[.ca] Bully (Widescreen)

Porn or Important film?:
This is about the infamous case of Marty Puccio murdering his best friend in Florida a few years back. The movie is mostly just a raunchy fabrication with splashes of truth mixed in. But thats expected. The media hardly ever portrays the actual truth and in this case it makes for some very effective viewing. You will see this and think about it long and hard and then google up the case and read up on the facts. Perhaps that is the point. It will effect you, you'll want to know more. As with all Larry Clark films, nudity and sex is ever-present. And with all Larry clark films, its slightly unneccesary. Theres unneeded crotch shots of 90lb Bijou Phillips, added scenes of explicit sex that has nothing to do with the plot and tons of shots of Rachel Miner simply lounging around in the nude for no reason at all. Sure, some of the sex is very important to the plot but 80% of it is just there for shock value or masturbatory purposes. Larry Clark is indeed a perverted man. But thats no secret. Just keep this in mind when you turn the dvd on and look around the corner to make sure the kids are still sleeping and the parents are busy. Overall, the movie is important. Its powerful and the raunchy additives add to the grusome details but in some parts its overdone in the sex department. If you've got an open mind and you're willing to sit through several explicit scenes then you should certainly get this movie. Otherwise, don't bother. You'll just be offended or simply annoyed.

he is a smart director with so much potential:
This movie is one of my favorites Larry Clark knows how to make learning lessons interesting and fun. In kids it was all about learning how aids can get around so fast. This one is a learning how killing someone is not the right way to go and how you plan is not how the murder will end up.If you watch his movies for more than sex and drugs you will see a true message behind each one. He knows how to truly get inside peoples heads and make them think he is a director that thinks outside the box and directs his attention towards trouble youth. Also there is good eye candy for girls and guys.

Bully:
I wouldn't really call this film 'explicit' or 'shocking' per se, but it does leave its effect on you. The film does have its fare share of sex, but nothing pornographic; exploitative perhaps, especially with the young actors and all, but nothing 'pert. to porn'. Personally I preferred Clark's previous film 'Kids' much more. Despite being based on actual happenings, this film didn't really seem ( to me ) to have a sense of reality. Usually I would attribute that as a good thing, but most of this just looks like it was something done up for an MTV special. This first half of the film I didn't particularly like: mainly just consisting of aimless sex and drug use... Which is fine and all, but should be made better use of. The second half of the film does get substantially better: after the crime has been committed, the character's emotions and states of mind quickly condense and implode in on them; which is orchestrated very well. It's not a bad film, but it's not a great film... It is good though. My favorite character was actually Lisa's friend Claudia ( I believe it was ), who seemed like the conscience of a film drenched with apathy. Too bad more use wasn't made of her :(.

A daunting wake-up call for parental responsibilities...:
Bully is a darkly profound story about irresponsible and thoughtless adolescents lacking adult supervision. The story revolves around Marty Puccio (Brad Renfro), who has been a friend of Bobby Kent (Nick Stahl) since childhood, but despite their friendship Bobby is constantly hitting and verbally abusing Marty. After a sexual encounter Marty and Lisa Connelly fall in love, but she also discovers the true nature of Bobby's bullying of Marty. This frustrates Lisa as she feels helpless and she discusses with Marty that he needs to do something about the situation, which leads the two of them into a plan of killing Bobby. Lisa asks for help from her troubled friends who after some persuasion agree to kill Bobby without any deeper consideration for the consequences or what they are getting themselves into. Clark leaves the audience with a bitter taste of the disturbed reality of some adolescents who live on the fringe where boundaries and guidance are nonexistent. However, it functions as a daunting wake-up call for those who have slumbered from their parental responsibilities or are unaware of what their adolescents might be up to. This story will give ground for parents to keep an interest in what their children and adolescents are doing on their free time as Clark provides a thorough illustration of what could go on within any parents home.

A Worthless, Depressing Message from Hell:
Larry Clark's "Bully" might be considered a sequel of sorts to his 1995 release, "Kids." That film featured pathetic, foul-mouthed, adolescent kids whose entire lives revolved around sex, drugs and rap music. In "Bully," the characters are different and in their late teens. But they're just as (if not more) void of any sense of morality. They are soulless, empty and joyless--living day-to-day in a drugged-filled fog. If you subscribe to the idea that every generation is more spiritually and morally deficient that the one that preceded it, you'll understand the motivation of the characters in "Bully." The spiritual bankruptcy, materialistic decadence and oblivious permissiveness of these Baby Boomer parents has resulted in the creation of their children-turned-monsters. Unfortunately, that is all that "Bully" shows us. It seems like director Clark is a one-trick pony. He makes films about the absolute worst examples of American youth, attempting to suggest that these self-absorbed half-humans are far more prevalent than is true. Clark doesn't even try to tell his stories with even the slightest degree of tact or subtlety. (...) Clark uses the fact that "Bully" is based upon the true story of a South Florida murder merely as a vehicle to engage in cheaply titillating and raunchy soft-porn. Aside from the graphic sex romps, ask yourself if these scenes and sounds from "Bully" can be considered "entertainment": Marty physically assaulting his girlfriend Lisa after see tells him she's pregnant with his child... Eight-year old boys calling girls "bitches" and "ho's"... Close-up crotch shots... Heather telling the story of how her grandpa murdered her gramdma with a clawhammer and spent the next couple of days drinking and raping the dead body... Donny vomiting repeatedly after taking LSD... Expletive-ridden rap music heard on the soundtrack throughout... Bobby forcing Ali to watch a gay porn video while he violently rapes her... An extreme close-up of Bobby having his throat slashed... And those are only a few of the depressing images in this worthless waste of celluloid. Larry Clark offers us no solutions, no hope, no light--only darkness, depravity and evil. In short, he's not telling us anything we don't already know, so what was the point of even making this film? The truth be told, Clark had no point. In my opinion, he merely wanted to live vicariously through the characters in "Bully." We become whatever we embrace, and Larry Clark appears to repeatedly embrace the demonic. DO NOT BE FOOLED by the high ratings other reviewers have given this film. Clark is simply preaching to his choir, who are more than happy to feast on such garbage and praise it. I truly wish I could have given "Bully" ZERO stars. Don't waste two precious hours of your life on this utterly execrable excuse for a movie.