There's a lot of good in Wasted On The Young;
writer / director Ben C Lucas does a great job of conveying both the
glamour and the isolation of these rich kids' lives, giving events a
chilly style like something out of a Bret Easton Ellis novel. The
performances are solid across the board, and the script works hard to
give even the most two-dimensional characters enough motivation to
prevent them from being just simple good or bad guys. However,
the story itself is a bit of a mess, packed with sometimes painfully
pretentious moments and scenes more suited to a bad telemovie. Wasted On The Young
isn't quite in love with its style - it's always clear that bullying is
a bad thing and the bullies are bad people - but it's more interested
in bringing digital effects than actual insights to the table.
So how
much you'll get out of this film depends on what you're looking
for. It's stylish, but it's hollow (and not in a way that
reflects on the hollow nature of many of its characters: it'd actually
have to say even less then it does to pull off that trick), and as the
film itself tries to get across, sometimes good looks just aren't
enough. DVD Special Features
Some fun extras have been included, which is surprising considering
the film made about $2.30 at the Australian Box Office and is...
well... an Australian movie.
But it's well worth checking out.
Included here is a "Making of Wasted on the Young" featurette, a bunch
of Cast and Crew Interviews, plus some fun Production Diaries.
Conclusion - Movie: 65% Extras: 60%
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