American Crime

The film started with an arty but lengthy credits intro. Next there is an implausible scene where the central characters get run off the road in the middle of nowhere and are shown a dead body by some yokels. No explanation is ever given as to why they were run off the road and they don't seem too bothered by it either.

The plot then begins to change into a reality TV style thriller which ends up being more of a poor attempt at comedy. After about half an hour the film is getting pretty desperate, I wanted all of them to die, and quickly. The main characters:

Cary Elwes: I know he's English (sort of) but this gives him no excuse to create such a ham awful character with a ridiculous accent. It's a pity as I thought he was better than this. Maybe the director found him funny. I doubt anyone else will.

Annabella Sciorra: She is a persistently moaning Lesbian who despite being in mortal danger never believes anyone's warnings and gets in really silly situations.

Kip Pardue: Carries a camera around with him everywhere looking surprised anything and everyone. He finally copped it in the last scene. He looked surprised.

Rachael Leigh Cook: Acts the main character poorly and looks like she's wearing a wig. Little explanation as to why she leaves the film half way through. Nevertheless anyone leaving this film is a good thing.

Overall I'm bitter because once I start watching a film I always have to see it through. I probably thought it couldn't get any worse after the first few minutes and it did. I remember seeing The Last Horror Movie recently and thinking I would never see anything worse. I was wrong.

With such an impressive cast, I had high hopes that this movie would be an edge-of-your-seat thriller. But sadly it never reached its potential. The story was poorly written, with gaping plot holes, inane dialog and absurd characters. The directing was sophomoric, reminiscent of a music video or weak commercial, leaving me with the impression that a different director might have presented the writer's ideas more effectively. And the acting was mediocre at best, with the exception of Elwes, who was simply awful (I've been a fan of his since The Princess Bride, and it was his name that convinced me to rent the movie, so this was a huge disappointment--particularly on the heels of Saw, which truly was an edge-of-your-seat thriller).

I honestly can't recommend this movie to anyone, not even die hard fans of any of the cast. It's too much of a waste of time.

When I saw the really cool and creative opening credits, I thought this movie might have a chance. Wrong! The filmmakers should've spent less time on the opening credits and more time on the rest of the movie. Throughout I was trying to figure out if the movie was supposed to be a thriller, a comedy or all of the above. After finishing watching, I'm still not sure. Although I admit that I didn't see the film entirely, missing bits and pieces of the middle where I lost interest and watched something else. When I returned, it seemed I didn't miss much. I just couldn't figure out what to make of it. It tried to have a documentary feel to it, but who interviews anyone in a car from outside the windshield? (I'm referring to those scenes where Anabelle Sciorra was talking to the camera through the windshield while driving.) It tried to have a realty-TV feel to it. It tried to be a lot of things. But in the end, it just failed to be a good film. Too bad, some really cool graphics went to waste here.

This is a great movie for what it is. The story I like, the docu-cam feel helps, RLC is in it and she's looking well, shame she's gone blonde.

The highlight of the film, and why I like it so much is Cary Elwes... his part in this was great, the comic relief of watching him lose it is fantastic, he does go over the top, but not as much as he did in Saw which, I liked him in.

No to give away any thing from the end, but I liked the fact that the whole film wasn't 100% explained... much better than a crazy yeah dumb twist like in Saw.

for a lighthearted horror with toned down gore and a peeping tom killer then give it a go. If not then rent out Red Eye that was also a great show.

Enjoy the show!

What I loved most about this movie was its willingness to avoid shock-gore for effect. It's remarkably rare these days for a thriller/horror movie to rely on mood and camera work to achieve suspense instead of graphic violence. This movie covers similar territory to Cary Elwes' other recent thriller "Saw", but focuses instead on the characters and mood. Even Elwes' somewhat stilted performance feels more natural here, appropriately fitting an aspiring, but inexperienced, TV journalist. Kip Pardue, Annabella Sciorra, and Rachael Leigh Cook fill out a cast of journalists quite literally caught up in their latest story about a serial killer. The film borrows liberally from 'Scream' and 'Blair Witch Project', but brings it's own odd combination of story techniques, which doesn't quite work. The film's aspirations are noble, and I enjoyed it thanks to the fact that it didn't follow typical formulas when the opportunity to do so arose repeatedly during the story. I'm always willing to forgive a few weaknesses for an ambitious work that doesn't take the easy formulaic answer. American Crime is an original film, and while you're guessing constantly, it's unlikely you'll have figured much out before the end.