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Reviews
Fierce People
Poor city-kid meet plain ridiculous
By
JENNY HALPER
|
September 19, 2007
FIERCE PEOPLE
1.0
Stars
VIDEO: Watch the trailer for
Fierce People
.
Griffin Dunne’s 2005 film is like
The Great Gatsby
with Jay as an old coot whose grandchildren attack the help with spears. Teenage Finn (Anton Yelchin) takes a cab to the sprawling estate of Ogden Osborne (Donald Sutherland), where his coke-addict mom (Diane Lane) has been hired as a masseuse. Soon she shakes the habit (it was
that
easy?), and he falls into puppy-eyed love with Osborne’s granddaughter (Kristen Stewart). It’s a vivid playpen for the smart-alecky — and poor — city kid, but he soon learns that wealth isn’t all face paint and hot-air balloons. Didn’t we know that already? Dunne mixes in a sour-tasting rape and tops it off with tattoo’d names and meaningless sex. Despite a starry ensemble including Elizabeth Perkins (her
Weeds
character but with witless dialogue), the first half is dull. The second half is plain ridiculous, and a subplot involving the vicious Ishkanani tribe (hence the title) doesn’t help.
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