Manic Movie Review 2001

Lyle (Gordon-Levitt), prone to fits of violent rage, is sent to a juvenile psychiatric hospital to control his temper. There he meets, but doesn't exactly warm up to, a variety of other mentally and emotionally troubled teens. Led by patient counselor David (Cheadle), they endure group sessions that do little but introduce the audience to the varied, if stereotypical problems of the other patients. These scenes do point out the reality that there are rarely any quick fixes in this area. Lyle eventually is drawn to shy Tracy, who suffers from crushingly low self-esteem. Excellent performances and script keep the situations and emotions realistic, mostly avoiding cliche, but the affected Dogme-style jittery hand-held digital camera work is a distraction that's not needed.

Distribution

Sony Pictures Home Video, Sony Pictures Plz., 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232, Phone: (310)244-7306, Fax: (310)280-2485, URL: http://www.spe.sony.com, Remarks: Formerly Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 100 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Mental Hospitals, Sanity Check, Teen Angst, Shrinks

Screenplay

Michael Bacall, Blayne Weaver

Cast

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Don Cheadle, Zooey Deschanel, Cody Lightning, Sara Rivas, Michael Bacall, William Richert, Elden (Ratliff) Henson, Blayne Weaver

Cinematography

Nick Hay

Director

Jordan Melamed

Other

Dierdre O'Hara, Madeleine Gavin, Gloria Rosa Vela, David Broer, Dahlia Foroutan, Carol Strober

Producer

Kirk Hassig, Trudi Callon, IFC Films