The Vicious Kind DVD
The Vicious Kind starring Adam Scott, Brittany Snow and Alex Frost is a bold look inside a dysfunctional family and the ways they cope with their problems.
Film making 10/25
Video 18/25
Audio 18/25
Bonus Features 18/25
Total 64/100
Adam Scott plays Caleb Sinclaire who picks up his brother Peter and the brother's new girlfriend Emma to bring them home for the Thanksgiving break. Peter, played by Alex Frost, is a tough working student who has a new girl friend in Emma played by Brittany Snow.
Peter does not quite understand why his brother will still not talk with their father or even visit their boyhood home but the father Donald played by J.K Simmons , has his own resentments. Donald and his wife, their mother had a falling out years ago when she had an affair and then died from cancer a year later.
When Caleb brings Emma and Peter to Donald's for the holiday he is immediately struck with the likeness of Emma to Caleb's recent girlfriend who broke up with him. He is attracted to Emma and finds out later that Emma is also attracted to him.
In a true mix up of stories and going into dark territory Emma and Caleb have a quick affair right under the nose of Peter who has not slept with Emma yet or any girl for that matter. To make matters worse Caleb is going slightly nuts from his past breakup and even from his mother and father's previous problems.
The film starts off dark and brooding and never lets up and in what can only be described as the totally typical dysfunctional family film the stares are the first thing to fly. Other events highlight the problems the characters face in their personal lives like Caleb stalking Emma and trying to take some pictures of her.
It's this sort of stalking of Emma by Caleb throughout the film, Caleb's obsession with Donald being at fault for his mother's death or break up and much more that ruins the film.
The story is good enough and the actors do a good job but they just took the film in an odd direction that left a lot to be desired for believability. The film shows a dysfunctional family at the their worst and offers no reason to really care what happens to them beyond going about their daily business and getting on with life.
I found myself watching the clock and wondering how I would write the review instead of enjoying the film and this is truly a bad sign for a movie. When my mind wanders constantly and I cannot even pay attention to what is going on during a movie it is not interesting enough to even want to watch.
The Vicious Kind was an alright movie and well done technically with some good extras but the movies story and direction leaves a lot to be desired. They just did not give enough heart to any one person or character to make you want to find out what happens in the end.
By the end of the movie it was not a total shock to find out it was not really the mother who had the affair or that Emma was also a virgin before she had sex with Caleb who accused her of being a whore earlier. Things like this go hand in hand with these dark drama/dysfunctional family films and is quite apropos here.
I was not thrilled with The Vicious Kind and found it to be wanting in some areas to really care about anyone of the characters to make the film enjoyable. This is a definite rental film to see if it's even worth a purchase if you're interested in those dark family films with lots of real life drama and emotion.