six leads were stand outs. This movie is unlike no other you'll see, and it will affect you in ways that will stay with you. I'd recommend this movie to anyone. 9/10.

The problem I had with Mean Creek is that I never really found its premise to be believable; the fact we're told George is a 'bully' merely because he punched Sam a couple of times in the face. Do the writers even know what a bully is? A bully will usually target someone who's smaller and weaker than them and will usually do this for no other reason than to make themselves feel better about themselves. George warned Sam not to touch his camera and when Sam ignored him, George gave him a good hiding. Whilst I'm not condoning what George did, I hardly think his actions qualify him as a 'bully'. After the altercation with Sam, George is then invited on a boat trip with Sam and his friends... Anyone in their right mind would refuse to go anywhere with a group of people who are friends with the person that you've just beaten up. I just found the entire premise ridiculous and unconvincing. I mean you have to ask yourself if it's really believable that a group of friends would go to that much trouble over 'one' altercation... sure you may go to these sort of lengths if George had been bullying Sam for months, but again I struggled to find a lot of this believable. We're then treated to a tedious and long game of 'Truth Or Dare' which I felt was clumsily written into the story and just dragged on and on. I also found the film to be quite boring as well and this is probably due to a large number of characters being rather shallow and lacking in depth (although Estes does flesh George out quite well). The performances were pretty weak across the board (with the exceptions of Mechlowicz and Peck who both managed to be far better than the material). At times the camera work was also nauseating and gave the film a very amateurish feel to it. The final 20-25 minutes consist of the gang moralising over whether they have 'done' the right thing or whether they should 'do' the right thing. Whilst the narrative swings in this direction towards the end it never really offers much commentary and the messy and unresolved ending made me wonder what the point was in building the film up in this manner only to then offer no closure on the matter. George's monologue at the end made very little sense and created a disappointing finale to a disappointing film. It's a shame really as I could see a lot of potential here.