Around the Fire

This movie is disguised as some sort of hippie coming of age drama... but the sad truth is that this is just a thinly veiled bit of anti-drug propaganda. The soundtrack and watching Tara Reid be hot are about the only things going for this movie. Beyond that, the movie suffers from a predictable (and very bad) plot, stereotype characters, and cheezy dialog. It's like watching an After School Special that just drags on and on and on.

If you are considering watching this movie... put on a Grateful Dead CD and download pictures of Tara Reid from the internet. You'll get all the good points of the movie without having to endure the painful "Drugs are bad, mmkay?" plot. If you don't already use drugs, listening to the dialog in this movie will drive you to drugs in an effort to kill the pain.

This movie held my attention but the story line was a little plastic and had the classic anit-drug message. Tara Reid played a cool little hippie chick wonderfully though... a damn cute one too. The story was just very cliche; a young man plagued by the death of his mother rebels, falls in love with hot blond, gets into drugs, and ends up in rehab... I mean how many times are people going to use that plot?

The real shortcoming to this movie however, was not the plot. The story could have been a realistic inside look at hippie culture if it were only made to be realistic. Whoever directed this movie has obviously never been to anything more than a Kenny G concert. Throwing 15 or so extras in make-up and tie-dyed shirts in a field to recreate a Grateful Dead show is a horrifically commercialized and pathetic attempt to portray hippie culture.

Anyway, this movie did hold my attention but mostly because I was fascinated that Hollywood could make such a cheap, pitiful attempt to revitalize a beat to death plot. There were some interesting moments and hey I watched the whole thing, but there are much better movies out there. And remember kids, drugs are bad!

First major effort of Co-Writers as stand-alone independent film. Extremely well produced, well written, well acted film. Storyline holds up throughout; interaction between characters is genuine. Would be received very well by younger viewers in late teens or early twenties. Very fulfilling story of a young man's struggle in coming to terms with his own past, present and future.

Just because Tara Reid is in the movie,i was expecting it to be horrible and ultra trash.But it wasn't that bad after all.There are some really notable quotes about life and drugs and if you've had any kind of drug experience then you can really relate to what happens in the character of the movie.The plot isn't that original though and it is a little boring so that's why i rated it with 5 stars.Good movie to watch once but not another time.Oh and by the way,this is probably the only movie where Tara Reid's acting doesn't suck at all but isn't the best possible either.

Probably the best thing about Around the Fire is Devon Sawa's performance. He plays a college bound teen who meets a group of new friends who quickly turn him on to drugs and a counter culture that is intriguing but ultimately leads to his downfall, as he uses it to escape the tragic loss of his mother and the family problems that surround it.

Although the story is heartfelt and unfolds well, it is also derivative and highly uneven. The director is careful not to use any real names of people or places in portraying the hippie/druggie sub-culture that the Sawa character falls prey to. This has a twin effect of leaving things a little vague, yet, bringing us into a real and hypnotically dazzling world.

However, the performances shine, elevating the film to a much more credible level. Sawa has grown into an actor of considerable depth and range and proves that he's at home as much here as he is in any number of his earlier, more emotionally shallow films.