------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall Rating : 5/10
Directed By : Rafal Zielinski
Renée Humphrey (Mallrats)
Alicia Witt (Urban Legend)
William R. Moses (Wicked)
Leslie Hope (Shadow Builder)
Supplied By : TrueGore Vintage DVD
BUY IT HERE : www.truegore.com
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Feb. 13, 2007
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PLOT Bonnie and Hillary are two young lost souls who meet one day and discover that they get along. They talk about their lives and run around and and keep getting really excited. Their day escalates into an eruption of violence and rage that can only be understood by the two girls. |
||||
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| THE REVIEW Based on the play of the same name, FUN tells the story of teens Bonnie and Hilary. Bonnie, more hyper in nature, and Hilary the more "tough of the two as much as the differ, they are also more one in the same. The day the two girls would meet at a bus stop would be the day their lives would change forever. Bonnie and Hilary through intimate conversation revealing their inner most secrets to one another realize that they relate to one another, which is rare for the two as they feel they live in their own isolated worlds away from everyone else - thus they form a bond that seems unbreakable. Within the first day of their meeting, they make a statement in saying that the only purpose in life is having fun, and fun is what they have. The girls run around acting wild, going to arcades, eating food and laughing, the day culminates with the two going into a neighborhood and randomly selecting doors to prank knock on - one such knock would bring them to the door of Mrs.. Farmer, a widowed old lady... and this results in her murder. Before watching FUN, I had no idea what to expect, but figured it would be comparable to films such as THIRTEEN and the like, while it is in a sense, FUN is very unique and quite different. The film starts off when shots of a home with blood sprayed in various locations, and we learn that this is a scene of the aftermath of the crime we would soon be learning about in the forthcoming film. The film is shot in a very unorthodox and unconventional manner, the film actually begins the story with the girls already placed in a juvenile center for what they did, with every shot win the juvenile center being black and white - and later we would see the accounts of their actions via flashbacks in color. Shooting in both black and what, and color is perhaps the most unique part of this film - as I see at as the black and white scenes signify that their 'fun' has ended while as the colored scenes signify the fun, they see as being life's purpose being alive and kicking in those moments. Most of the film does take place in the juvie center with both a counselor and a magazine reporter interviewing the two, trying to get some insight, and like most killers you get the feeling Bonnie and Hilary did it for fame, they wanted to be famous. At first yes the interviews are insightful, and they keep your interest, but as the film progresses you find that the most interesting scenes are the one's in which display what happens on the day the two met and caused trouble, scenes that there are just not enough of, which makes the rest of the film drag and rendering the early on interest to dull down a bit. However, as far as acting goes, it is above average, as you really do have some really great performances here - especially by the two lading actresses, Alicia Witt and Renée Humphrey. I have a mere recollection of seeing Humphrey in MALLRATS(as that is the only film I have seen her in besides this one), but I can she does a fine job in playing the tougher more timid of the duo. Witt on the other hand I have seen a lot of, and this has to be one of her most finest performances if not her best - she is the more energetic, or 'spastic' i'd say and it is so convincing at times, you find yourself wondering if she may be under the influence of something.... Overall, in mentioning these two great performances, the characters of Bonnie and Hilary, are the only truly interesting things about FUN, as the lack of an interesting supporting cast, and a murder scene payoff that turns out having less of an impact than you'd expect(after all, it IS the plot focal point of the film), in the end makes the film far less enjoyable than it should've been. |
||||
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| GORE
METER 3/10 the gore in FUN really as you'd expect only consists of the murder scene, which is just a lot of blood splatter. - and in another scene displays Hilary washing blood out of a rater hyper Bonnie's hair and blood-stained clothing. |
||||
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| MUSICAL
SCORE 2/10 As for the score, all I can remember is some classical with a little techno. |
||||
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM FUN is an interesting film(supposedly based on true events), but it really does not have the substance nor backbone, so to speak of other films that are similar as it has only one focus that is not focused on enough - I guess what I am trying to say is that, had FUN been done as a short film as to opposed to a feature link, I feel it would have been more effective. |
||||
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| STILLS | ||||
|
