This movie features one of the most despicable lead characters, and that character narrates. It's hard to see how this even got green lit.
Sure, a lot of it rings true for a teenage boy, but bleh. Like, Jimmy getting drunk and doing the obnoxious poetry to the crowd. That's not pleasant to watch, and frankly, practically everybody including Jimmy would pretty much decide to forget it ever happened.
From a practical standpoint, the studio tried to sell it as something it wasn't, and that can be seen right on the cover art. That looks like a fun happy silly movie, while it's actually a sometimes dark drama.
The writer/director, Richert, released a Director's Cut with himself narrating instead of Phoenix. This makes the movie even worse, because it reminds you that a mature adult wrote and directed this about himself and yet can't seem to fathom how horrible the character Jimmy is.
When it was Phoenix narrating, it's easy to imagine this was just a bad misfire of a teen film. But with Richert-- talk about an out of control ego.
After all, aside from being a total a**, at one point Reardon is borderline assaulting a female.
Sure, a lot of it rings true for a teenage boy, but bleh. Like, Jimmy getting drunk and doing the obnoxious poetry to the crowd. That's not pleasant to watch, and frankly, practically everybody including Jimmy would pretty much decide to forget it ever happened.
From a practical standpoint, the studio tried to sell it as something it wasn't, and that can be seen right on the cover art. That looks like a fun happy silly movie, while it's actually a sometimes dark drama.
The writer/director, Richert, released a Director's Cut with himself narrating instead of Phoenix. This makes the movie even worse, because it reminds you that a mature adult wrote and directed this about himself and yet can't seem to fathom how horrible the character Jimmy is.
When it was Phoenix narrating, it's easy to imagine this was just a bad misfire of a teen film. But with Richert-- talk about an out of control ego.
After all, aside from being a total a**, at one point Reardon is borderline assaulting a female.