the audience applauded

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

If I had a word for The Dirties, that word would be fresh. Even with some questionable choices in regard to filming, The Dirties comes into it's own with character. This is a movie that strives on realism. Most films can contain great dialogue, but then only to distract from it's own realism; I really felt like all characters were holding real genuine conversations. The believability of the two main characters, Matt and Owen, is undeniable, and in addition to that found in their friendship, the lead and execution of the premise remains strong throughout. Without going into mental health clichés, both characters seem to have genuine reasoning and path to their decision making, with Matt Johnsons character seeming to have a real inability to cope with confrontation. Even then, elements in the movie aren't made to lead or force them to their decisions, but rather to support them. Often in anti-bullying movies all is lost by the campaign of the movie itself, but The Dirties contains a strong energy and drive throughout. The best thing that I can say about it really, is that it's not bad, it's really not bad. In everything that it does well, it does impressively well. The faceless filmer leaves a menacing undertone, with all acknowledgment of his character being brief and interesting. Lastly, it's final leaves the viewer in awe, ending at the most perfect moment of it's screen time. A very underrated classic 9/10

The Dirties is an independent film that was released in 2013. It's the debut feature for Matt Johnson, who directed, co-wrote, and stared in the film. It's one of the better indie films that I've seen and is certainly worth your time.Matt and Owen are two friends who are in High school together. They are constantly bullied by a group who go by the name of "The Dirties". Matt and Owen are also huge film fans and are in the school's film club. So they decide to shoot a film about their revenge against The Dirties. That's all that I'm going to say about the plot. It's definitely one of those films that you should go into it without knowing too much. Even the IMDb and Letterboxd synopses, I thought, said too much. But anyways, the story is brilliant. I love films that talk about bullies and show how highschoolers, or whatever, deal with the harassment of the bullies. I don't know if Matt and Owen did really experience bullying in their life, but the way it was portrayed felt so realistic and so well done that I'd bet they did. The characters were great, and they felt lifelike. Thus, we as a viewer, care about them and are interested to see what's going to happen in their lives. The film's writers, Matt Johnson and Mathew Miller, did a splendid job indeed.Matt Johnson and Owen Williams play Matt and Owen in the film. I thought both of them were tremendous. Matt Johnson will probably take all the plaudits but Owen Williams's performance was just as good. The main supporting actress was Krista Madison who played the role of Chrissy, Owen's crush. She was good as well. The acting isn't the main draw of the film though, it's the story and the directing.The Dirties is a found footage film. I still like found footage films, which I know many people aren't. But The Dirties is well done and doesn't have any moments where you're screaming at the screen "DROP THE CAMERA ALREADY YOU IDIOT!". There is a cameraman, probably more, who tags along with Matt and Owen. I personally have a couple of interpretations about the cameramen, but I'll save those for the sake of not spoiling anything. The movie is also littered with references from numerous other films, so if you're a film buff, you might get a kick out of some of them.The soundtrack to The Dirties is also pretty good. There are a couple of songs that play over some scenes that fit perfectly. I read that most of the film's budget went into securing the licenses for the music, but I'd say it was worth it.All in all, The Dirties is a very well done film that shines a new light on bullying. It's evident that Matt Johnson is a very talented young filmmaker who I personally can't wait to see what his future holds for him. A definite recommendation from me.

I desperately wanted to like this movie. I saw the preview a week ago and just last night saw it was added to Netflix, I couldn't click on it fast enough. Here was a movie that was going to examine high school bullying through the eyes of those being bullied, here was a movie that was going to show high schoolers not self-reporting when a student tells them they are going to commit a violent act, here's a movie that is going to explain how teachers are completely unaware of what their students are up to right before they commit the heinous act of a school shooting. But no, in no way is that the movie that was made.**SPOILERS** The movie opens with the mains, and apparent co-writers Matt and Owen, presenting their high school movie to the drama teacher. The movie clearly shows the students committing violent acts against fellow students, a gang they've nicknamed "The Dirties" (clever movie name amright?), as well as misrepresenting agreed upon clips of the teacher himself. Instead of reporting the students to any sort of higher authority, the teacher simply tells them to remove the language and make the movie "PG". What follows is a sad excuse at character study, showing the apparently insanely shallow friendship between two supposed best friends who actually know nothing about the character of the other person. Owen is an outcast who wants to be accepted, Matt is an outcast who wants revenge; Owen listens to Matt's psycho ideas and sees the degree that he has taken them to (pulling blueprints from local government, taking photos of the future victims), and fails to report him even after he backs out of the plan. This all purportedly happening so far after Columbine that Matt is actually reading the book on the shooting and antagonizing his friend and then his mother into offering their analysis of his mental state.In the end, we see an ill conceived school attack in which two teachers catch the eventual shooter setting up his cameras, they back off without question despite living in an era of increased school violence, then the movie ends with a ridiculous confrontation that offers no conclusion. This movie very much reminds me of an eighth grade writing assignment I had to complete regarding suspense, and this ending may have been even worse than mine, which involved an American soldier confronting a reincarnated Hitler with the possibility of ending WWIII. Yes, World War THREE. I'd still rather see that ending than the one I saw in this movie.For those reviewers that support the shaky camera as though the viewer is in on the act, during the movie the cameraman is referenced twice, when he is offered popcorn and when he is mentioned by name. That is to say, there were two other people who had definitive knowledge of the heinous act that the character (maybe the writer/actor/director's true desire but was too afraid?) intended to carry out but did not report it. This is not a movie that should be celebrated or shown to high school teens as a movie against bullying, this movie did not examine the impact of the violent acts on their own families, the families of the victims, and most of all, on the victims themselves. Anything less concerning school shootings is simply using that as a gimmick for a horror movie, where once again, this movie falls sorely short. I hope that the writer of this movie is able to get over the bullying that happened to him, believe me when I say I know it sucks, I could especially relate to the scene where the student was antagonizing the main characters from behind during a class, but there is no need to celebrate violence in schools during a time when instances of school violence are increasing at an alarming pace. The people who are celebrating this movie appear to be so wrapped up in the movie world that they fail to realize how this movie could affect younger, bullied viewers, which is dangerous and irresponsible.I hope that the Matt and Owen can go on to have great success in the movie industry, I just hope that they have a better grasp on what they're portraying as they move forward.

I've seen a couple of school massacre movies, this one may be the best.I don't know if I prefer Elephant because its more artsy.But in terms of story/character development The Dirties is by far one of the greater movies on the subject.This is the only movie in the genre where I felt like the characters really had a personality, and I knew I would never forget them.Also this is the only movie on the subject that I feels has the strongest message. This is one of those rares movies that has something to say, and Kevin Smith didn't hype this movie up, it blew away my expectations at how good it was.