This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Publish or Perish
Plot Overview
Small potatoes, high school paper, wannabe writer Bobby Funke (Reece
Thompson) has yet to publish a qualifying article for his entry
into Northwestern University's summer journalism program. The
paper's editor Clara Diaz (Melonie Diaz) takes pity on him and assigns
him an easy bio piece on popular student
body president Paul Moore (Patrick Taylor.)
A scandal breaks out wrt
Paul, and Funke breaks the story but has personal reservations.
Trying to confirm it necessitates a lot of snooping and his loss of
innocence (“I'm so gonna corrupt you.”) He goes from
“school joke” to “newspaper dork” to
“doctor love” to “dickhead” to “just
another tormented freshman sophomore” and beyond.
As author Russell Banks writes:
I had been innocent, but now that I had begun to sense the impossibility of innocence in this world, I was fast losing it. One didn't have to participate in the crime in order to lose one's innocence; one merely had to acknowledge its existence. (46)
Ideology
Conflicts arise between Funke and the
DMV as well
as between him and the Student Council in the vein of, (Prov. 30:33) “Surely the churning of
milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth
forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.”
The idea in the proverb
is that a state of peace and conciliation can erupt into to one of
war just as a liquid (milk) can change to solid (butter) through continual
agitation (churning.) Or hit a critical area (nose) and it bleeds.
The movie shows us Funke chewing gum all day long until finally it
loses its flavor, to be adhered to a piece of furniture where it will
solidify. And the bad boys' ringleader Marlon Piazza (Luke Grimes)
bops Funke on the nose (“Try not to get blood on the carpet”)
for his meddling (“My mom will get pissed.”)
The lady driving examiner is very patient
with Mr Funke as he fails (“Nope”) test after test to return to
try again later. However, there comes a point where he tears it and
loses all her goodwill (“Get the fuck out!”) It's a given
that students will suffer a certain amount of abuse in high school, but the
really motivated ones will be devastated by low SAT scores and will want vengeance on whoever
broke into the principal's office to tweak them.
Production Values
“” (2008) was directed by Brett Simon. It was written by Kevin Jakubowski and Tim Calpin. It stars Reece Thompson, Mischa Barton and Bruce Willis. Thompson gave a good performance as a sophomore trying to fill shoes bigger than what he's used to. Bruce Willis as hard nosed Principal Kirkpatrick can add another feather in his cap. Through a combination of casting, coaching, acting and makeup—at St. Donovan's they conformed to identical school uniforms—the characters seemed genuine in all their diversity.
MPA rated it R
for sexual content, some nudity, language, and drug and alcohol use
– all involving teens. The dialogue audio was murky at times
but the subtitles work. The characters were memorable but evoke a
high school experience many would prefer to forget.
Production company problems ixnayed its 2009 scheduled release, but it's now available on DVD. Runtime is 1½ hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
The obvious parochial school setting didn't go out of its way to put down Catholicism or Christianity. This one works as a teen movie if you're into that sort of thing. I like all kinds. There are no major flaws if that's your bag and it even has one major actor.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture cited from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Banks, Russell. “Captain Blood.” The Book Of Jamaica. Copyright © 1980 by Russell Banks. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1980. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org