The Chumscrubber

Saw this one last night. It was a bit weird, but really good. I think this is one of those movies that will get even better the next time I see it. Chumscrubber is sort of a made-up pop-culture thing in this movie. There are kids playing a videogame and a cartoon/movie on TV in several scenes. It basically represents a teenager who has literally and symbolically lost his head. In my best description this movie is a lot of American Beauty, some The United States of Leland and a dash of Crash. American Beauty because this film takes place in perfect suburbia where nothing wrong is supposed to happen. The only problem is that a lot is going wrong. To top it all off the kids are continually telling the adults everything that's going on, only nobody ever listens to them. It's really quite sad. The only parent in here that seems to actually be "parenting" his child beats his son when he finds out he threw a knife into the wall. For most of the movie a child has been kidnapped for several days but his mother is so preoccupied with a wedding she doesn't even realize he's gone. The United States of Leland because there is a father figure in here who is a book-writing-psychologist/therapist who only cares about his next book. At one point he sits down for a man-to-man talk with his son because his son's best friend had recently committed suicide. This doesn't sound to bad - until he pulls out a notebook and starts making notes. His son says, "Dad, if you write about me in another one of those stupid books of yours, I'm going to kill you." This is pretty direct and out there, only the dad responds by telling his son there are several book distributors who would disagree that his books are 'stupid'. Sounds like he really cares about his family, eh? Finally, Crash because of all the interactions people have with eachother and how interconnected everyone is. This film is full of recognizable faces. Glenn Close, William Fichtner (Crash, Equilibrium, Blackhawk Down), Ralph Fiennes(The Constant Gardener, Red Dragon), John Heard (Home Alone), Lauren Holly (Dumb and Dumber), Jason Isaacs(Blackhawk Down, The Patriot), Allison Janney(American Beauty), Carrie-Anne Moss(The Matrix, Chocolat, Memento) Rita Wilson, Jamie Bell(King Kong, Billy Elliot), Camilla Belle(The Ballad of Jack and Rose), Justin Chatwin (War of the Worlds) and Rory Culkin(Mean Creek) to name a few. I'm pretty sure a lot of people won't like this movie. I think it's great. I don't know if I'd buy it, but I definitely need to see it again sometime.