All work and no play makes the Young & Successful feel unbalanced! To rescue our overworked souls, YSN member and movie aficionado Rama Tampubolon discusses the latest hot topics and movie reviews every Thursday on Waste Time Wisely. He runs the movie review and discussion blog, Rama’s Screen, and was featured in “United 300,” which won for “Best Spoof” at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards.
This is an excellent friendship movie! It’s heartfelt family movie that has a bit of comedy, a bit of drama and a lot of silly but funny stunt work. It’s charming, feel-good and entertaining. Never since Stand By Me has there been a friendship boyhood movie that deals with growing up and never losing that fun side of being a kid. This movie teaches what it means to be a friend to somebody.
SYNOPSIS: Will comes from a religious family and Lee Carter looks up to his older brother who doesn’t seem to care if he exists or not. One is a naive boy and the other can’t seem to get away from trouble. Will is exposed to Rambo bootleg and finds it fascinating; Lee Carter needs a stunt man for his movie project. Together they will work to win the year’s Screen Test award.
It’s pretty cool to see the two unknown young actors giving all they’ve got in their performances as two kids with different personalities and backgrounds who find a common interest that leads to true friendship. I think two future stars have arrived in this movie. Their acting is more interesting and surprisingly more skilled than most crappy actors we see in crappy movies these days.
I enjoy the movie’s take on the art of film making. It shows us the process of shooting a scene, editing, lighting, dubbing and more… even though it’s done in an amateurish kinda way.
The story is set in the early 80s, so you can imagine how it was twice as hardto make an amateur, short movie without the help of any of today’s programs like Mac’s Final Cut.
The movie even dogs on bootlegging and piracy! 🙂
The story is, of course, the vital organ that makes this movie stand out. It has the characters’ first meeting, the start of their project, conflict that arises from the presence of a French foreign exchange student, and a borderline perfect ending inside the theater.
This movie does well in paying tribute to the 80’s, from the hairstyle to the music, the clothes to the dances. It’s got it down really well. I’m glad we’re not in the 80’s anymore because I’d look ridiculous if I had hair like they did back then.
The movie’s got some random funny jokes, mostly involving the French kid.
Two boys: One is a troublemaker but mainly because that’s the only way he can channel his frustration over the fact that his mother and his brother are never there for him. The other wants to run away from the strict religious life and silly rules that his family upholds — rules that include not watching TV or movies (in other words, have a crappy childhood but get to heaven).
Two boys driven by their desire to win a film trophy will find a much more worthy award in the end.
My grade for this film: 5 out of 5
