1986 Directed by Tim Hunter
A group of high school friends discover that they are in the presence of a killer. One of them, Samson, has murdered his girlfriend Jamie. He brags to his friends about killing her, and when they discover he is telling the truth, their reactions vary.
A barebones drama, directed by Tim Hunter, is centered around a group of mostly burnout friends in rural Oregon who come to find that one of them(Daniel Roebuck) has killed another of their group. The knowledge of the crime has a different effect on everyone as they keep the information to themselves. When one of them finally tells the cops, it pushes things even further towards the edge.
Well shot and quite beautiful, it is highlighted with strong performances by Keanu Reeves(I really said that), Dennis Hopper(as an on-the-lam fella who killed his girl), Roebuck and Ione Skye. The score is quite dodgy at times and ultimately your enjoyment of the film will hinge on how you accept Crispin Glover's…
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Crispin Glover but his performance in River's Edge was constantly trying my patience. It seemed as though no one on set felt comfortable enough to tell him to tone it down a bit and the entire film suffered because of it. Joshua John Miller stole the show as the sociopathic little brother to Keanu Reeves (who was also quite good, along with Ione Sky).
The story in River's Edge was too bizarre not to be based on a true crime, and while the movie was quite interesting, the handful of over-the-top performances were met with an outlandish and hyperbolic look at stoner culture and its supposed lack of morality.
I only watched this for Keanu and was left disappointed by Crispin Glover's strange blushy baby face and baby blue eyes with a voice like it came straight from A Goofy Movie trying to act cool and intimidating.
"You didn't have to call me a stupid bitch."
"You were driving right past us, we had to yell something."
"I got a name you know. You're lucky I didn't just drive right home."
"Okay, okay, okay. I'm sorry, Clarissa, but you've got to understand that in a time like this where every fucking second counts, a man can't waste his time choosing words."
Crispin Glover in this film is pretty much a drinking game waiting to happen. I want his "gahddaaahmnaaht" as a ringtone, I broke into giggles several times during the film. Luckily, I read this excellent article on the California Shift in American pop punk recently, and I don't know if that's what's happening in Glover's accent,…
Teen boy murders his girlfriend and shows the body to his friends. Friends decide if they wanna be loyal or rat him out. What sets Rivers Edge above most teen murder dramas is the performances, particularly Crispin Glover and Dennis Hopper. Glover is delightfully over the top in this as a manic and confused young punk. Hopper is a mentally disturbed Vietnam veteran who has an odd romance with a sex doll. There's some commentary thrown in about generational human nature. I really dug this flick.
Honestly I could go for a full movie with Dennis Hopper and his sex doll. Blue Velvet meets Lars and the Real Girl.
I only watched this for Keanu and was left disappointed by Crispin Glover's strange blushy baby face and baby blue eyes with a voice like it came straight from A Goofy Movie trying to act cool and intimidating.
Crispin Glover is Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now?
But Dennis Hopper is in River’s Edge??
I can't tell whether Crispin Glover's over the top performance was something I liked or didn't like. For a film about the murder of a young girl plus themes around apathetic youth, absent parents and generational gaps, River's Edge is surprisingly silly. There are moments, especially the opening, where it feels unnervingly quiet and the reality of the situation creeps in. Then there are others such as Crispin Glover yelling at an arcade machine. Its young cast does quite a good job at investing you in their strange apathy towards their friend's death, though Dennis Hopper feels like he's just playing some older and sadder version of Frank Booth (not bad, just a little phoned in). The story does center…
Latchkey kids run amok in a wild stoner drama about societal decay and corrupted youth. Imagine if Beaver Cleaver was a pistol wielding, car jacking, delinquent and his older brother Wally was an aimless pothead trying to sort out his feelings about Eddie Haskell trying to cover up a murder because Lumpy Rutherford just couldn't help himself.
I'm sorry, what movie was I talking about again? Oh yes, now I remember. Sweaty flannel, crappy rock, cheap beer, convenience stores, crusty denim vests, nunchucks, Jim, Jim , Jim.
Stay in school.
I watched this for probably the 25th time with a friend who had never seen it, and as I was describing it to them, they asked "so, is this gonna be good good or bad good?"
Still don't know how to answer that
I quite like this sun-genre of film - River's Edge, Super Dark Times, Alpha Dog, Mean Creek, Bully etc. Crispin Glover's performance is ridiculous in this and the accompanying thrash metal doesn't help matters either.
Of course the ugly, oafish gorilla did it. Come on, Hollywood, you can do better.
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