Having grown up in Palos Verdes (Estates, specifically) I had only a cursory interest for giving this movie a chance. Nothing new here in the insulated enclave which has become a house-flipping real estate orgy for millionaires since the 1980s. Dysfunctional families, drug addiction and suicidal teens, along with territorial surfer thugs were as prevalent here as its sun drenched environs during the Sixties and Seventies. The novel inspired the movie and seems to have been adapted well enough. Though I just couldn't wait to escape, invoking the same feeling I had as an adolescent.
Review of The Tribes of Palos Verdes
