The Chumscrubber

At once dreamily surreal, acutely intelligent, and strikingly tough-minded, this pitch-dark dramatic comedy recalls David Lynch and "Donnie Darko" while remaining fresh and original to its core. A stunning directorial debut.

Every adult in the movie is a caricature: Close, Janney and Wilson are compendiums of such broad, unattractive traits they make the ladies of "Desperate Housewives" look complex. The men, meanwhile, are weak, clueless and preening, with the exception of Fiennes, who's nuts.

It's a Big Idea movie that comes out only half-baked.

The few genuine moments of connection -- are as refreshing as they are out of place. They only highlight how false and affected the rest of the film is.

A tragic waste of acting talent, with nothing new to say. Can we please now politely close the door on middle-class repression before we get really angry?

An insufferable, self-conscious cult movie, The Chumscrubber smugly heaps on half-baked ideas about media violence, the homogeneity of suburbia and the disintegration of the American family.

Shrill, smug would-be satire.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Average. It has its moments, but I wouldn't watch this more than once and even then it was just to see what it was all about. This has be done before, and better in every way in a multitude of movies. Movealong. However, if you like the genre, watch this movie to realise why the other movies like this are true stand outs whereas this is just average. Enjoyable at times, some good acting (mixed amongst some bad acting), pretty good soundtrack, OK storyline, but at the end of the day it's completely unmemorable. As others have said, Donnie Darko/American Beauty/The Breakfast Club/etc. have done this before and a million times better.