Well done morality play involving teenagers. Sound familiar?

The creek is peaceful, the kids are the mean ones. When little Culkin gets bullied by the kid with dyslexia, his little gang of friends plan to ridicule him on the creek. But it gets much worse.

A teen film that is only intended for adults and does a superb job of fusing comedy with drama.

Good film but the ending left me feeling shortchanged.

It's not that Mean Creek isn't a good movie, because it's actually pretty decent. It's just that you can't ignore the fact that it feels like you've seen it before. And why is that? Because it borrows heavily from other movies of the same type. When a bullying victim's older brother decides to dole out some retribution on the perpetrator, things take a tragic and unexpected turn. The handheld camera gets a bit tiresome at times and the whole conundrum could have been resolved by simply telling the truth, but the movie is saved by some pretty respectable performances from the young cast, a story that moves along at a nice clip and enough moral dilemmas to keep the mental wheels turning.

This low-budget, independent, psychological drama breathes two things: Ambition and passion. For a pretty minimalist movie of barely an hour and a half, it manages to make you watch from the beginning to the end. It's got a certain dark power which sticks with you for a while, it amazes me how Mean Creek is simple but yet ghastly and effective. From the good music, to the atmosphere, to the rich morals and complexes that this film shows us, director Jacob Aaron Estes made a little gem of independent cinema. Another important thing to note is that the acting is surprisingly good considering that they didn't have very much money to work with. Scott Mechlowicz, Josh Peck, Rory Culkin and Carly Schroeder give memorable performances, just as memorable as the child characters themselves. It's a rich movie which contains many different themes, ranging from bullying, mental health, peer pressure to themes or morality and justice, all scenes threw the lenses of kids. Overall, I really enjoyed this little treasure, it isn't to be taken lightly. Really good movie and recommended!!

Incredible movie. Only critique is that it should’ve shown a bit more of the back story first.

Spoilers: You pretty much know where this teen drama is going after a bully beats up a much smaller Rory in school, and the victim's brother Trevor and friends, including leader Scott, devise a plot to get even. It's going off the rails, probably really badly. They ask Rory to pretend it is his birthday, invite bully Josh and they'd all, including Rory's cute blond girlfriend Carly, go into a boat on the wide, deep creek and strip Josh and embarrass him. What could go wrong? The others want to call off this reckless plan, at the urging of Carly. But Scott persuades them to trudge on, and they get into the rowboat. When Josh over and over insults Scott's Dad, who was dead of suicide, Scott goes after him, and the others get between the two. Trevor inadvertently pushes Josh off the boat into the water, and relatively soon, Josh disappears. The others try to save him, Carly administering CPR, but it is too late. So Scott concludes the only thing to do is bury him, and he actually talks the rest into that. They vow secrecy, but Rory and Carly that night decide they have to blow the whistle on themselves to clear this up so it doesn't drive them crazy. Finally some sense -- out of the mouths of babes. They talk Trevor and Ryan into blowing the whistle on themselves, too, as Scott tells Trevor he sucks, leaves with a gun, holds up a store, and takes off out of town. We see the cops at the burial scene, Josh's screaming mom, and cops running a tape at the station that shows what a narcissistic crazy Josh really was. All these kids' lives changed forever by a bully and their reaction to him; but it is their judgment that that is better than trying to live forever with dead Josh under 6 feet of dirt in the woods. We do not get if anyone serves time or even is charged, as not finishing stories is in vogue. Good writing, acting and pacing, for the most part, a cut above other teen dramas. Kids out there: If you think you ought to do questionable stuff that older teens or young adults say to, know there is a good chance they are not wise or good, so don't freakin do it.

This is an absolute hidden gem. It taps into so many unspoken about issues in American youth today. The real story (at least from my perspective) is about a child that was misunderstood and lashed out because of a difficult upbringing with - one would imagine - little to no emotional support. Inevitably, he ends up paying the ultimate price for something that most-likely could've been prevented or at very least, understood. Acting is absolutely incredible. Performances from Scott Mechlowitz and Josh in Peck in particular. I went through a ride of emotions while watching this, particularly during the middle and thought about this movie and it's outcome for weeks after the fact.

Carried by riveting performances and a powerful yet deep screenplay. Mean Creek shows a darker side of youth not often seen in coming of age cinema.

A film that was first intriguing, then slowly engaging but ultimately unsatisfying. And after a second viewing 16 years later, the accolades are still a mystery to me as Mean Creek plays like an inferior River's Edge. An undiagnosed, unsympathetic bully that still knows right from wrong gets karma. I'm not sure I even understand what the kids did wrong as this film spends all its running time building up to a dumb incident and ending before any lesson is learned. Really underdeveloped.

I feel conflicted about this film. While everything about it is particularly great: the acting, pacing, atmosphere, structure, writing, characters, etc. I just feel as if I was expecting more emotionally. Like Josh Peck's character, George, a very misunderstood kid who is always seen as the "dumb, fat, bully". In reality he has a learning disorder, no friends, no father and is overall very complicated. Now without going into spoilers, George's character doesn't have a happy ending. And I was expecting to get rather emotional when a particular part came up, but I never did. The build up was great, but the delivery was very poor. Now I will say this; I was left speechless after the film was over, and kept on thinking about the movie in its entirety for the next couple days. While not as emotionally involving as I might have wanted, it was still very thought provoking and an all around great movie. And did I mention that the performances were fantastic? Sheesh, truly special acting by the kids.

There are things in this movie that wouldn't normally work— but do. Most likely thanks to Mean Creek's bluntness. 7.2/10, B-

A film that I consider to be a very important and fantastic coming-of-age/drama film that is a must watch for everyone.

A film that I consider to be very imporant, and fantastic coming-of-age/drama film that is a must watch for everyone.

It was a fine crime drama which was quite predictable but also intriguing. I held onto the movie for such a long time and only watched it 16 years after it was made so it felt outdated as well.

Why would anyone want to watch something like this? It's not enjoyable, it's not engaging, it's not interesting, it's just mean spirited and uncomfortable. And you wanna know the worst part? This actually had potential. This could've been a light hearted masterpiece. This movie was going in a great direction of showing the good in bullies and how a joke can go too far. But no, we need to make it scary so let's just kill the guy! Worst thing Josh Peck has ever had a part in!

Mean Creek is a dull exercise in unfulfilled optimism. With a plot that promises, albeit without specificity, to develop dramatic tension and character development, it instead delivers forgettable characters and events that never raise the viewers pulse one beat per minute. Mean Creek is ultimately about murder, yet what we get here is an approach to the subject matter in which the director opts for a quiet, still, and milquetoast take. Mean Creek tells a story that, ironically, strips murder of all its humanity. We are expected to believe that the characters here respond to events unlike humans are known universally to respond to them. Mean Creek turns murder into performance art, except with no good performance, and without any true art.

A pretty good movie, but it pails in consideration to Jack Ketchum's The Lost, which is a true story. The acting is pretty good in this one. The plot was serviceable. I just wish they spent more time on the events after the incident vs so much time beforehand setting it all up.

A dark and gritty teen drama with good performances and well-written dialogue.