I have to say, that watching this movie was a total spur of the moment decision on my part and I walked into this completely unaware of what I was getting into. While watching it, I felt my senses were assaulted, but there was more to it than what I was able to discern viscerally. Therein lies the greatness of this movie. It makes you think about what images are being thrown at you and why. The image is obviously that of what the youth of our age are sold as 'the good life': money, drugs, sex and partying. This is the American Dream. This movie follows 4 girls who do despicable acts, who behave with such depravity and who are shallow to the core, that watching this can be painful at times. But that is the whole point and people who walk out of this feeling as though they have had their time robbed of them or are too disgusted by what they see are missing the point. I am not an elitist movie critic in no sense of the word either, but I know a shock movie when I see one.
I have to say that visually this movie is beautiful (and no, I am not referencing the nudity here, ha-ha). It is a dark, dreamy, neon- nightmare. I give credit to the movie for this because it is candy for the eyes. Production wise this movie is solid, as is the direction. You feel as if you are in a dream, with it's poignant use of slow motion, and I suppose that is the effect they were looking to achieve. In this aspect they succeeded with flying colours - literally. There's also a beautifully crafted scene during their robbery of a restaurant that features one of the girls rolling the car around the building, catching glimpses of what they were doing inside. A very good piece of cinematography.
The cast were great too. I can't really say too much for the female cast as they did all act well in their respective roles. James Franco on the other hand really stood out and delivered a superb performance in what I would say is one of his more challenging roles, because the character himself is just so unlikable and unlike anyone he has portrayed before. He definitely made this movie, and without him in it it would seem to be missing a magic ingredient. Time and again Franco proves his worth as one of the great actors of his generation. He obviously knew that this movie's worth exceeded the majority of our expectations.
It seems the point of this film is lost upon most, which is a shame, though I can understand why. On the surface this appears to be a shallow and uninspiring piece of crap theatre with no motive beyond showing us some tits and ass. It is so much more. I love movies that make me think, even if they are at the time disturbing to watch. Well, this is what we are supposed to enjoy watching, after all. This is what our media, our 'culture', our idols depict as the epitome of what constitutes the good life. We are told to live our youth to the full. Is this not what they do throughout the movie? Are you not entertained? No?
Isn't that just it though? The truth hurts. This is the truth of what our youth aspire to. Sad, ain't it. Maybe I should give this a 1 star rating. I'm sure that's what the director would want me to do.
