Product: Kids (1995)
Rating: 3.0
Calm down, it's a movie.
It's overhyped. It's unrealistic. It's childish, pathetic, out only for shock value. The stupid people who put down the movie for these reasons seem to be the same "hip" crowd who all hate the same movies for the same reasons. Liking a film that other people have actually SEEN? My Gawd.Seems that all the reviews I've read that claim KIDS was an unrealistic, ridiculous, sensationalist portrayal of youth have been written by people who didn't grow up under those circumstances. It IS something real. Things like those in the movie do happen. It's not a portrait of "American Youth." It's not supposed to be. There ARE kids whose lives are just like those in the film. Kids all over aren't all shooting up or contracting AIDS, but some are. There are so many different things that "the youth" are doing, so it's ridiculous to claim that KIDS is or isn't realistic. It IS an accurate picture, of ONE of the things that is. It's not new or outlandish, it's not a fresh look at what some teenagers are doing, and it's not shocking. It doesn't MATTER if it's new or not. "Teenage nihilism" isn't NEW. But does that mean an interesting movie can't be made out of it? People look at the supposed "attempt to be shocking" of the movie instead of the movie itself. They got so caught up in the opinions of the very young or the "open-minded" older crowd who think it really is fresh and a true cinematic masterpiece, and the SoHo-culture crowd who moan about the boringness and lack of anything even remotely redeeming about it. Watch it for the story, not the hype. Does it have a "plot"? The more important question is, does that matter? Do you get angry when your life doesn't have a plot? Is your everyday existence filled with witty, animated conversation and surprising, insightful, well-crafted themes? Does a movie need to have these PLUS an obvious, visible plot, or at least a somewhat coherent sequence of events for it to be enjoyable or entertaining to you? Why?