EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

benghill Though I did find this movie fun and some of the characters lovable, this movie did not meet my expectations. The movie centers around Cory, a 12 year old boy who moves to a new town after his father loses his job. At his new school, Cory is bullied by his classmates, as new kids often are. They steal his lunch and squirt him with a water gun, but don't seem to cause any physical harm. Cory does not stand up for himself or tell his teacher. Instead he decides to scare the bullies with a lie that ends up almost killing his father. The bullies all become Cory's friends out of fear that his father will kill them. Cory would rather have friends who hang out with him because they are scared of him, then try to find people who like him for who he is. They all seem to like Cory after a while, as none of the bullies were actually mean people. They were just doing some new kid hazing or something. Eventually, some real mobsters take Cory's father. Cory reveals the truth to his friends, who are not at all mad at him for threatening their lives. They help him rescue his father, instead of calling the police. At the end of the movie everyone is safe, Cory has a lot of friends, and he does not suffer any consequences for his actions.The title of this movie is misleading. A lot of it is not even about bullying, but about the dangers of lying. Cory also seems to bully the other kids way more than they bully him, even if it is in self-defense.What lesson is this movie trying to teach us? It does not teach us to stand up for ourselves or ever go to adults for help. It doesn't teach us that bullying is wrong or any realistic way to deal with bullying. It basically makes bullying seem like a joke. The message appears to be that spreading rumors is an effective way to make friends and stop bullying and will not have any consequences. This is fine for a stupid kids movie, but nothing in this movie can be applied to real life.

karriebw Surprisingly fun film! Lots of clever lines and good surprises in this family film. The family in it is very likable - and seem like they could be a family on one of the TV comedy shows. The father, mother and young son all have a vulnerability that is charming and endearing. They seem real and believable. Moving to a new town is always challenging - and here we follow the family that gets into trouble - but in a different way than we've seen before. The father- son relationship is also quite good. It shows caring but not sappiness. When the boy gets attacked by bullies, it could be even stronger - but seems like they wanted to keep it lighthearted all the way through. It's unusual to see a comedy film that tries to end with a message about "stopping bullying" - but this one does it with funny twists and turns rather than making it shocking and sad. Overall, have to say many lines were laugh-out- loud, and the young actors did a really good job. For a small film with no name actors, everyone did commendable acting and made it work as a nice family comedy. Had the flavor of a "Home Alone" or "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." Enjoyed it with the kids. Definitely laughed out loud in a number of places.

Erica Simonsen I found out about this movie when the writer and executive producer, Marilyn Anderson, posted about the movie in a film industry Facebook group I am also a member of. I knew my son would enjoy it because of the type of film it was regarded to be similar in style to, but I thought I would be groaning silently to myself as I have with other movies he has watched.This was further from the truth. Not only was my son laughing out loud, my husband and I found ourselves genuinely laughing along with him. The actors were great in line delivery without over acting to make the movie cheesy. This is the type of movie we would pay to see in movie theaters. My son has already watched this two more times today since our first viewing last night and as we have 5 more days of rental (Thanks, Amazon!) we will be sure to see it at least a dozen more times this week. Needless to say, when the DVD comes out, we will be purchasing a copy. I highly recommend this to everyone, whether you have kids or not.

artistgp I was excited to check this film out because you don't often see family movies coming out of the independent film world. The story is clever and endearing and the production value is great. You'll be surprised how quickly you get wrapped up in the world of the crazy yet relatable little town (key being that all towns are crazy to some degree). While family films aren't my normal viewing practice there's nothing wrong with giving the thriller/drama/horror genres a break for one night while you enjoy some good family fun. I think you'll be surprised how good of a time you'll have.