Crime and Punishment in Suburbia Movie Review 2000

Dostoyevsky heads to the mall in this suburban gloomfest very loosely based on the classic Russian novel. Roseanne (Keena) is a pretty, popular teen whose family life is screwed up beyond repair. Her father Fred (Ironside) is an abusive monster and her mother Maggie (Barkin) is a drunken floozy. She hopes that she can endure the situation until she graduates, but Fred's reaction to an affair by Maggie causes her to contemplate killing her father. With the help of her boyfriend Jimmy (DeBello), Roseanne murders her old man. When her mother is arrested for the crime and she becomes an outcast at school, she turns to mysterious classmate Vincent (Kartheiser) for solace, not knowing he's been lurking in the shadows and observing everything. The themes explored in this grim view of suburbia were better served up in "American Beauty."

Distribution

MGM Home Entertainment, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90404-6061, Phone: (310)449-3000, Fax: (310)449-3100, URL: http://www.mgmhomevideo.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 98 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Books to Film: Fyodor Dostoyevski, Modern Updates, Savannah, Bad Dads, Crime Drama, Ethics & Morals, Frame-Ups, Strained Suburbia, Teen Angst

Screenplay

Larry Gross

Cast

Monica Keena, Vincent Kartheiser, Ellen Barkin, Michael Ironside, Jeffrey Wright, James DeBello, Conchata Ferrell, Marshall Teague, Brad Greenquist, Lucinda Jenney

Cinematography

Bobby Bukowski

Director

Rob Schmidt

Music

Michael Brook