The Chumscrubber (2005)'s comments

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Siskoid

The Chumscrubber is a very dark comedy about a Los Angeles suburb rocked by the suicide of a teenager. Though the protagonist is a teen himself, the dead boy's best friend, and there's a teen cast that gets involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping and knife play, it's really the parents who are the subject of the film's satire. All this drama is happening, but the adults are in their own petty bubbles, all acting busy so they don't realize they lead emotionally empty lives, and not noticing their kids are getting into trouble (or through parental permissiveness, allowing it). The parents each have their own thing going, and are represented by a superb cast that includes Allison Janney, Ralph Fiennes, Carrie-Anne Moss, and the heart-breaking Glenn Close. So what does the title refer to? It's a zombie hero character from a video game the teens play, and though thematically consistent in this over-medicated, apathetic, numbed world, perhaps an element too many. But I won't call the film messy or haphazard in its juggling of so many characters; I think it works.

7 years 6 months ago