Daydream Nation

2011
6.3| 1h38m| R| en
Details

Forced to move to a boring backwater town, a teenager embarks on affairs with a teacher and a stoner classmate.

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Reviews

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.
Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.
Ronald S. This is just one more in a long line of boring, filmed-in-BC, movies-with-a-message. Don't believe all the four- and five-star fake reviews from the cast and crew; it is formulaic garbage. Like everything else coming out of BC these days, it uses one has-been actor (Andie MacDowell) and a bunch of 25- and 28-year-olds, playing teenagers. There is not one believable scene in the entire movie, and - like every other "message movie" "stalker movie" or "murderer movie" out of BC - it is 99% talk talk talk.Examples. Wanna get your actors to appear edgy? Portray them hotboxing in a stranger's dad's van. Wanna see what the term "phoning in your performance" really means? Watch Andie MacDowall, who very obviously did this one only for the money.Typical CBC/Lifetime boring movie, made by too many actors and crew who spent too much time hotboxing and not enough time writing, directing, filming and acting. If you keep waiting for this movie to get better, trust me; it never does.
fishza Daydream Nation is a film that I very much want to like, in fact, I'd even call it a guilty pleasure. Believe me, something about this film is charming. It has a nice atmosphere, style, tone, etc. Daydream Nation knows what it's trying to be. That alone is what keeps me from giving the movie anything higher than a three. Aside from the charm (and a few subtleties involving a man in a white suit) the film didn't really offer much. One of the main ideas the movie offers is identity, we hear a lot of Kat Dennings' character talking about how no one knows the real her, however, us as the audience never even know. The most we learn about her is that she moved from the city and her mom died. Who is she other than that? What does she do besides have sex with guys and then confuse them? The same goes for the teacher character, Mr. Anderson. We don't learn anything about him until it's time for him to be irrelevant. Moving on to the screenplay... well, it certainly isn't good enough for the film to be carried by as much narration as it is. There are a few missed opportunities to incorporate some playful or charming banter between characters so that we could get to know them, but instead this is usually replaced by sex or awkward small talk. In the end the film does have a certain charm to it that leaves me feeling drawn to it, but I can still definitely recognize that it's not "technically a great film".
luvsails As painful as it is awkward, this is one movie I will not be watching again. This title wants so desperately to be something it's not, which is profound. While aiming to be the next American Beauty meets Juno, it plays out like the novel of a smarmy teen who just KNOWS that he's smarter than anyone else and that's why he's unpopular. One saving grace is the performance of Reece Thompson, who handles his performance as a tormented, burned-out druggie deftly. On second thought, Andie MacDowell is also a high note as a relatively flat character but refreshingly sweet and supportive mom. Still, I'd give this movie a pass.
jamesschwartzvedanta This movie was beautiful and surprisingly dark and potent. Basically a teenage girl, played by the slightly-too-old for the role Kat Dennings, arrives to a small town where kids keep getting killed, an industrial fire won't stop burning, and everyone does too many drugs. As someone who has spent time in some small American towns, I could relate to the feeling. Though obviously the director is playing with the conventions here and adding a layer of menace, melancholy and haze to the proceedings. So Kat's character decides to seduce her high school teacher, played by the under-rated Josh Lucas. They begin an affair and all is well, until he instructs her to pretend to date a boy her age so the local yokels won't become suspicious. Needless to say it's all a lot of fun--albeit dark fun--and things take some wild twists that suspend logic but are all the more enjoyable for it. I wish this movie had gotten the attention is deserves--was it even released?--because it's by far the best work Kat Dennings has done, and it's full of amazing images and sharp dialogue. Be advised: this movie is an art film disguised as a teen movie. It's probably too ambitious for its own good, and I can see why it might be passed over by many. But I think it'll be a cult classic and I was pleasantly surprised by the artistry that went into this little indie flick. Extra points for the powerful ending.