The Chumscrubber - 11/11

[fluff]

R | 1 hr 42 mins | Drama

From Hollywood.com

Dean Stiffle knows the score. Hillside--a beautiful community in Anywhere, USA--may look like a postcard from the frontlines of the American Dream, but teenage Dean knows better. When Troy, Dean's best friend and the town's leading drug dealer, hangs himself in his bedroom his death throws the community's carefully maintained psychotherapeutic balance into disarray. At school, in an effort to get their hands on Troy's stash, Dean's classmates Billy, Crystal, and Lee plot a kidnapping scheme: they'll abduct Dean's younger brother, Charlie, and hold him for ransom for Dean retrieving Troy's pills. Only, the hapless gang kidnaps the wrong boys, snatching Charlie Bratley instead. Son of divorced parents--police officer Lou Bratley, and interior decorator--Charlie's disappearance goes unnoticed by his mother, who is too consumed with the planning of her elaborate second wedding to town mayor Michael Ebbs, to realize her son has gone missing. As the teens play out their botched kidnapping, Troy's devastated mother plans a memorial service, and Terri and Michael prepare for their wedding, we realize that the kids and adults of Hillside live entirely separately lives--like two opposing camps. All they share is an easy-fix culture that holds out the promise of panaceas they believe will make them happy--be it do-it-yourself mental healthcare, vitamin supplement shakes, an Ivy League acceptance, the perfect body, a fairy tale wedding, self-help books, or New Age mysticism. It is up to our affectless antihero Dean to shrug off his cloak of psychic invisibility and decide both whether and now to negotiate these crooked worlds.

Cast
Ralph Fiennes - Michael Ebbs
Rita Wilson - Terri Bratley
Lou Taylor Pucci - Lee
Carrie-Anne Moss - Jerri Falls
Glenn Close - Mrs. Johnson
Allison Janney - Mrs. Stiffle
Camilla Belle - Crystal Falls
Justin Chatwin - Billy
Lauren Holly - Boutique Owner
Jamie Bell - Dean Stiffle
Rory Culkin - Charlie Stiffle
Josh Janowicz - Troy
Richard Gleason - Parent
Caroline Goodall - Mrs. Parker
John Heard - Officer Lou Bratley
Jason Isaacs - Mr. Parker
Thomas Curtis - Charley Bratley
Tim DeKay - Mr. Peck
William Fichtner - Dr. Bill Stiffle

[Google]

 

[AJane]

This sounds pretty interesting. I really like William Fichtner, too...it might be worth paying full ticket price for.

[ClosetRTWatcher]

I know this is a pretty old movie thread, but someone recommended it to me recently so I got it from Netflix. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the little synopsis here doesn't do it justice. The whole drug-dealer/kidnapping story is just the vehicle to take you through a story which really has a much deeper and more profound message. I could probably go on-and-on about the message this movie delivers, but I will refrain because it is probably a bit different for each viewer.

I was really surprised I had never heard of it given the fantastic actors that are involved. IMO, it is definitely worth a watch for people who enjoy dark comedy and satirical social commentary.