Teenage drama, sometimes touching

Rating: 8/10 (13 January 2010)

Winona Ryder does have captivating eyes. I also love her deadpan answer when she's asked why she downed a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka: "I had a headache."
But first things first - you can hardly comment on this film without commenting on Angelina Jolie's infamous Oscar win. (Remember her smooching her own brother on stage?) She's fun to watch, and she does have a memorable face. Undoubtedly she has charisma. Is it enough to win an Oscar? Well apparently... Though Brittany Murphy is far better in this. She is totally believable as the sexually abused Daisy. I found her character much more disturbing than Angelina Jolie's. In this movie she is still the dark chubby character actress instead the thin blonde lollipop princess she seemed to aspire to be later on. (May she rest in peace now).
Ryder's Susanna ends up in a mental institution after the incident with the aspirin and the vodka. She also experiments sexually (she's nineteen already, so it's about time! Although maybe not with your friend's dad). Just imagine you did that and ended up in a place like this. I felt for a lot of the characters, including the girl who seemed to be in just because she was gay.
At the mental institution Susanna meets Angelina Jolie's Lisa, who has serious behavioural problems, and has a sinister side (she will drive Daisy to commit suicide then steal her money). Together the out-of-touch teenagers embark on some adventures, until the hardy Lisa breaks down in a little-girl tantrum after a word-off with Susanna, whereas the cleverer Susanna realises the way to get out is to spill the beans in therapy - of course everyone, herself included, knew all along that she wasn't really crazy at all.
I don't mind that both Lisa and Susanna are wonderfully self-absorbed and self-serving characters. That's just crazy teenagers for you. What pushes my buttons a little though is the soppy end scene where Susanna says her goodbyes to some of the seriously ill people, as if she'd been one of them and now she's cured and getting out. But then, she never wanted to go there in the first place so maybe I'm being unfair.
This film left me feeling sad, but I enjoyed watching it.