Bully - DVD Review

MOVIE
VIDEO
AUDIO
EXTRAS
OVERALL

One Disc
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
English & Spanish Subtitles
Music Only Track
Original Theatrical Trailers
Interviews with Cast & Crew
Run Time: 113 Minutes
Keep Case

MOVIE
Not Rated, but worthy of an NC-17 for nonstop sex and nudity and a brief sequence of gore

Well. Hmm. I'm not sure exactly how to begin with this one; so I'll take the roundabout way. I hate Trainspotting. (How about that roundabout way?) And I hate Kids. I need to either like or be able to identify with at least one person in a film to like it. (This isn't always true, but usually.) Even when the characters are repulsive people, I need to be able to look around that and find a gleeful joy in their repulsiveness. Often, simply the casting of an actor I really like will allow me to get around my hatred for the characters. In the cases of Trainspotting and Kids, these were stupid people doing stupid things and I got to the point where I wished they'd just OD, or get AIDS. At least we'd be rid of them. This is not a good position to be coming from with a film. Bully feels like that to a slightly lesser extent.
Which brings me to Kids. WHY, Windom? Because Kids and Bully share a director. Okay, there we go, I've brought it in. But I'd like to say some words about Kids. This film, released back in 1995 was the herald of a wave of teens behaving badly films that has somewhat tapered off as of late. Despite being touted as a wakeup call to America to mind its damned teenagers, overall it comes off as being little more then exploitative filth. And I LIKE exploitative filth. So why didn't Kids get me going? First of all, despite all the fans of the film insisting that the film is completely accurate and the performances of the non actors tremendous, bottom line is, it's not true. The accuracy of the film is much like my analysis of the accuracy and realism of David Mamet and Kevin Smith's dialogue. Hyperreal may feel real, but it's not. Instead, Kids is a collection of segments where the characters do awful things to mainly awful people. And I don't care.
Which brings me to Bully. So I didn't hate it. The characters, while still incredibly stupid in their drug-addled stupors, don't repel me as much as those in Kids or Trainspotting. But they're still not at all endearing. Even those that are meant to be endearing don't manage it. It's the story of two childhood friends Marty and Bobby (Brad Renfro and future John Connor, Nick Stahl) falling apart. Marty struggles with a strange sexuality, turning phone tricks to men he meets at a club with Bobby while both insist on their heterosexuality. Bobby is the pent up, frustrated, closeted gay man so chic in films these days causing the gay community to rise up and protest. . .Kevin Smith's movies. Damn them. Didn't GLAAD get the screener tape of Bully where Bobby rapes Ali (Bijou Phillips) while watching a homemade gay porn film? So Marty and Bobby meet up with friends Ali and Lisa (Rachel Miner) and Lisa falls helplessly in love with Marty. Ali, already dating Donny (Michael Pitt), won't have sex with Bobby, but she has no problem with a quick blowjob while her best friend and Marty get it on in the back seat. Of course such often sex with seemingly no birth control leads Lisa to a pregnancy that Marty is shocked and upset about. Bobby's relationship with Marty is abusive and has, apparently been for some time, coming to a head when Bobby throws Marty off of Lisa and rapes her himself. This leads Lisa to a decision, for Marty's sake and that of the world, they'll kill Bobby. She calls in a rough team of busted out of the psychiatric clinic Heather (Kelli Garner), Lisa's poor devoted cousin Derek (Daniel Franzese) and a Hitman (Leo Fitzpatrick).
So, is there anything to like about the film? Oddly, yes. The performance by Rachel Miner as Lisa is quite good, and her angelic face almost makes up for the horrific things she's doing. Brad Renfro, while able to make a monstrous character sympathetic before (in Apt Pupil) fails to make an easier connection through a supposedly sympathetic character who can't understand why his girlfriend could get pregnant. They've just been having unprotected sex several times a day for weeks now. HOW DID IT HAPPEN LORD? WE WERE SO CAREFUL! Maybe I just can't sympathize. And I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but maybe Ali deserved her rape. Oooooh. Now that's nasty coming from your friendly neighborhood DVD reviewer, eh? Well, let me attempt to quantify my last statement. Bobby and Marty were hanging out with Lisa, Lisa called Ali and told her that Bobby wanted to f*ck her and that he was into some kinky stuff. Ali came over. (Big error in judgment) She took Bobby into the back room. She took off her clothes and laid down on the bed, wiggling her finger at Bobby to come to her, then gets upset when he's a bit rough. Okay, no one deserves to get raped, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a case of "asking for it" that I'd be more willing to go along with. Phillips plays her role as a skank from the get go, doing drugs, drinking, and sucking on any guy that comes across her path. Man, it makes me angry. People who behave this way and think they deserve everything they have. And people that behave like this in a movie make me angrier. Even when it IS based on a true story.
In addition. As many well know, I'm a champion of nudity in films. I believe that we need to be a lot less uptight about our bodies and model ourselves on European views of sex as beautiful instead of our perverse censorship of sex and praise of violence. Bully however may go too far, showing countless scenes of sex and full frontal nudity of both genders. It'll likely reopen the argument of whether or not it is okay to show actors over 18 portraying actors under 18 in sexual situations. That, I don't have an answer for.

VIDEO QUALITY
The film was a low budget effort and looks it. It's not slick, the lighting is bad at times and the darks are muddy. The transfer is good, though, bringing through the colors of the instantly recognizable Florida, though ultimately is fairly unsatisfying. The film is presented in its original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 Anamorphic and, well, just isn't thrilling.

AUDIO QUALITY
The soundtrack is often dominated by rap songs and many will probably love how they are encompassing, coming out of all five speakers The dialogue is often muffled, but one assumes that wasn't a product of the DVD release, but rather a product of poor filmmaking. Otherwise, there are occasional surround effects with sound effects moving from speaker to speaker, but nothing noteworthy, earning this soundtrack a simple: eh.

EXTRAS
Okay. The extras on this disc are all interviews with the cast and director Larry Clark. The only three actors who come off as remotely intelligent and insightful are Brad Renfro, Michael Pitt and Rachel Miner. They seem to have put some thought into their roles, the film and the script. Meanwhile, Director Clark and the remaining actors are superficial and vain with Clark telling us, one after another, that his cast members are going to be huge after this film, and that this will bridge the gap for Renfro between his kid and adult roles. But he was bridging that gap in Apt Pupil, and you even mention that film, Mr. Clark! These extras do the opposite of what extras are supposed to do by making you dislike the film, rather than support it.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
I'd like to apologize, upon reread, this review is rather mean spirited and angry. But you'll notice I didn't change a word of it, because these are my true thoughts about the film, I guess owing to the power of it. Bad films generally don't make you angry. And I suppose the same could even be said about Kids. Bad films make you not watch them again or turn them off. Bad films with some power make you keep watching and elicit such a strong response from you as ABJECT HATRED, well, perhaps there's something more there.