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Mean Creek (2003)

tomatometer

90

Average Rating: 7.3/10
Reviews Counted: 118
Fresh: 106 | Rotten: 12

Mean Creek is an uncomfortably riveting glimpse into the casual cruelty of youth.

91

Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 3

Mean Creek is an uncomfortably riveting glimpse into the casual cruelty of youth.

audience

79

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 30,547

My Rating

Movie Info

Independent filmmaker Jacob Aaron Estes makes his feature debut with the coming-of-age drama Mean Creek. Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, Scott Mechlowicz, Josh Peck, Trevor Morgan, and Carly Schroeder are teenagers living in small-town Oregon. Some of the boys take a boat trip for a birthday celebration. When they get an idea to play a mean trick on the town bully, it suddenly goes too far. Soon they're forced to deal with the unexpected consequences of their actions. Mean Creek was workshopped at the

R, 1 hr. 27 min.

Drama

Jacob Estes

Jan 25, 2005

$0.3M

Paramount Classics

All Critics (125) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (110) | Rotten (13) | DVD (30)

Estes' dark sunlit tale cuts like a knife.

October 19, 2004 Comment
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A low-key, low-budget thriller that reminds us just how cruel young people can be.

September 24, 2004 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | Comment
Orlando Sentinel
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Although it is a flawed film, with a first half that moves slowly and sometimes tediously, it is redeemed by a second half that is gripping, not only for its action but for its moral complexity.

September 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | Comment
Arizona Republic
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Works as a multiple character study, complemented by some of the best performances you are likely to see this year -- all of them from a cast of actors under the age of 20.

September 17, 2004 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | Comment
Sacramento Bee
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You could call Mean Creek a moral thriller. And the emotional currents the movie wades into are far more tricky than the gentle surface the kids' boat floats along.

September 17, 2004 Full Review Source: Denver Post | Comment
Denver Post
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I never lived a story anything like this, but I understand the emotional life of this film -- and I'm betting you will, too.

September 17, 2004 Comment
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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This movie about teens is for adults only.

December 26, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

First time writer/ director Estes brings sensitivity and insight to this tale of teens pushed to extremes and forced to confront their sense of responsibility and morality

August 30, 2005 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

example of everything that is good in American independent cinema

August 30, 2005 Full Review Source: Draxblog Movie Reviews | Comment

Follows a fluid narrative that never feels contrived, and leaves the audience with genuine sympathy for every single child involved.

August 25, 2005 Full Review Source: Film and Felt | Comment
Film and Felt

Estes has a gift for radically shifting our sympathies at the drop of a hat, causing us to question what would, in a simpler film, be transparent

April 30, 2005 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
Q Network Film Desk

A mature, significant contribution to the unfornately growing trend of films that address teen violence (unfortunate in that we need the trend at all).

April 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Freeze Dried Movies | Comment
Freeze Dried Movies

Mean Creek's cruelty is more understandable, troubling than Lord of the Flies

February 9, 2005 Full Review Source: Movie Habit | Comment
Movie Habit
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Mean Creek

Truly haunting and riveting. Outstanding performances, incredible script with compelling characters and a huge emotional core help make ''Mean Creek'', in my view, pretty much a masterpiece. It delves into the cruel side of the minds of teenagers and proves a very dark but accurate view of how horrible the consequences

August 31, 2011
Liam Gadd

Super Reviewer

Prepare for a downer. Mean Creek is depressing, slow moving, and excellent. While some may complain that everything seems to happen at a snails pace, but I believe that the unsettlingly realistic film's pacing worked to it's advantage. Throughout the first hour of the film you know something terrible is going to

September 8, 2010
itsjustme2004

Super Reviewer

    1. Sam: You know, if we hurt him, we'd be just as bad as him.
    – Submitted by Chad E (4 months ago)

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