There’s a genre of film out there that isn’t all that big but that folks in film making seem to think reflects more people watching film than actually exist. Then again perhaps not because the characters in these films rarely watch anything because they’re too busy talking about themselves and how wonderful yet empty their lives are. I’m talking about the movies that feature a young cast starring as bored socialite teens involved in any and all things possible. Perhaps LESS THAN ZERO started this genre but the most recent addition is TWELVE.
Chace Crawford stars as White Mike, known as such because he deals drugs to his ex-friends. A year ago Mike’s mother died of cancer and Mike hasn’t actually dealt with that. With the costs of her treatment, Mike and his dad have fallen on hard times with his dad losing his business, taking a more menial job and Mike pretty much left on his own.
Apparently the best way to help is to close yourself off from the world and deal drugs to vapid upper crust teens.
The story revolves around Mike and is more narrated than acted. While you watch a group of these teens walking down the street, the narrator (Kiefer Sutherland) tells you who they are and everything about them. And there are plenty of characters in this group. Suffice to say that every one of them, with the exception of Mike’s friend from the past Molly (Emma Roberts) who isn’t part of the spoiled rich crowd, find themselves with plenty of money and no adult supervision whatsoever.
Among this group of old friends that are now customers, we have the girl who wants nothing more than to be famous, a girl who is smart but who discovers she wants nothing more than the new drug “twelve”, a friend turned junkie who starts the story rolling by being shot with his own gun by Mike’s supplier, a youngster who only wants to be accepted by this group who opens his home to them for parties and his brother who’s totally whacked out and rebellious and whose final scene is predictable from the get go. This is not a group of people those of us in real life would chose to spend time with. But movie makers view them as “the real world”.
The lives of these characters entwine from beginning to end, all of them connecting at one time or another to Mike. Fortunately Mike is the most compelling character here, a young man trying to deal with the loss of his mother, his social status and the world around him. Mike just seems to get by, trying to survive and find himself. But the chances of doing that in his current occupation and with those he chooses to surround himself with won’t assist him in getting there. His one hope is Molly and Mike tends to shy away from her, not wanting her to know what he does now. Perhaps that’s because he’s ashamed of how he’s turned out or perhaps it’s because Molly more than anything reminds him of his mother and his past life.
The rest of the characters are cut outs that display the traits mentioned earlier. It’s hard to find a sympathetic character in the bunch. Once more we have the kids who have everything acting like they have nothing, abusing the possibilities they have at their fingertips while complaining about the world around them. One of them even gets into a discussion with her mother where mom says that another family is destitute due to economic times, that their net worth dropped 40%. Her daughter reminds her that they still have millions. Yeah, kind of hard to feel for these kids.
The life of a socialite it seems involves little more than texting, talking, going to parties, getting drunk or stoned and looking for the next big party or high. There is no talk of the future, of what they want out of life, of trying to be someone. It’s a world of self absorption where they believe the world revolves around them and their interests. Kind of like the movies that are being made these days.
I won’t give away the ending or what happens throughout the film to lead there. Suffice to say that the murdered friend of Mike, the other friend accused of the murder, the actual killer and the group of bored rich kids all come together by the final reel. And while it’s an attractive film to watch, well made and shot, in the end you won’t find yourself saying hey lets watch that one again.
Instead you’ll have spent time watching some decent acting, some good photography and a movie that’s as empty as the kids involved in the story. With the abilities on display by some of these actors let’s hope that they’re given something that gives them the chance to carry on and show what they can do.
My guess is that critics will hail this film and talk about the depth displayed when in truth its one of those films that gives you the impression the critics are totally out of touch with the rest of the world. Its worth watching for the performances alone but as a story it leaves much to be desired.
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