Mean Creek

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Joey H. @Joeyhubb1989 Dec 26 Released by Paramount Classics on August 20th, 2004; directed by Jacob Aaron Estes; produced by Rick Rosenthal, Susan Johnson and Hagai Shaham, and with a musical score composed by TomandAndy; this independent drama film tells the powerfully tragic story of a small group of friends who set out to plan a harmless revenge prank on a school bully that goes horribly, horribly wrong and the kids must then decide whether or not to deal with the consequences of their actions. Taking place in a small town in Oregon, the group of friends consist of brothers Rocky and Sam Merric, played by Trevor Morgan and Rory Culkin respectively, Sam’s girlfriend Millie played by Carly Schroeder, and Rocky’s two best friends, the troubled Martini “Marty” Blank, played by Scott Mechlowicz, who hasn’t been himself since his father committed suicide some time ago and has an older brother Kile who treats him poorly; and the reserved and quiet Clyde, played by Ryan Kelley, who gets teased and ridiculed for having two fathers. One day at school, Sam ends up getting beaten up by older school bully George Tooney, played by Josh Peck, after he innocently picks up George’s precious handheld videocamera out of curiosity. After informing his brother about what happened, Rocky, Marty and Clyde decide that they want to plan out some harmless revenge to get back at George. They proceed to invite George on a boating trip on the river under the guise of celebrating Sam’s birthday. Their plan is to take George out on the river, invite him into a game of truth or dare and ultimately have him stripped naked and thrown into the river and then leave him to have to make his way back home in the nude. Sam’s girlfriend Millie finds herself reluctantly dragged along for the trip and insists that Sam and the boys call off their plan. As the day goes on, the group soon find themselves becoming genuine friends with George after learning that he has dyslexia and is actually just a really misunderstood and lonely boy who wants to be socially accepted. This makes things complicated when everyone but Marty agrees to call off the prank. One thing leads to another on the boat trip and things eventually turn very dark and tragic and the group are forced to confront what they have done and hope that they earn forgiveness for their misdeeds. This is one of my most favorite independent films of all time. I give this film a solid ten out of ten rating with five stars. I highly recommend it to everyone I know. See more mark g @Mark_Alan_G. Jul 22 Disturbing and gripping. You go along for the ride, knowing that it won't end well. See more Jerod S @jeroduptown 12/13/2023 The creek is peaceful, the kids are the mean ones. When little Culkin gets bullied by the kid with dyslexia, his little gang of friends plan to ridicule him on the creek. But it gets much worse. See more Rami A @Bunt101 10/16/2023 A teen film that is only intended for adults and does a superb job of fusing comedy with drama. See more colin m @RT35044827 07/08/2022 Good film but the ending left me feeling shortchanged. See more dave s @RT68722908 03/16/2022 It's not that Mean Creek isn't a good movie, because it's actually pretty decent. It's just that you can't ignore the fact that it feels like you've seen it before. And why is that? Because it borrows heavily from other movies of the same type. When a bullying victim's older brother decides to dole out some retribution on the perpetrator, things take a tragic and unexpected turn. The handheld camera gets a bit tiresome at times and the whole conundrum could have been resolved by simply telling the truth, but the movie is saved by some pretty respectable performances from the young cast, a story that moves along at a nice clip and enough moral dilemmas to keep the mental wheels turning. See more Read all reviews

Mean Creek

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