Whether the good performances, or sheer twisted attitude it presents to the same old formula, I enjoyed it, and the story.

| Apr 29, 2009

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 19, 2007

It's a surreal, offbeat comedy where the kidnappers are hopelessly inept while Bell feels hopelessly at sea.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 8, 2007

Despite the top-drawer cast assembled for his debut feature, the director Arie Posin's account of emotional dislocation in the 'burbs is stymied by a fatally uneven tone and a growing suspicion that we've been down this road many, many times before.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 8, 2007

A strong cast promises great things, but The Chumscrubber loses itself on the way to its indie aspirations.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 8, 2007

Sadly, despite Bell's eye-catching performance and Glenn Close's disturbing Stepford Wife portrayal, I found this messy movie as self-absorbed as most of its characters.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 8, 2007

Ten years ago, The Chumscrubber might have seemed groundbreaking. Today, it's not just unoriginal but as dull and nondescript as a Barratt home.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 8, 2007

It is witty and subversive, with flashes of magical realism and apocalyptic CG that both provokes and unnerves.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 8, 2007

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?

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 8, 2007

Much like its characters: decorative, entertaining and emotionally empty.

| Jun 7, 2007

Even though it feels derivative, this blackly comical suburban drama is loaded with terrific details. And it features yet another excellent performance from Jamie Bell.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 2, 2007

Posin aims for are out of his reach and he's left to scrabble desperately for a story to plug in the gaps.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 26, 2007

Such is the sordid state of affairs in that emerging genre that might be termed suburban noir, as it inches ever closer to horror and the supernatural.

Full Review | Apr 19, 2007

An agonizingly bad movie.

| Mar 1, 2007

The complex screenplay is admirable for its plot structure, its dark humour and its storytelling tricks, but the film ends up playing like a well developed project about teen-parent alienation, while itself alienating many of us in the audience.

| Jun 5, 2006

Almost = Magnolia Pieces of April. Nice script, tight direction; but riddled with a disturbing-tension, &cynical outlook more apt to unsettle than entertain.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 24, 2006

Wittier than Not Another Teen Movie, stealthier than Storytelling

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 25, 2006

| Original Score: 4/10 | Dec 6, 2005

The title doesn't offer much of an indication what 'The Chumscrubber' is about; frankly, after 107 minutes of watching it, you may still be wondering.

| Nov 23, 2005

as complacent as its Hillside denizens, unfortunately spawning the very mindset it rails against.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Nov 22, 2005