Hollywood has long stereotyped Latino teens as violent, gangbanging thugs steeped in drugs and misogyny. Wassup Rockers is a welcome and different portrayal of Latino teenagers in America.
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
More than a decade after Larry Clark scandalized the movie world with Kids, he is still pushing buttons with his lubricious insider's view of teenage life.
This portrait of young South Central Latino boys cutting a skateboarding swath through the ritzy environs of Beverly Hills is ultimately more laughable than illuminating, at times approaching a level of camp commensurate with John Waters.
Clark's cast of amateurs gets needlessly bruised in the process of having their lives transformed into art.
Wassup Rockers is amateurish, but without the redeeming qualities found in Kids and Bully.
Larry Clark's latest finds the grizzled shock-meister in a thoughtful mode and a mellow mood.
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.
This rollicking day in the life of a band of skateboarding Latino punk-rockers doesn't exude the voyeuristic smarm of previous Clark forays.
Clark remains a compelling, primal anthropologist--but there are only so many times you can applaud a one-trick pony
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...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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