The Chumscrubber (2005)

32 out of 32 people found the following review helpful:

Bizarre

MikeyboyPaines from from Fareham, 12th November, 2006

I went to see Chumscrubber without knowing anything about it and found the experience pretty bizarre. It's a weird combination of smalltown American soap opera, teen drama and David Lynchian weirdness. The nearest comparison I can make is Donnie Darko, but without the time travel / rabbit stuff. Fantastic cast, some excellent dialogue and some unpredictable twists make it an interesting and involving film. However, I found the Chumscrubber video game / tv show that the kids watch throughout the film to be a concept shoehorned into the plot with no relevance to the rest of the movie. Otherwise, recommended!

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22 out of 27 people found the following review helpful:

My face is bleeding

mugwump from from Glossop, 1st October, 2007

This film does not know what it wants to be. It is a crappy teen relationship flick, a study of suburban anomie, a confused, quirky leftfield comedy and thumb in the mouth, sulky, pubescent whine but mostly its just unwatchable and clueless. The characters are caricatures and the 'hook' that the town are all on chems to get through the day was so outrageous it would have been more at home in Tim Burtons suburbia. The kidnapping story was well unconvincing, as were the Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters, Glenn Close was in wide eyed maniac Cruella de Vil mode as the maladjusted bereaved mother. I turned it off after an hour. The cinematography was nice.

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21 out of 23 people found the following review helpful:

rubbish

kcm from , 31st December, 2007

rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishrubbisrubbishh

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14 out of 17 people found the following review helpful:

Painful!!

Psychopsyme from from Hull, 16th November, 2007

I watched this film to the bitter end hoping for some sort of reason for sitting still for an hour and a half, but no it just left me and my wife slowly shaking our heads in disbelief at this awful film, i like weired but this film had no drive. DONT WASTE YOUR TIME, LIFE IS TOO SHORT, peeling spuds is more interesting!

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*** May contain spoilers ***

fails to deliver what it proposes

steve1959 from , 31st August, 2010

A disappointment, the script, story and directing were poor. Even the great actors in the film could not save it. The problem is the script, the characters were unreal and unbelievable. The film fails to deliver what it proposes. There are much better, more honest, films out there for example Society (1989) covers the class angle being represented, and for the teen issue I would go with Rivers Edge (1987). For family deconstruction, stick with American Beauty (1999), The Ice Storm (1997) and possibly Mysterious Skin (2004) if you can handle it. The Chumscrubber has been likened to Donnie Darko (2001), search me! I disliked The Chumscrubber as much as Paranoid Park (2007), something about the unreality. The Chumscrubber, however, lets itself down, and can’t go the whole hog, hence the soppy ending, which goes against the whole premise of the story.

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Very Good

Ell1981 from from London, 22nd August, 2010

This film definitely deserves a view-It doesn't adhere to the usual rules and attempts to subtley expose the human condition without over doing it. The acting complements this throughout and is spot on. There are some big names-none of whom attempt to steal the show. Excellent.

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Truly Awful

A Customer from Nottingham, 7th March, 2010

Self obsessed pointless clap trap. I don't turn many movies off but this was one of them. Don't waste your money. I give most films about half an hour to capture my interest. This one didn't.

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*** May contain spoilers ***

Watch Thumbsucker instead...

A Customer from London, 14th May, 2009

Amazing cast. Was very excited by the trailer for this (Alison Janney anyone?)....soooo disapointing. It really is a wannabe Thumbsucker. Unfortunately there isa real trend of these films at the moment, which I dont think helps. There is nothing fresh here. Its all very heavy handed - the parents are too busy to notice the child is missing for the whole film because they are all caught up in their lives - the psychiatrist father gives drugs to his son because he is too caught up in his own life - the policeman is too caught.....you get it. So did I , after about 20 minutes. Thats not to say it is a bad film, or badly played. If you have never seen a film like this I am sure it will make some impact. I have to admit there was a scene that made me cry. Billy Elliot is very good. I didnt like Brick much at all. This film is a cross between Brick and (far superior)Thumbsucker with a little touch of (far superior) Running with Scissors and (far superior) Heathers. A real waste of obvious effort, and good cast.

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