The movie looks great, but there's not much to it.
Wassup Rockers (2006)
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Reviews Counted:51
Fresh:18
Rotten:33
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: As usual with Clark's films, the fixation on kids is rather creepy, plus the plot eventually runs off the rails into camp.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for pervasive language, some violence, sexual content and teen drinking
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:2006
Box Office: $142,786
Synopsis: In 1995, photographer Larry Clark burst onto the indie scene with the controversial KIDS, a tough, realistic look at a group of teenagers hanging around the seamier side of New York City, getting... In 1995, photographer Larry Clark burst onto the indie scene with the controversial KIDS, a tough, realistic look at a group of teenagers hanging around the seamier side of New York City, getting involved in sex and drugs amid the AIDS crisis. A decade later, Clark (BULLY, KEN PARK) went across the country to make WASSUP ROCKERS, about a group of Latino teenagers experimenting with sex, playing and listening to punk rock, dressing in their own style, and looking for the perfect place to skateboard. The seven teens, led by Jonathan (Jonathan Velasquez), take two buses to get to Beverly Hills High, where they start boarding down difficult steps. They are excited when two white students, Jade (Laura Cellner) and Nikki (Jessica Steinbaum), invite them to their house, but they are soon on the run after being harassed by a racist cop (Chris Neville). They make it to the huge house, but they have to take off again when Jade and Nikki's rich white male friends catch them there, sending them off on a perilous journey through ritzy Beverly Hills as they try to get back to South Central--what one of them proudly calls the Ghetto. No matter how hard the kids try, they are unable to avoid violence; it is too entrenched in their dangerous world. In this gritty urban drama of class conflict, racism, and boys just trying to be boys, Clark displays how deep the ills of society still go, all set to a raging punk soundtrack featuring songs by such bands as South Central Riot Squad, the Remains, Moral Decay, and the Retaliators. [More]
Starring: Yunior Usualdo Panameno, Carlos Ramirez, Jonathan Velasquez, Milton Velasquez
Starring: Yunior Usualdo Panameno, Carlos Ramirez, Jonathan Velasquez, Milton Velasquez, Iris Zelaya, Ashley Maldonado, Luis Rojas Salgado, Laura Cellner, Eddie Velasquez, Jessica Steinbaum, Francisco Pedrasa
Director: Larry Clark
Director: Larry Clark
Screenwriter: Larry Clark
Producer: Larry Clark, Terry Spazek, Ramon Salgado, Henry Winterstern, Kevin Turen, Patrick Meehan
Studio: First Look
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Reviews for Wassup Rockers
What might have been a fascinating, intimate portrait turns into something much less compelling when Clark tries to impose a sex-and-action-packed narrative on the proceedings.
Clark remains a compelling, primal anthropologist--but there are only so many times you can applaud a one-trick pony
Clark's vision of Los Angeles, where extravagant fantasies and inner-city social issues wildly intersect.
Steeped in urban-youth woes but gets a bounce from Clark's sense of humor and hope.
This is an improvement in some ways, but losing the edginess also means there's nothing special about this film.
...so thinly contrived and poorly executed that one would imagine this was the director's first film.
A documentary about these kids could have been terrific, but Clark involves them in a clunkily scripted melodrama instead.
Boredom is the loftiest running theme in Larry Clark's films, and "Wassup Rockers" (imagine asking to buy a ticket for that title) takes dullness to a new low.
Makes you wish Clark had quit trying to cook up adventures for his cast and made a straight documentary instead.
Clark's portrait of mostly Salvadorian boys who shirk hip-hop and guns for punk and skateboards is fashioned around a series of alternately cutesy and shrill sexually-charged sketches.
Some moments of off-the-cuff beauty aren't enough to mask the creepy heart of Larry Clark's latest look at outcast kids.
This film is neither controversial nor interesting enough to warrant much attention either way.
Latest News for Wassup Rockers
July 07, 2006:
Wassup, Larry Clark? Director Talks Teens and Breaking Bones
Photographer and director Larry Clark chatted with Rotten Tomatoes staffer Michael Campos-Quinn about his new film, "Wassup Rockers," which opens in limited release... More...
June 22, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Click" Doesn't, Ahem, Click; "Waist" Isn't Deep Enough
This week at the movies, we've got a magical remote control ("Click") and a father who's trying to rescue his son ("Waist Deep"). Will the critics dig... More...
June 21, 2006:
Exclusive: "Wassup Rockers" Clip
We got our hands on an exclusive clip from Larry Clark's "Wassup Rockers" that shows the main characters rocking out in an impromtu performance. The movie centers on a... More...
April 25, 2006:
Photo Gallery Update: "Stick It," "Wassup Rockers," and "The Proposition"
They're not exactly blockbusters but we couldn't resist sharing the new photo galleries for "Stick It," "Wassup Rockers" and "The Proposition." More...
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