| Overall Grade: |
B- |
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| Story: |
B- |
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| Acting: |
C |
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| Direction: |
B- |
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| Visuals: |
B- |
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Hard to take.
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
Jun 23, 2007
5
of
5 people found this review helpful
Bully is a film that is very hard to take. Larry Clark (Kids) assaults us right from the start with kiddie porn sex and a deeply disturbing little boy strip show that is very tasteless. There's also a rape scene with strong homosexual overtones, involving the title Bully, a scumbag named Bobby. He is a thorough and complete assh..e. He verbally and physically abuses his best friend Marty, who he is obviously homosexually connected to, though Marty has no desire for that. He has a girlfriend and she hates Bobby and convinces him that that the only thing logical to do is to kill the bullying rapist. After some hesitation, Marty agrees to kill his best friend. They plan it out (none to well) and a whole handful of other teens gets involved, all eager to kill Bobby. They hire a 'hitman' to show them the ropes and help in the murder. He's a teen-age gangster wanna -be who despite his rep, is a loser who's never killed anyone and has no mob ties like he claims. He is played well by Leo Fitzpatrick who played Telly in Kids.
This film is deeply disturbing and the murder scene is truly painful to watch. They do everything to kill Bobby and he just won't die - realistically showing how hard it is to end a life. The sad part is none of these kids really gave the killing a moments thought or even considered the consequences of committing murder. When they are caught and handed down long prison sentences, you almost feel bad for them. Had they only thought about what they were doing. Did Bobby really deserve to die? Of course not but these kids got caught up in an idea and were so hazed on drugs that they didn't consider anything. This is emotionally devastating and one can't deny the power of the last half hour of this film, which is taut and superb. The beginning and middle sections of this film are the problem. Too much graphic teen-age sex feels like exploitation to the highest degree and isn't at all necessary. Makes Kids look PG rated by comparison. This is a very deeply unsettling film and Clark makes his point but he really didn't have to venture into such familiar sweaty teen sex territory again. |
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