Smithereens

Audience Reviews

View All (35) audience reviews

Dollar B I just finished reading Susan Seidelman's new book and was curious to see her first movie having been a modest fan of Desperately Seeking Susan. Woefully, I'd have to say that was 90 minutes of my life I'd like to get back. The protagonist is a most unsympathetic character. I kept rooting for somebody to beat the crap out of her. The plot is thin and predictable. The music is awful. The drummer speeds up every track. This is Amateur Hour all the way. Just the worst. Not even campy. No fun in cringing at how bad this movie is although in spots, the acting is almost laughable - but not quite. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/01/24 Full Review Steve D Too slow to really engage. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/10/23 Full Review Audience Member Some of the acting is fairly amateur and it's story is lacking the coherence it needs to really work but this is a fun enough and energetic punk rocker tale from the 80s. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review s r Some great clips of early punk culture, but the plot was so simple and the direction so poor that I struggled to stay interested. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A specific moment in NYC history, captures both time and place that doesn't exist any more. I had such a soft spot for Brad Rijn's "Paul", he was a really great guy. Too bad Wren couldn't see it, but that is part of the paradox, girls never want nice guys until they have already had their fun and by then it's too late. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member NYC looks like shit in Susan Seidelman's 1982 punk debut but it is the perfect milieu for the youth at loose ends that populate her story. Most of them seem to have fled to the city to escape their home lives and to join like-minded others slumming it in the scene. Wren wants badly to be cool and she manipulates and uses others to try to reach this goal and it doesn't work well for her. The film is her character study. She falls in with nice guy Paul from Montana, who lives out of his van but she doesn't treat him right, instead trying to curry the favour of punk rocker Eric (Richard Hell) who wants to hit the road to L.A. The soundtrack by The Feelies (songs from Crazy Rhythms) is the perfect accompaniment to Wren's travails and adds mood and depth in the ellipses between scenes. The dialogue, though clearly scripted, takes on a naturalistic, almost Morrissey-Warhol sort of feel. You feel you are there. But where? In a world that no longer exists, dated, scrubbed clean, erased. Nice to see this on the big screen at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Smithereens

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Most Popular at Home Now