Havoc (2005)

Despite the fact that this movie is like the umpteenth variation of Rebel Without A Cause, anybody who has gone to a high school in an affluent area in the last decade and seen the amount of pampered young 'wiggers' there are knows that the premise of this flick is relevant to today's youth and is worth exploring. Unfortunately, the movie fails to deliver on this promising premise and only succeeds in wasting a fine performance from Anne Hathaway.

The movie WANTS to make a powerful statement about spoiled, naive, pseudo-disillusioned youths searching for identity in the superficial only to receive a colossal reality check when they realize the life they've been imitating isn't as glamorous as they had thought. Unfortunately, this noble message is lost in a weak script and characters that are either one-dimensional, unbelievable or both. Although one must consider the fact that the screenplay was for the most part written by a 16-year-old girl before judging it, it is disappointing that an Academy Award-winning co-writer with some experience with this genre of film (Stephen Gaghan) could not give the screenplay and characters a more authentic feel.

Even if it was the screenwriter's intention to make the script's dialogue horrible for the sake of legitimizing just how inane the gang of rich white teens are acting, the horrid screen writing comes off so cartoonish that the viewer will have an extremely difficult time accepting the dialogue, and consequently the behavior, of these characters as being legitimate. As a result, the gang of rich white wannabe thugs come off, for the most part, as being overwrought caricatures saddled with some of the most laughably horrible dialogue ever heard in a motion picture. As for the gang of cholo thugs in the movie, they come off as being far too nice and too stereotypical to Latinos, and thus seem only marginally less cartoony that the gang of rich white kids.

The movie's lone saving grace is Anne Hathaway. Playing a role that shares some parallels with and could be considered a natural extension of her smart-girl-with-a-rebellious-streak Meghan Green character from the short-lived TV series Get Real, hers was the only character in the movie that had any sort of depth and believability. The script, despite its many shortcomings, succeeds in making it clear just how self-aware, intelligent, and capable of good Hathaway's character is, in spite of her actions as a member of the gang of rich white teens, giving the film its lone three-dimensional character. Because of Hathaway's talent as an actress, as well as her successful exploitation of the public's predominant perception of her as a wholesome girl next door for this film, it is easy for the audience to believe that Hathaway's character is the rebel-without-a-clue fish out of water that the script is trying to portray her as. Hathaway's acting is superb, head and shoulders above anyone else in the film, which adds to her character's legitimacy. However, the people who see this movie will likely be too busy snickering at the inane lines of dialogue she's repeatedly forced to drop or, more likely, be gaping at their TV thinking "O...M...G! The chick from The Princess Diaries is actually TOPLESS!" to notice her solid performance.

Which leads to a discussion of arguably the biggest reason most people even know this film exists. Hathaway has claimed in interviews that she only does nudity in films if she deems it necessary to the story. While a cas

Fmovies: I admit the only reason I watched this movie was to see Anne Hathaway's contribution to the arts and to see if Richard Roeper's praise was on the mark. This was not art. What was she thinking? What was Roeper thinking? I thought maybe she chose this movie because she saw some challenge. The only challenge I believe she had was showing her breasts. Her character was shallow, and it was supposed to be. How difficult is it to play a shallow character? It couldn't have been too difficult because every one of the gang-banger-wannabes was shallow. True to life for them but so what? The parents were just as shallow. The more I watched, the more I prayed for someone to start acting. Just when I saw possibilities, I was disappointed once again.

The best characters were Hector and his gang. They were the most intriguing because once Allison made contact, it became possible that someone was going to experience a change in life and Hector was truly one who could make that change. On the other hand, Allison could also make the change. Welll, it disappointed again. It isn't that a change hadn't occurred, a change did occur, but not one that would help this movie.

The movie is weak and often gives one a reason to walk away. Someone wanted to tell a story that would show life on the wild side and probably encourage abstention to anyone tempted to indulge in a very tough and rough life. But the people who wanted to tell that story gave up, ironically, just like the shallow characters. The lesson was apparently lost with any hope to make this a quality film.

One last thing, if anyone can find a character to relate to, good luck to you. Good luck to Anne, too. Maybe now that Anne has bared her breasts, she will be able to bare her soul in a role more deserving.

2/10 is the best I can do. I guess anyone having anything to do with Havoc is destined to give so little.

Negative comments about this film need to be tempered by the sad story surrounding its making. The script was written by a 17-year old girl named Jessica Kaplan. No, It's not Citizen Kane, but it is an extraordinary piece of work for a teenager. And most sadly, she perished in an airplane crash at the age of 21. The film is dedicated to her memory.

As to the film's merits, it is by my count the 1,464th variation of Rebel Without A Cause, which I think said all that needed to be said on the subject. Did you know that adolescents often find society empty and pointless? And that they do stupid things by way of rebelling against it, in hopes of dispelling their angst and finding something more meaningful? Yes, it's true. In this version of that old chestnut, the rebels are a particularly spoiled group of high school students living in Hollywood. To find something they consider "real", they form youth gangs in imitation of the poor folk in East L.A. And then they actually go there, at first to buy drugs; but then rich girls Anne Hatahway and Bijou Phillips try to get involved in the local Hispanic gang scene. Some pretty modest mayhem ensues.

The East L.A. people are awfully sanitized and not very believable. Nobody is addicted to anything. Nobody is desperate. Nobody appears to be poor. These are basically solid middle class folk, devoted to family, who have a few surface quirks and who happen to sell crack cocaine instead of, say, life insurance.

Is it my imagination or does the gorgeous Bijou Phillips always play exactly the same role -- a sexually eager girl who gets in over her head, discovering the hard way that yes, she has limits? That's the role she plays here, and she is fine (as is lead Anne Hatahway). But I wonder whether that is her entire repertoire. Perhaps she will branch out someday.

Somewhere on this planet, there must be some group of people more deserving of sympathy than affluent Hollywood teenagers. So I found myself wondering why this film had been made. The young scriptwriter should not be held accountable, but you would think older people would know better.

Havoc fmovies. Words cannot express how much I hated this movie. I hated every aspect of it, from the direction to the writing to the acting. Havoc is the story of one teenager's (Anne Hathaway) exploration of a world outside that which she is accustomed. And that's putting it in a way that gives this movie more credit than it deserves. Hathaway's character is part of a "gang" of white, upper-class high-schoolers who backlash at their upbringing by emulated black culture. She and her friends eventually decide to take a trip to East L.A., and no hilarity ensues.

I decided to watch this movie for two reasons: Stephen Gaghan had a hand in it; and Anne Hathaway, who I have always found enjoyable to watch, was starring in it.

I'll begin my criticism with the writing. After finally viewing the movie, I can honestly say that I found nothing that resembles Stephen Gaghan in the script. Vapid is the only word I can think of to describe the thoughts and ideas of this movie. It is one of the those movies that tries so hard to make a social comment, yet fails so miserably. The characters are all one-dimensional, especially Toby (Mike Vogel), the wigger boyfriend of Hathaway's character Allison. His actions are so broad and exaggerated, I had a hard time taking anything he, or anyone on screen at the time, did seriously. Finally, each character was written to be an example of a stereotype. I almost laughed when Hector (Freddy Rodriguez) tried to explain that not everything in East L.A. was about gangs and drugs, then proceeded to fill every stereotype of a movie gang member.

Each and every actor in this movie lost points in my book for being associated with this film. Even those I like and respect. Michael Biehn, Laura San Giacomo, Anne Hathaway and Bijou Phillips all have done serious, believable roles. Even Joseph Gordon-Levitt, whose only respectable role I've seen him in was "10 Things I Hate About You" (I haven't seen "Manic" as of this writing), in which he was at least believable. Here, his unbelievable overacting reaches a point at which Paris Hilton would be proud.

This brings me to the directing. Because I respect many of the leads and they have done great work in the past, I can only blame the awful choices on the director.

Very few movies reach the depths this movie does. I have not hated a movie so much since "The Doom Generation." Stay away if you can.

If there is some justice to misjudging investments in movies, then the fact that this film went directly to DVD despite the presence of a crew that includes some impressive names is notable. Writer Stephen Gaghan ('Traffic', 'Rules of Engagement', 'Syriana', etc) has composed a contrived script about rich, bored, Hip Hop imitating, unmotivated teenagers trying to spice up their insignificant lives by treading into the East LA 'danger zone', an experience from which they learn nothing about cross cultural ethnic groups and just return to Pacific Palisades whining about 'damaged goods'. It is an insulting story, one that stereotypes Hispanics as drug-peddling, raping thugs in a totally black and white manner, not taking into consideration the viewpoint of a cultural group's positive attributes and philosophies.

No longer a viable gimmick, the film begins with the tired cliché of a kid making a documentary about his friends, asking what they like and don't like, their goals, their outlooks. The fact that none of the interviewees has a clue about life, preferring to follow the current Hip Hop language (very poorly written) and focusing on sex, drugs, and escapes from their wealthy environments. Among these are three girls, the main character being Allison (Anne Hathaway, miscast in every way), who follow their superficial boyfriends on a joyride for drugs into East LA. There they meet Hector (Freddy Rodríguez, trying his best to create a character without the benefit of a decent script) who sells them drugs and whom Allison eyes. Allison is so shallow she doesn't have a clue about her motivations, just wanting something 'dangerous' to happen. She coaxes her equally clueless girlfriends into going into East LA to seduce Hector and ends up in a ridiculous barter for joining Hector's gang (no mention is made at all about the Chicanas who would never allow these three geeks to enter their territory unchallenged). The results of a barter results in an experience with which the girls cannot cope so they run back to the protection of the dysfunctional parents they loathe to cover the mess of their caper. Attempts to resolve this dumb story fail pathetically.

With so many fine Indie films that go begging for attention, it is a shame money is wasted on this sort of meaningless mess of a film. The 'unrated' designation is probably meant for the occasional nudity and gratuitous sex and language, but here 'Unrated' might just mean that the film is so without merit that it is non-classifiable. Avoid this one and don't think that a fine writer such as Gaghan guarantees a successful story. Grady Harp

It seems that this is one of those films that people either love or hate. I'm more in the middle. At times I found Havoc annoying, but as it progressed, the story became more engaging, and you're supposed to find aspects of it annoying.

Anne Hathaway--who is trying her hardest here to distance herself from her previous Disney and family film image by choosing a role where she's naked and sexual as often as possible--plays Allison, a rich, enigmatic high school student, wrapped up with a very plastic wannabe-gangsta-rapper group of white kids. They have a minor encounter with a Mexican gang in East L.A., and Hathaway finds herself (somewhat) inexplicably drawn to the Mexican gang. She keeps returning to visit one of the leaders, Hector (Freddy Rodriguez). At one point things become more complicated, as the audience surely expects.

The annoying aspect of the film is the rich kid gangsta posers. They seem incredibly fake, stupid and ridiculous. But on the other hand, that's pretty much the point. Los Angeles certainly has a reputation, somewhat deserved, for plasticity, so I suppose that Los Angeles high schools would be even worse, because a large percentage of high school students everywhere tend to conform to some clique or another (as do many adults, for that matter, but the "join a club to fit in and be accepted" mentality is usually more transparent and focused in high school). So the main characters should be annoying, and Allison, and later her friend Emily (Bijou Phillips), should be frustrating in their lack of direction and independent identity.

The problem with Havoc, however, is that the bulk of the running time is given to this irksome, frustrating and ridiculous group of characters. That's not exactly a recipe for falling in love with a film. Both Allison and the audience will likely respond to the Mexican gang better because there is an air of authenticity present with them, thanks largely to the cast playing those roles, but they're just not in the film enough, and the climax and dénouement are far less than satisfactory in that regard. Likewise, one rich kid character who is making an amateur documentary on the rich kid "gang" comes across as more authentic and interesting, but he ends up having an inexcusably minor role.

Still, if you can bear the inundation of poser behavior and lingo, there is an interesting story somewhat buried here, plus some attractive cinematography, a good soundtrack (both the songs and the more traditional score), and I'm certainly not complaining about seeing, um, more of Anne Hathaway. Approach this one with a lot of caution, but it's easy to see how it could be a gem for some.