Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

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

SnoopyStyle Fern (Rooney Mara) returns to the all-girls boarding school Tanner Hall in New England for the new school year. She is still haunted by a childhood incident when Victoria let her grandmother's bird free. Victoria (Georgia King) comes to school after years without seeing Fern. She is a lying troublemaker causing havoc for Fern and her friends. Kate (Brie Larson) is a flirt. Lucasta (Amy Ferguson) likes to draw and is reserved. The Middlewoods (Chris Kattan, Amy Sedaris) run the school and teach. Gio (Tom Everett Scott) is Fern's mother's friend's husband who takes Fern out on day trips.There is an OK dark mean-girls Lolita film somewhere here. The 4 girls do a reasonable job but the movie goes wrong real quick. The moment that Chris Kattan starts knocking down doors in the girls' shower is when the movie goes wrong. It's stupid. Quite frankly, Chris Kattan is a bad actor. He and Amy Sedaris seem intend on making a broad slapstick comedy which is completely different than what the 4 girls are doing. These two directions do not mix.Then I don't get Gio signing out Fern. What exactly does her mother or his wife think is going on? It's not like they can hide the sign outs. As for the key, wouldn't Mrs. Middlewoods figure out that Victoria made a copy? The movie seems to insist that the Middlewoods are foolish cartoon characters. Also wouldn't Fern talk to Peter after she figured out Victoria's lies? That's a much needed missing scene. Chris Kattan sunk this movie and all the later problems don't help.

lazarillo As a young lad, I often fantasized about attending an all-girl boarding school in New England, or maybe someplace in Europe. However, there was always one obvious obstacle to my dream. One minor character in this movie has overcome this obstacle--he gets to attend the titular all-female institution because he is the head-mistress' son. The MAIN characters in the film though are four girls--three long-time school chums and a childhood friend of one of them, who transfers to the school and serves as kind of a catalyst for all the melodrama that follows.There IS a goodly amount of melodrama--two of the girls get involved with older men. One (Brie Larson) flirts with her English teacher (Chris Kattan) mostly just for her own amusement, but ends up inadvertently causing great problems between him and his sexually frustrated fellow teacher/wife (Amy Sidaris). The other girl, the main protagonist (Rooney Mara) embarks on a much more serious affair with an expectant father (Tom Everett Scott), who happens to be married to her mother's best friend. A third girl has questions about her sexual identity. But perhaps the most troubled girl is the newcomer (Georgia King) whose obsession with cutting herself and history of suicide attempts are the result of childhood trauma that is alluded to early on, but not revealed until the end.Let me say first off that if the very many high-school age girls looked like Rooney Mara and Brie Larson, pretty much all adult heterosexual men would be in jail right now. But this movie was directed by two women, so it never really veers too much into exploitation territory. This would not necessarily be a liability if it worked better as a straight drama, but all the characters remain undeveloped as individuals and never really gel as a group. The movie also really tries to cover too much in 90 minutes, going into the lives of all four girls AND several of the adults (particularly the two teachers played Kattan and Sedaris). It's hard to fault any of the actors here though. Rooney Mara, for instance, would go on to play another sexy schoolgirl in "Youth in Revolt" before hitting the big-time with the US version of "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo". She's achingly lovely in this movie, but--like everyone else--not a fully developed character you can care much about. Her character is kind of indicative of the whole movie--very pretty, but somehow not very substantial.

Evelynarchuleta Tanner Hall"Tanner Hall" directed by Francesca Gregorini, and Tatiana Von Furstenberg is one of the most dramatically intense movies of this generation. It uses extreme situations to show more about teen life. As a teenager I loved it. I also liked that "up and coming" actress Rooney Mara was in it.Even though some of the events may never happen in real life it still is extremely intriguing. It shows a different area then what I'd been used to. There were some scenes I could relate to and others I couldn't but that made it highly interesting to see life from a different perspective. For example, a quote from the movie is "Lose your way. Find yourself." In the movie, the characters are constantly evolving; becoming more mature.Truthfully, what I really enjoyed about this movie was how different it is from my life there were some similarities, but it was quite enjoyable to see how other teens act. You saw them grow up some experimented with drugs, others with boy's. It was also interesting seeing Boarding school from a students perspective because I have been to regular school all my life. One part in the movie, they sneak out to go to a fair, this reminds me of a time when I was staying at a friends house and her, and a few other people, and me snook out and went to an abandoned house.On the other hand, certain individuals (one's who do not appreciate amazing movies) might not like it because the climax doesn't happen until the end and there is a lot of character building. These "certain individuals" also might like to connect to the movie more, or to have more in common with the characters. Some of the characters may have been a little common.Honestly, it interested me that they put Rooney Mara who is now famous for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I thought she was perfect for this role the characters personality seemed to be very similar to her own. I loved seeing her in this movie and then seeing her in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" because it was amazing to see the difference in how she looked.Overall, it was an amazing movie, especially with a 3,000,000 dollar budget. I was a little worried when it didn't come out until a year after it was finished, but I definitely enjoyed it. Now go and watch it, and prepare to be amazed!

Greg W. Locke We, the 99.9 percent of the world that wasn't in attendance at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, have to consider the recent DVD release of Franny Gregorini and Tatiana von Furstenberg's gal drama, Tanner Hall, the film's public debut. So, despite being a movie filmed in late 2008 and not going public until late 2011, this super stylized drama is a 2011 film, and one of the most surprisingly fulfilling watches we sat for all year.Staffed with a cast of A-level young talent (led by Rooney Mara, Georgia King and the sizzling Brie Larson), this New England boarding school ensemble flick rolls through scenes with no clear cut story arc, instead playing through as a glimpse into the lives of a group of A-level teen girls going through the way crazy stage of puberty, full blast. Pure fire.We see details of relationships morphing when the new girl, Victoria (King), arrives and fearlessly stomps her way into the pack or sisters. The crew's soul captain, Fernanda (Mara), is the most powerful and interesting character, and she's brought to life with grace by the Girl With the Dragon Tats herself. It's a performance that could've maybe even been considered legendary, had only Tanner Hall been treated as a major release. Mara's moves are so good that we have to assume this was the film that helped David Fincher find his new discovery.Imagine if Sophia Coppola rewrote the Little Women script for John Hughes in the late 80s and you'll have a good idea of the haunting appeal that is Tanner Hall. As far as film art and storytelling goes, this is one of the great surprises of 2011. An incredible mix of design, writing and performance. Better late than never.