Let’s go back to my Grade 9 year in high school, shall we? I’m sitting in my drama class talking to some of my friends, seeing as how it was almost the end of the school year all of us were on edge to go home. That was until our teacher came in with the movie we’d be watching, Mean Creek. None of us had ever heard of the movie before and the teacher asked all of us if we were okay with swearing? Being Grade 9 kids we all obviously said yes and the teacher put on Mean Creek.
Back then that movie for us was hypnotizing due to all the swearing and we loved it for that because really all kids swear in high school. Nowadays I’ve actually noticed a ton of elementary students swearing up a storm to while walking home. I don’t mind it at all, mainly because it’s all experimentation in trying to feel grown up which we’ve all done in some way or form and swearing is just one of the easiest. Back to Mean Creek, because of the swearing I only rated the movie based off this skin-deep attribute and thought it was fantastic. Now that I’m considerably older and wiser I look at this movie in the more desirable age category for this movie. So, is it still as good as I remember?
We get most of the idea for the story in the first 1 minute of the movie. The story being Sam (Rory Culkin) gets the crap beaten out of him by the school bully, George (Josh Peck), and after telling his brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) they and a couple of their friends devise a way to get back at George. The ultimate trick being to strip George in a game of truth and dare and make him run home naked. But by looking at the cover you know something goes wrong.
Okay I would say I’d be going into slight spoiler territory. But seriously if you couldn’t figure out from my plot recap what goes wrong… actually I take that back EVERYONE knows what happened even if you haven’t seen the movie. If you had only seen the poster I think you can make a fair assumption that someone dies. I won’t say who because I try to keep these articles as spoiler free as possible but let’s get to breaking down this movie.
What to say on the characters? Well some of their acting is okay and the others acting is good. Not extraordinary. Not OMG she/he is gonna be the biggest thing EVAH! Just okay. The more okay of the performances come from who seem to be the youngest Rory, Culkin, and Cary Schroeder, who plays Millie (Sam’s girlfriend). Culkin, much like the traditional complaint that all Culkins get, delivers his lines with a more deadpan expression. Not at all interesting until the 3rd if the movie. Cary isn’t much better, she feels very inexperienced in acting and the director gets her right, 60% of the time. The other 40% she’s got the same deadpan expression as Culkin (no wonder in the movie they stuck them together).
George a.k.a Josh Peck from Drake and Josh does a very good job in this movie the only thing that holds it back is that I’ve seen Drake and Josh. Every single swear and inappropriate joke that comes out of his mouth I can’t help but imagine that it’s the spineless Josh from Drake and Josh saying it. This creates a very jarring mood change for me but that’s my problem not the movie’s.
The other three characters, Rocky, Marty and Clyde (Trevor Morgan, Scott Mechlowicz, and Ryan Kelley) all do good jobs. They all have issues that make them interesting, especially Marty who turns into a gun-toting psycho by the end. Overall the characters are well defined and colourful but not that memorable after the movie is over and done with. Their more ordinary personas that helps the audience attach to them and lets the audience imagine being in their shoes also creates characters that aren’t that interesting to watch. That is until AFTER the twist but the intrigue comes more from the situation rather than the characters.
The cinematography and color correction fills the movie with a morose and depressive atmosphere around it, which makes the very angry moments all the more intense. While the cinematography is great it does have this somewhat grainy look to it that makes it look like an independent film. It’s not bad, it fits the look and feel of the movie, but it is distracting for me.
When all is said and done, Mean Creek still holds up in an overall opinion of it. The writing makes the characters and circumstances seem fairly legit. The dark morose atmosphere is pitch perfect thanks to the astonishing cinematography. However the characters while seemingly real end up, in the beginning, being fairly dull but that’s reality for yah most real people don’t act that extraordinary. All and all Mean Creek is an amazing movie for a budget of $500 000 but not really a movie I’d watch again any time soon due to the dark, morose mood of it. If you’re a movie entrepreneur definitely add this to your collection if you’re just a regular moviegoer I feel you can pass on this.
Taylor Wyatt DC Blog 
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