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Cruel World (2005)
Good Heavens...
Directed By: Kelsey T. Howard
Starring: Edward Furlong, Laura Ramsey, & Jaime Pressly
MPAA Rating: “R” (for strong sadistic violence and gore, language and some sexuality)
Starring: Edward Furlong, Laura Ramsey, & Jaime Pressly
MPAA Rating: “R” (for strong sadistic violence and gore, language and some sexuality)
I’m going to start off by putting all of my feelings about Cruel World (2005) out on the table directly: I hated it...hated, hated, hated this movie. The movie is not just poorly made...it is also dumb, vile, ugly, and clichéd. Made three years before its tepid DVD release, it stars Edward Furlong, Jaime Pressly, and Laura Ramsey. Pressley and Ramsey have, quite fortunately, gone on to bigger and better things...and Furlong, well, he is still alive and not in rehab, surprisingly enough. The release was, no doubt, prompted by Jaime Pressly’s recent rush with fame. Unfortunately for her and everyone else involved, this is probably one of those projects they had hoped would never get released.
Philip Markham was a contestant on one of those silly reality romance shows called “Lover’s Lane” and, though he fell in love with the beautiful Catherine Anderson (Pressley), she sent him packing in favor of a more traditional hunk. Now, a little while later, the mentally-unstable Philip goes completely nuts and kills Catherine and her husband, after inviting a group of cardboard cut-outs to take part in a new reality show. One of them is Jenny (Ramsey), an attractive blonde who catches the eye of the psychotic loser who controls the game via a series of cameras and an intercom. When people begin to get eliminated, the remaining contestants begin to suspect that something is wrong with the entire situation. When bodies begin to pile up, the survivors are thrown into a desperate battle for survival against Philip and his mentally-handicapped brother. There can only be one winner on this show...and we are certainly not it.
One of the biggest problems with Cruel World is that the only interesting character is Philip Markham. He is given all of the intriguing concepts, the best dialog, and the most compelling character arc. However, all of this is awarded to the woefully-untalented Edward Furlong who was once, no doubt, a capable actor until drugs and years of hard partying fried his brain. Now, he just screams aimlessly, laughs maniacally, and looks pathetic. The writers also make the mistake of wasting Jaime Pressly who is a talented actress, despite a slew of questionable film roles (this being one of them). The film uses her as its main marketing ploy, though it must be said that she does not even make it to the thirty minute mark. The rest of the cast is given much more screen time and most of them prove to be far more talented than the raging Furlong...however, they are all wasted on boring parts included merely to throw another body onto the pile.
I do not see myself as a particularly difficult person to please...I enjoyed April Fool’s Day (2008), for crying out loud. However, Cruel World makes the mistake of taking potentially interesting material, slashing it down to nothing more than a dull joke, and then filming it in an uninspired way. It resembled something along the lines of a student film, except without the passion that student filmmakers often put into their projects. Each shot is based on the age-old point-and-shoot method and this makes for a shockingly boring movie-watching experience. Even the death scenes, with the exception of one particular decapitation, are completely useless. What I did enjoy about Cruel World, however, was Laura Ramsey who comes off as a good actress trapped in a bad film. She deserved better than this. So did Jaime Pressly...so did Brian Geraghty, Susan Ward, and all of the rest. But, most importantly, so did we.
Philip Markham was a contestant on one of those silly reality romance shows called “Lover’s Lane” and, though he fell in love with the beautiful Catherine Anderson (Pressley), she sent him packing in favor of a more traditional hunk. Now, a little while later, the mentally-unstable Philip goes completely nuts and kills Catherine and her husband, after inviting a group of cardboard cut-outs to take part in a new reality show. One of them is Jenny (Ramsey), an attractive blonde who catches the eye of the psychotic loser who controls the game via a series of cameras and an intercom. When people begin to get eliminated, the remaining contestants begin to suspect that something is wrong with the entire situation. When bodies begin to pile up, the survivors are thrown into a desperate battle for survival against Philip and his mentally-handicapped brother. There can only be one winner on this show...and we are certainly not it.
One of the biggest problems with Cruel World is that the only interesting character is Philip Markham. He is given all of the intriguing concepts, the best dialog, and the most compelling character arc. However, all of this is awarded to the woefully-untalented Edward Furlong who was once, no doubt, a capable actor until drugs and years of hard partying fried his brain. Now, he just screams aimlessly, laughs maniacally, and looks pathetic. The writers also make the mistake of wasting Jaime Pressly who is a talented actress, despite a slew of questionable film roles (this being one of them). The film uses her as its main marketing ploy, though it must be said that she does not even make it to the thirty minute mark. The rest of the cast is given much more screen time and most of them prove to be far more talented than the raging Furlong...however, they are all wasted on boring parts included merely to throw another body onto the pile.
I do not see myself as a particularly difficult person to please...I enjoyed April Fool’s Day (2008), for crying out loud. However, Cruel World makes the mistake of taking potentially interesting material, slashing it down to nothing more than a dull joke, and then filming it in an uninspired way. It resembled something along the lines of a student film, except without the passion that student filmmakers often put into their projects. Each shot is based on the age-old point-and-shoot method and this makes for a shockingly boring movie-watching experience. Even the death scenes, with the exception of one particular decapitation, are completely useless. What I did enjoy about Cruel World, however, was Laura Ramsey who comes off as a good actress trapped in a bad film. She deserved better than this. So did Jaime Pressly...so did Brian Geraghty, Susan Ward, and all of the rest. But, most importantly, so did we.
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