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11/06/04
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Mean Creek (2004)
90
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Reviews Counted:115
Fresh:104
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Mean Creek is an uncomfortably riveting glimpse into the casual cruelty of youth.
Theatrical Release:Aug 20, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $295,919
Synopsis: Director Jacob Estes's feature film debut is a remarkably accomplished coming of age drama about death and consequences. When overweight, emotionally troubled George (Josh Peck) beats up a smaller... [More]
Starring: Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, Scott Mechlowicz, Trevor Morgan
Director: Jacob Estes
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Reviews for Mean Creek
An astute examination of youth culture that blows away Hollywood's pathetic attempts to get into the mind of a teen.
11/04/04
First-time feature director Jacob Aaron Estes breathes life into a routine story with his talent for [emotional] detail.
10/30/04
For a debut, it’s downright startling.
10/28/04
Estes' dark sunlit tale cuts like a knife.
10/19/04
For all its hilarity (and there is a lot), Mean Girls is primarily a fascinatingly adroit dissection of high school culture.
10/06/04
A smartly written film that refuses to fall into the traps of the teenage stereotype.
09/30/04
Estes' genius is in creating an atmosphere in the beginning that evokes kids-in-crisis predecessors, then shifting into a baroque mood for the canoe trip...
09/24/04
A low-key, low-budget thriller that reminds us just how cruel young people can be.
09/24/04
If you saw River’s Edge, you may know where this glum, well-acted drama is headed right after it sets sail.
09/24/04
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09/24/04
[Writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes] coats everything in a brooding self-importance, as if he was intent on making the most depressing After-School Special ever.
09/24/04
Raw and in your face, Mean Creek eventually ripples emotions all the way to the soul.
09/24/04
Has an emotional honesty -- sometimes brutally so -- and real-life comic sensibilities that make it akin to television's late, lamented Freaks and Geeks.
09/24/04
Subdued yet powerful.
09/23/04
An excruciatingly tense teen film that's too good for teens.
09/23/04
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.
09/23/04
Top CriticEstes, born in 1973, hasn't lost his ear for the way kids talk, and his dialogue strikes hard and true.
09/22/04
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09/19/04
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.
09/17/04
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