Waste of time

One of my all time favorites.

Instant Favorite.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Suburban Mayhem is just what the title promises, as nineteen year old single mom, Katrina, views the world as her oyster, taking from it anything she wants. Her dad wants her to get a job, as he is the one supporting her and her baby. She resents him to the point of having him killed so that she will inherit his house. Her brother is in jail for murder, and she wanders from man to man in casual sexual encounters, dressed in tight black leather mini-skirts and boots, while others watch her little one. The biggest problem is that I never cared what happened to Katrina, as she is a completely unlikeable human being, with no redeeming qualities, and very average looks. Emily Barclay does a fine job portraying the trailer trash vixen, but the music blasts throughout this unhappy social drama, and by the time it mercifully ended, I had a headache. The movie is loosely based on a true crime case which is well known in Australia. I would prefer to see a documentary, using the real life people involved. Erol Morris, are you listening?

Paul Goldman and Alice Bell's mockumentary "Suburban Mayhem" starts off with some measure of interest in its subjects' state of arrested development, but manages to fracture its focus into different pieces before it's through. The Aussie production does allude to its working class suburb's infant terrible syndrome, channeling the seminal "Romper Stomper" well enough by juggling murder, delinquency and a hefty pacing of sex, drugs and roll 'n' roll. However, setting the stage just doesn't cut it when the noxious characters woefully expose its wafer-thin plotting. Goldman's self-satisfied intentions are made clear enough and tacky dinner-table transgressions aside; the film's black comedy routine is merely discernible at best but it's just not particularly biting or droll. Katrina (Emily Barclay), its patricidal, chain-smoking femme fatale shoulders the film's best scenes despite the young character's tendency to regress into a badge for its director to smugly flash about as the latest and loudest provocateur of Australia's idyllic suburbia.

Boring Boring Boring.Sometimes I go into a film not wanting to be there or with negative pre-conceptions only to be blown away with it's originality and entertainment values. This was not one of these films.In an age of free to air TV programming mainly consisting of shows depicting death, killing and women using their sexuality to put men down, Suburban Mayhem has both for $15.During the Q&A after film writer (Alice Bell) could not answer the question asking her whether she liked her main character or not. Considering the films content I wonder what did her father did to her ?I cannot believe that the writer and the director would think that this was an interesting time for a movie like this. I cannot see anything new about it. If you really want to see killing just turn on the TV, people are doing it for real !!!!!The worst thing about it ? Its not entertaining !!!!!Save your hard earned money.

Just saw Suburban Mayhem at TIFF; it's a brash, eye-popping mess of a movie. It's trying to pay homage to Pulp Fiction with its suggestions of horrible ways of dying--beheading or being bludgeoned to death by an inept killer. These are all loathsome, stupid people who manipulate and copulate their way through life.The problem with this movie is its lack of purpose of direction. Is this a commentary on the skewed moral compass of these losers who will only find their fifteen minutes of fame by becoming infamous? I'm not sure that the director knew what was happening and just made this flick, hoping that someone would imbue meaning into it.I don't know what the fuss is all about. There are plenty of films that address immoral characters and their behaviours in a way that makes you think. This film just pushes you over the edge and out the door.Not worth your time.