DVD Review: Kaboom

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I know this sounds nuttier than squirrel shit..
 
I'm slightly confused with director Gregg Araki. On one hand, he makes this beautifully done, tragic film in Mysterious Skin, and on the other he makes totally random shit like Smiley Face. Kaboom falls more into the latter category.
 
Our main character is Smith. (Thomas Dekker) He describes himself as sexually "undecided." He hooks up with London (Juno Temple) on a regular basis, but he also lusts after his straight roommate Thor. (Chris Zylka) His best friend is snarky Stella, (Haley Bennett) who ends up in a strange relationship with witch Lorelei. (Roxane Mesquida) There's lots of bold colors, lots of sex..LOTS of sex. Seriously, these kids get around. Things start to get weird when Smith realizes that Loereli has been in a reoccurring dream of his.
 
Kaboom feels like an acid trip. Like everyone was on drugs when they shot it. It's not a bad thing, it's fitting for the style they were going for, but it just wasn't all that interesting. The film takes too long to get to the big secret, and when we get there it sort of feels like a cop out. To compare it, it's like when you are trying to explain the plot of a movie to someone and you do it kind of vaguely, but you still give enough information to catch all the major details. That's what this film did. The entire thing it builds up to is told in conversation in a car. It has a ballsy ending, I'll give it that. I just expected a bit more substance from Araki.
 
Recommended: No


Grade: C
 
Memorable Quote: "It's a vagina. Not a bowl of spaghetti." - London (Juno Temple)


Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 30, 2012 at 3:57 PM

    I'm generally not wild about movies that sacrifice solid character development and storytelling for acid trip scenes. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. RuthOctober 30, 2012 at 11:11 PM

    Ooh, I remember hearing about this a little while ago...acid trip indeed! Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  3. TomOctober 31, 2012 at 8:06 AM

    Good review. I enjoyed aspects of the film. I think it tried so hard to be different and edgey at the expense of plot--The ending fell apart.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownNovember 8, 2012 at 9:41 AM

    I really liked "Smiley Face". It is one of the best stoner comedies, and I usually hate those kind of movies. Kaboom reminds me a bit of Araki's eariler movie "Nowhere"

    ReplyDelete

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