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Reviews Counted:19
Fresh:14
Rotten:5
Average Rating:6.6/10
Theatrical Release:Aug 29, 2003 Limited
Synopsis: Set in the Nevada desert, this intense bout of wrestling pushes the boundaries of the sport back further than you ever thought possible! Utilizing some vicious extras (like a barbed wire ring),... [More]
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Tawdriness aside, The Backyard is remarkable for the intensity of the interviewees, who show a new kind of all-American gumption in the way they filter the mannerisms of low-rung celebrities through their own geeked-out, violent imaginations.
Those who've wondered whether TV's WWF show wrestling might have a detrimental effect on impressionable youth will gloat over The Backyard.
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Warped entertainment? Yes. Sophisticated? No. And that goes for the movie as well as for the participants.
Top CriticYes, it's hard to watch, but, like a train wreck, it's also hard not to.
Top CriticIt's unflinchingly honest (and unlike hysterical media reports on the phenomenon, balanced)
What is going on here? Most would say a lot of incredibly dangerous and stupid activity, and most of the people in this documentary not surprisingly seem none too bright.
Top CriticThough engaging from beginning to end, be warned that this is also harrowing, utterly depressing stuff.
If you were depressed about the future of America before, you'll be doubly depressed after seeing this film.
Top CriticGet reeeeeady to wince.
Chances are you'll probably watch most of this documentary with both hands over your eyes, but if your curious about just what kind of insanity the kids in the heartland are getting up to these days, you won't want to miss it.
It's an astounding anthropological study of that strange tribe known as the American teenager.
Top CriticEventually you realize the whole movie has been about young showoffs who think it's uproarious to gross out neighborhood grownups.
The pint-sized version of World Wrestling Entertainment on display here is sport as child pornography, one in which the participating minors and their sanctioning parents are complicit.
Top CriticHough's doc never rises above the level of first-year student project, hobbled by scattershot editing, badly written intertitles, and useless directorial voice-over.
Top CriticFascinating -- everything Beyond the Mat wasn't.
An x-treme documentary, as riveting as a road accident and a lot more bloody.
The Backyard is a very hard doc to watch, but it's as gruesomely riveting as a train wreck.
Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! I think my brain is bleeding from watching The Backyard.
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