Harrowing as its glimpses of economic and psychological ruin are, Gummo doesn’t merely wallow in its characters’ dire straits.

| Oct 21, 2024

Like a kid acting up for attention, the wise-ass Korine wants desperately to be in your face - to offend and provoke. And he does a damn good job getting his way. If for no other reason, "Gummo" deserves to be seen.

| Jan 7, 2019

After his persuasively disturbing screenplay for Larry Clark's Kids, Harmony Korine 's Gummo comes as a disappointment.

| Jan 7, 2019

The unyielding and uncomfortable manner in which Gummo grapples with human diversity has also allowed it to linger long in the memory.

| Jan 7, 2019

Is the perspective of youth in this country really so devoid of significance, and their existence so septic? These are good questions, although "Gummo" provides neither answer nor solution, nor even thematic cohesion.

| Jan 7, 2019

The point of all this nihilism and grotesqueness? You got me.

| Original Score: 0/4 | Jan 7, 2019

Take away the shock value, and there isn't much there: just a stylistically promising student film peddling bargain-basement surreal nihilism that, stretched over 90 minutes, grows awfully tedious.

| Jan 7, 2019

Virtually plotless, the movie does its best to be offensive, but not in the service of any particular theme.

| Jan 7, 2019

Instead, [Gummo is] a gaudy, reckless collage of perverse images that lack any value.

| Original Score: 0/4 | Jan 7, 2019

A close-up portrait of disaffected youth in Middle America, Gummo is one of the most repellent cinematic efforts in recent memory.

Full Review | Jan 7, 2019

Anger is more likely to be directed at the director's perceived lack of moral position on this subject matter.

| Jan 7, 2019

[A] brattily repellent, hell-bent-for-shock collection of vignettes about the perils of boredom in suburban America.

| Original Score: F | Sep 7, 2011

Enfant terrible Harmony Korine makes a bizarre, idiosyncratic directing debut with his uncompromising look at youth alientaion in Middle-America, whose downbeat tone and off-putting imagery should appeal to small minority of viewers.

| Apr 28, 2008

C'mon, Harmony. Mano a boyo. What are you really trying to prove here?

| Apr 28, 2008

Problematic, troubling, dangerous even, but breathtakingly original, and absolutely true to the times. The cutting edge doesn't get any sharper than this.

| Feb 9, 2006

Gummo is likely to offend and shock -- cat lovers should be especially warned -- and its portrayal of small-town nihilism and craziness is disturbingly weird, but it is an an accomplished and wholly original piece of filmmaking.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 8, 2002

In real life, this town was devastated by a tornado 20 years ago. According to Korine's version of things, it never recovered.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Apr 12, 2002

The effect is as horribly funny as it is depressing.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Give me a f---ing break, man.

| Original Score: 0/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Perhaps Gummo was dismissed by many people because it obsessively investigates the gray area between being an object and being an actor in which filmed people necessarily exist.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 1, 2000