MEAN CREEK
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Paramount Classics
Grade: B+
Directed by: Jacob Aaron Estes
Written by: Jacob Aaron Estes
Cast: Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, Scott Mechlowicz, Trevor
Morgan, Josh Peck, Carly Schroeder
Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 8/10/04
Think about someone you dislike. No make that, think of
someone you hate. If you could snap your fingers and make that
person instantly die, would you do it? Perhaps you have to be
actually in that situation to answer truthfully. Since it's impossible
to do a hit on your favorite villain that easily, director-screenwriter
Jacob Aaron Estes illustrates a situation that's similar, throwing
together a group of teens and pre-teens without adult supervision
in scenes that bring to mind Peter Brook's "Lord of the Flies" (a
group of British schoolboys are stranded on a remote island) and
John Boorman's "Deliverance" (four Atlanta businessmen get
more than they bargained for during a weekend canoe trip).
His subjects are about 12 to 17 years of age. One of the kids,
Sammy (Rory Culkin), is shy and small and is regularly picked on
by the school's fattie, George (Josh Peck) who uses any excuse
to knock the smaller boy on his butt. When Sam's older brother
Rocky (Trevor Morgan) hears that Sam's black eye was caused
by George, he gets his friends Clyde (Ryan Kelley) and Marty
(Scott Mechlowicz) to join Sam and Sammy's girlfriend Millie
(Carly Schroeder) to set the fat boy up for revenge. Their plan is
to invite George on a boat ride with a particular humiliation in
order, but most of the guys want to back out on the revenge
since George is now seen by them as a nice, lonely boy eager for
friends. What occurs, however, is far worse than what was
planned.
The latter part of the story deals with what the lads and a lass
do once they have judged themselves guilty of a terrible accident.
Should they go to the police? Should they pretend the problem
never occurred? These are the kinds of moral choices they have
to make, alternatives that make the movie not only entertaining
and realistic (we can readily identify with one or the other of these
youngsters) but suitable for an inspiring show to present to high-
school and junior-high students, with a Q and A to follow, the
classes invited to chime in with their views.
Rory Culkin is growing up by leaps and bounds, here playing a
boy on the cusp of teenage angst, perhaps the one morally clean
figure of them all. Being the youngest and smallest boy of the
bunch, he has to face his weakness while at the same time
confront his demons with enough force to make an impression
on the older fellows, his brother included. The production notes
indicate that the whole ensemble were camped out in the Pacific
Northwest (Sharone Meir filmed the scenes in Washington and
Oregon) in order to bond before the rehearsals began, and the
director's vision does come across. These guys look as though
they'd known one another for years. The pace is brisk, while the
hand-held camera does not take away much from the overall
beauty of America's gorgeous Northwest.
Not Yet Rated. 87 minutes. © 2004 by Harvey Karten at
harveycritic@cs.com
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