Don't Believe the Hype

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

3 of 10. Outside of showing everyone how to market a tedious teen drama, something only of interest to producers and film ad agencies, there's little outside of the soundtrack and cinematography to make this worth the time. Maybe it could work as a music video where the writer/director isn't expected to do anything beyond providing some eye-candy to go with the music.Story: Irish teens break into some rich house where the owners seem to be on an extended vacation. At this point comes a lame attempt to do an updated Kids (1995) in Ireland. There's an attempt to put too much drama into everything but it all reduces to teen peer games without any insight. As a potential lesson to parents and a film for parents to watch, it might work. For everyone else, this version of watching naughty children playing with the toys of the rich is neither new nor significant.

This is most definitely one of those projects that is not easily summed up in a review but I'll try to at least draw an outline & add some insight. Writer/director Kirsten Sheridan, known for her Oscar nominated writing of In America(2002) and her direction of August Rush(2007), brings this unique idea to film using unconventional methods. It's a story that starts immediately with five teens breaking into a very lavish house on the coast of Dublin,Ireland. Without any back story or character development the viewer is thrust into lives of these wild, unpredictable youths as they go about their night partying & destroying the home they have broken into. A revelation is made early in the film as to just whose house they are in, that & the unexpected visit of another teen are basically the only two major plot developments, that is until the final act when a very sobering event occurs involving one of the kids. Sheridan chose to do this film in a "live" format with no written script to follow, just some outlines that were thought up in a previous session with the mostly unknown/first time actors as Sheridan watched them interacting with one another. A concept that to me came out sort of like an Irish version of a Larry Clark film due to the manner in which the characters behaved and the raw in your face I don't give a f*** attitude put forth by them. This isn't going to be a film for everyone, some people may hate it, others may see it as an important unveiling of today's Irish youth. Then there is sure to be a good amount of people like me, on the middle of the fence, not quite sure what to make of it. Which is right where the current rating sits. I'll give it a bit more with a 6/10.