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Movies / On DVD / Bully
Bully

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Bully (2001)

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Reviews Counted:84

Fresh:43

Rotten:41

Average Rating:5.6/10

Consensus: With its lingering shots of naked teenage bodies, Bully feels more sordidly exploitative than realistic.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Jul 13, 2001 Limited

Synopsis: Bobby Kent (Nick Stahl) is not a nice guy. He beats up his "best friend" Marty every chance he gets, he abuses Marty's girlfriend Lisa, and he rapes Lisa's friend Ali. From director Larry Clark... Bobby Kent (Nick Stahl) is not a nice guy. He beats up his "best friend" Marty every chance he gets, he abuses Marty's girlfriend Lisa, and he rapes Lisa's friend Ali. From director Larry Clark (KIDS) and screenwriter David McKenna (AMERICAN HISTORY X) comes this gruelling thriller based on the true story of Bobby Kent, a bossy Florida teenager who was beaten to death by a group of his peers. There isn't a lot to do in the suburban Florida town that Bobby and his "friends" inhabit. They play violent shoot-em-up video games, they work at the Pizza Hut, they go surfing at the beach, and they cruise in their hot rods. But mostly, Bobby and his friends have lots of sex. The film is drenched in graphic shots of barely legal naked teenagers. (This has been Clark's favorite subject matter since his days as a photographer, as illustrated in his 1997 book TEENAGE LUST.) Sexual identity is an undercurrent in Bobby's story: he watches gay porn while he rapes Ali, and he forces Marty to dance with him at a gay club. Some of the other teenagers think that Bobby and Marty are a couple. But this is a minor issue. They decide to kill Bobby because he's a bully who has hurt and angered them; and because they're bored and desensitized to violence. In BULLY, Clark provides another hard look at the hard lives of American teenagers, in all their confusion. It isn't pretty. [More]

Starring: Nick Stahl, Bijou Phillips, Brad Renfro, Leo Fitzpatrick

Starring: Nick Stahl, Bijou Phillips, Brad Renfro, Leo Fitzpatrick, Rachel Miner, Kelli Garner, Michael Pitt

Director: Larry Clark

Director: Larry Clark
Screenwriter: David McKenna
Producer: Jordan Gertner, Chris Hanley, David McKenna
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Release:

Jan 22, 2002

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Bully

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1 - 20 (sorted by source)
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An extremely disturbing tale of escalating peer pressure.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
10/16/03
Jurgen Fauth
Jurgen Fauth
About.com

The film is harrowing and unforgettable, an eye-opener that may provide a much-needed wake-up call to parents of disaffected kids.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
08/05/01
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
02/16/02
Ryan Cracknell
Ryan Cracknell
Apollo Guide
N/R

A needy movie made by a needy director, peopled with actors who come off as mindless blanks.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
08/31/01
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film's naked plenitude (and pulchritude) casts suspicion on Clark's ulterior reasons for making the movie.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
07/30/01
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

a haunting work that raises more issues than it can fully address

Full Review Source: Baseline.Hollywood.com | comment Comment
12/04/01
Ted Murphy
Ted Murphy
Baseline.Hollywood.com

There's something troubling about a film which, on the one hand, wants to take a moral stance about a lost generation, and on the other relishes shooting the nubile flesh of its young actors.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
02/20/02
Tom Dawson
Tom Dawson
BBC

A bit long and repetitive.

Full Review Source: Blunt Review | comment Comment
03/07/04
Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Blunt Review

The moral wasteland of suburban youth has been examined, earlier and better, in The River's Edge. Clark's leering leads nowhere: In Bully, he has nothing new to say, and, in the end, no real point to make.

comment Comment
09/14/01
Loren King
Loren King
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/24/02
Boston Phoenix

Bully, though filtered through Clark's particular and somewhat fatalistic perspective of American youth, is authentic.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
07/13/01
Tim Cogshell
Tim Cogshell
Boxoffice Magazine

Clark is not some objectified, outside adult observer making an after-school special, but an artist who has made a leap into this teenage mindscape.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
07/20/01
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Fixated on young flesh, it never really get us inside the skins it keeps stripping naked.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
07/19/01
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

La cinta peca en crudeza y no logra verosimilitud. Bully no alcanza la infame pero gloriosa fama de Kids.

Full Review Source: Cinenganos | comment Comment
06/28/02
Luis Martinez
Luis Martinez
Cinenganos

A gripping experience.

Full Review Source: Citysearch | comment Comment
07/12/01
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Citysearch

...an exploitation teen movie in the pejorative sense of the word.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
07/19/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

The result is that these astonishing, pathetic kids are so true that we believe them.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
07/16/01
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

A harrowing film based on the true story of the murder of a teenager in South Florida in 1993.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
07/02/01
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
12/15/03
Jason Solomons
Jason Solomons
Daily Mail [UK]
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source)
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