[.ca] Tart (Widescreen)

Passafist Reviews Tart:
I like granny smith apples. I like lemons. When I was a little kid I used to like to eat lots of sweet tarts. There's something pleasurable of puckering up my lips after eating something very tart. That's why it saddens me to say that I HATE TART. What a horribly bad film! What happened to Dominique Swain? After turns in the big budget FACE/OFF and then the provocative if flawed LOLITA, I think she decided to make only straight to video films. In TART she plays Kat Storm, a middle class girl in a rich man's world. She hates her mother (Alberta Watson, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) her little brother (Myles Jeffrey, FACE/OFF) is a hypochondriac. Her family used to be wealthy Park Avenue residents, then her parents got divorced. Kat's father (Michael Murphy) a restaurateur has hit hard times. So to make this subtle point, just about every time we see her front door, repo-men are taking something out. Kat attends a high-class private school for girls. After her best friend Delilah (Bijou Phillips, Black and White) is kicked out of school for drugs. Kat makes some new friends, she falls for William (Brad Renfro, Bully) a nice guy with a troubled family and then she realizes it's all a sham. Her friends suck, William is a drug addict and his dad beats his mom. Kat want to fix everything, so she runs off to the Hamptons. That's when the film crashes to it conclusion, I never would have guessed what was gonna happen, but by the end didn't care. First time director Christina Wayne tries very hard to make an interesting film. Too bad it fails miserably. Everything feels forced. The film re-emphasizes points it has already made enough, and then leaves guessing on plot ideas that seem much more important. But maybe they only seem important because we as an audience are confused about them. It also has one of the most pointless voice-overs in film history, and uses every film-school cliché in the book. This 90-minute film is so clunky it feels longer than that. It present characters whom start to grate on you. Maybe it's because the story is so mundane. Maybe because the screenplay hasn't found that balance of character development, and plot structure. The film doesn't work. The only bright spot in this film is Lacey Chabert (Party of Five) who's character is the one with a little dimension. You actually feel bad for her, and yet she keeps her dignity. Too, bad the movie didn't give us more from her. I'd stay away from TART.

NOT AS BAD AS OTHER REVIEWERS CLAIM:
First, let me point out that this movie has a completely misleading package -- it's nothing like 'Kids' or 'Cruel Intention', and it doesn't try to be. This coming-of-age story is told from the point of view of Cat (Swain) who is trying to hard to fit into other people's life while searching for her own identity. I totally disgaree with everyone who says that the acting is bad -- Swain does a convincing job at playing a confused and depressed young woman who needs to make important choices in her life, and the other actors are certainly better than some teen movies out there. It's not fast-paced, which probably explain why some viewers decided it was really bad: obvioulsy, they expected 'Lolita 2' or 'Cruel Intention 3'. It is a character study, a slice of life of rich kids living in New York City, not a cheap-thrill, teen sex film. The script was tight, and certainly doesn't deserve the harsh criticisms I've read here. The only thing I'll complain about is this: shame on the production company and distributors to package this film under the title 'Tart' (it has absolutely nothing to do with it, and it's an insult to the scriptwriter and actors involved) and shame on them for letting the public believe that this is a film about sex, drugs and fast life. Packaged probably and re-titled, this film probably would have done quite well. Get it if you like character studies and dramas, but if you're looking for something like 'Cruel Intention', then you'll be dissapointed.

Is it really that bad?:
As I was flipping through channels on HBO, I came across the last 20-30 minutes of Tart. From what I saw, it seemed like an interesting movie. I'd like to see it from the beginning. But from the way everyone is battering it maybe I won't. Perhaps I had to see it from the beginning to appreciate how bad most of you are saying it is. Since I haven't seen the whole thing, I can't rate it (i gave it 3 stars because I my computer made me put something), but from what I saw, it didn't seem terrible, but rather interesting. I might just rent it since I usually like movies starring Dominique Swain.

Good concept wasted on crappy script and acting:
The concept of the movie was intelligent, but the concept was wasted on horrible acting and not a very good script or well enough developed plot. I rented the movie because Mischa Barton was in it, and it looked like it was interesting. Well, there's a reason this movie isn't all that widely known. I wish the concept was saved for good actors and a good script who could've made the movie really hit home. It is a movie people can relate to, and it is good in a satirical sense - but if the creators were not trying to make a satire, wow it sucks more than i thought. Teenage girls can relate because it's a movie about finding yourself, but it could've been done in a much better way.

Gag me with a coke spoon!:
This movie was terrible! the writing was atrocious and cliched, the character development non-existant, and the ending so vomit inducing it could have been ipecac.