Truly Evil, or Starved Looking for Friends???

Everyone at some point in their childhood experiences a bully. Except maybe those of us who were the bully. "Mean Creek" is a painfully realistic portayal of a prank gone wrong. Writer/director Jacob Aaron Estes has managed to blend realistic cinematography with an excellent ensamble cast of bright young actors to bring this story to life. As the film opens, we see a schoolyard fight already in progress. The bully (George), is played especially well by Josh Peck. More recently he has been seen in "What Goes Up" and my personal favorite of his, "The Wackness". Early on we get a sense that he is your typical everyday bully. Starving for attention, Held back in school, overweight, self consious, apparent single parent home. His target is Sam, played by Rory Culkin. Recently he has been in such films as "Igby Goes Down", and "Lymelife". Sam's older brother who looks out for him is Rocky, played by Trevor Morgan. He is tired of seeing his brother get beat up by George so he schemes with his buddies to give George "what fatboy has comming to him". The leader of Rocky's pack is Marty, played painfully accurate by Scott Mechlowicz. He has his own issues that fully explain the type of character he portrays. Humiliation is the plan for George and so the gang plans a fake birthday party for Sam. They invite George out boating with the gang for the day. Its here that we meet Sam's innocent girfriend Millie who wants nothing to do with any of this. Millie is played by the talented Carly Shroeder who hasn't done much big screen acting, but is now 19 and hopefully will have a good career ahead of her. When she finally gets word of the plan she is furious and demands that Sam put an end to it. All except Marty, who is looking to take out his aggression on someone else, sees that George is a nice kid who is just looking for friends. They all call off the plan, but once something goes wrong, the unimaginable happens and any more will ruin the intensity of film completley.
This film relys on its young actors to lead the way. Their performances are authentic and personal. Having grown up around the same time this film came out, and being just a little older than these kids were at that time, I remember how bullies acted and how they needed to fit in. This film was released in 2004 and is a real gem. Some parts may be too much for some viewers because of the intensity and how realistic it feels, but that is what makes this film flourish. A solid piece of work which can be held at the same level as "Kids", and even the similarly intense film "Bully".