Film review
Jamie Bell ("Billy Elliot") is the best thing about "The Chumscrubber," in which he plays the teenage protagonist caught in a living hell of clueless adults in suburbia.
'Chumscrubber' saved by the Bell
"The Chumscrubber" is "American Beauty Meets Donnie Darko" with an impressive cast, including Glenn Close, Ralph Fiennes and Carrie-Anne Moss (most famous for her role as Trinity in the "Matrix" trilogy).
A derivative film is still a derivative film, even with a stellar cast, so it's probably the performance of Jamie Bell -- who broke out in his role as Billy Elliot in the 2000 film of the same name, followed up his impressive debut with the notable "Nicholas Nickleby" and who stars in "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson's next film, "King Kong" -- that most makes "Chumscrubber" worth watching.
"Chumscrubber" is a pretty well-made derivative film, but while I watched it "American Beauty"* and "Donnie Darko" played in the back of my mind, and that's not a good sign. No other film or films should be playing in your mind while you're watching a new one.
In "Chumscrubber" Bell plays Dean Stiffle, a teenager who's caught in a suburban hell, not unlike the male teenager played by Wes Bentley in "American Beauty." Female adult characters like Annette Bening's character in "American Beauty" abound in "Chumscrubber," but in "Chumscrubber" the closest we get to Kevin Spacey's somewhat self-aware adult male character in "American Beauty" is Fiennes' character, but it's not clear whether Fiennes' character has had some sort of genuine spiritual awakening or whether he's a lunatic (there's a fine line between the two, I suppose).
"Darko" had the rabbit motif and "Chumscrubber" has two rather clashing motifs, that of a post-apocalyptic hero who holds his severed head aloft (a videogame character called the Chumscrubber) and that of a dolphin.
Donnie Darko is haunted by the ghost of Frank, a dead teenager in a rabbit suit, and Dean Stiffle is haunted by the ghost of his friend Troy, who hanged himself. Wes Bentley's character in "American Beauty" has a sympathetic girlfriend (played by Thora Birch), so Dean Stiffle has to have a sympathetic girlfriend, too (but her character is not nearly as interesting as Birch's).
I'd outline the plot of "Chumscrubber," but if you've seen "American Beauty" and/or "Donnie Darko," then you have seen "Chumscrubber."
(To further point out how derivative "Chumscrubber" is, here is some trivia fun: The capable Allison Janney played Wes Bentley's mother in "American Beauty" and plays Jamie Bell's mother in "Chumscrubber." Playing in "Chumscrubber" must have been deja vu for her.)
"Chumscrubber" is so been there, done that that it's Bell's sensitive performance as the young man caught in the middle of everything -- as usual, Bell nails his role -- that makes the film worth seeing at all.
My grade: B-
*I attended a sneak preview of the film here in Sacramento tonight, at which appeared the film's director, two producers and one of its stars (Justin Chatwin, who gives a good performance in the film as the teenage male antagonist, and who plays Tom Cruise's son in "War of the Worlds," which I haven't seen because the critics whom I trust have hated it). During the Q-and-A after the film, one of the producers said she takes the comparisons of "Chumscrubber" to "American Beauty" as a compliment, but I have to wonder if she really believes that a perceived lack of originality is a good thing.
11:30:54 PM 
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