Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

zero-signal Escaping from boredom of family home, where you just sit and watch tv, have a few insults ... to a garbage bin, where you WATCH TV, having idiotic conversations, hunger and diseases. what a glamorous presentation of human looseness.

Scott LeBrun Writer & director Penelope Spheeris certainly knows her way around this sort of material, having previously made the landmark documentary "The Decline of Western Civilization". She treats her subjects with sensitivity; while not really condoning their actions, the film does let you know where these kids are coming from: a society that's let them down in one way or another, or which has failed to understand them. This is low key and believable, with some potent and emotional moments and fine performances by the young cast. This is as good an example of "punks on film" as one is apt to see.Spheeris does wonders with her low budget, creating a narrative that's absorbing and entertaining if undeniably disturbing at times. This movie *is* going to lose some viewers early on due to a scene with an infant, but some of those who don't immediately turn it off will find something pretty interesting and visually arresting. The concert performances by punk groups T.S.O.L., The Vandals, and D.I. add to the experience.Young Bill Coyne is front and centre as Evan, a teen who flees his alcoholic, judgemental mother, and hooks up with a pack of punkers who all squat in an abandoned home near an L.A. freeway. It's a filthy, run-down, vermin infested place, but they call it home. An uptight group who dub themselves Citizens Against Crime vow to combat the kids, whom they see as merely a menace to polite society. And things take a real downturn when our protagonists attend a funeral, believing that they have every right to be there.The punks are a fairly colourful bunch, and they include characters such as Razzle (played by future Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea), runaway Sheila (Jennifer Clay), drug addicted Keef (Grant Miner), and charismatic leader Jack (Chris Pedersen). Their stories do keep one watching, even if there are moments that are off-putting. The finale is a real heartbreaker.Overall, this is enjoyable to watch.Eight out of 10.

xx_funkycrime_xx I'm 15 years old, i live in Melbourne, and i love old Los Angeles punk. bands like the germs, black flag, fear and the circle jerks make my world work. i was born 5 years after this film was made. this year, it was made 20 years ago, yet its good enough to make me sign up to this site and try to convince you to watch it.watch it.i love that fact that Penelope didn't use any actors with the rejected (the punk gang) so they all seemed to know what they were doing. not the best movie in the world, but in my opinion its up there, i really enjoy it. 10/10 for entertainment and honesty

jonah hex This movie sucks. It is, however, the suckiest movie that I have ever wanted to watch about 50 times in my lifetime. This is the definitive punk-fiction film. No other movie more accurately portrayed what it was like to grow up in the punk scene in the eighties, and it's one of the only films to show what it was like to squat in the punk scene in Los Angeles. It's true, if you get a bunch of real punks and attempt to make them actors and get Roger"Carnosaur"Corman to produce it, you should probably expect something to this effect, but the hammy dialogue and acting are part of the charm. I wholly related to this movie as a teenager, and will always look back fondly upon it. Cheers to Penelope Spheeris, for creating a PR classic.