If you watched this movie and at the end DIDN'T know why kids went on shooting rampages back around the turn of the century and commit suicide now, then you are completely ignorant to bullying in schools and the effect it has on victims.
I first saw this a couple years ago as a lead in for a special showing of the Get Smart reboot, and I was ready to walk out less than a half hour of this thing starting and not come back for Get Smart.
It showcases the things that bullying victims often go through: a relentless tormentor, parents who are unwilling to listen to their problems or refuse to believe them, and a school that refuses to defend the victims, even at times SIDING WITH the bully. It also shows the desperation that victims go to in hiring someone to protect them because NO ONE else will.
The three kids tried to do the right thing until the point where Owen Wilson comes in. They tried to deal with the problem themselves, to talk to their parents, and to the school administrators. What they did and went through is a reflection of what bullying victims go through, in that they see no out from their problems and try to resolve it in the worst way. This movie tries to make light of people who are victimized and whatever moral the writers were shooting for was LOST.
The bully at the end got what was coming to him to a point: He was just arrested and shipped off for his parents to deal with; but there was no real punishment shown, which is the giant flaw of Apatow and Hughes' work. If a person (the antagonist) has gotten to the point where they're torturing students and manipulating adults into thinking that his actions are pure, then he cannot be simply "fixed" by his parents punishing him. He is a psychopath.
It is sad that this is John Hughes' last film, as it is a sour note to go out on. 1/10, and it's only because I can't give it a 0/10.
I first saw this a couple years ago as a lead in for a special showing of the Get Smart reboot, and I was ready to walk out less than a half hour of this thing starting and not come back for Get Smart.
It showcases the things that bullying victims often go through: a relentless tormentor, parents who are unwilling to listen to their problems or refuse to believe them, and a school that refuses to defend the victims, even at times SIDING WITH the bully. It also shows the desperation that victims go to in hiring someone to protect them because NO ONE else will.
The three kids tried to do the right thing until the point where Owen Wilson comes in. They tried to deal with the problem themselves, to talk to their parents, and to the school administrators. What they did and went through is a reflection of what bullying victims go through, in that they see no out from their problems and try to resolve it in the worst way. This movie tries to make light of people who are victimized and whatever moral the writers were shooting for was LOST.
The bully at the end got what was coming to him to a point: He was just arrested and shipped off for his parents to deal with; but there was no real punishment shown, which is the giant flaw of Apatow and Hughes' work. If a person (the antagonist) has gotten to the point where they're torturing students and manipulating adults into thinking that his actions are pure, then he cannot be simply "fixed" by his parents punishing him. He is a psychopath.
It is sad that this is John Hughes' last film, as it is a sour note to go out on. 1/10, and it's only because I can't give it a 0/10.