Dear Wendy (2005)

"Dear Wendy" is a boring, unpleasant movie which is not nearly strange enough to be interesting. It doesn't have a believable moment or character in it. It's like a long elaborate joke with no punchline.The movie is about a group of kids who live in a town which I guess is supposed to be "Anytown, USA" but which I doubt is like any town, any where. It seems to consist of one street with an abandoned mine shaft at the end.The kids form a group called the dandies which is obsessed with guns. They obsessively study videos of gunshot wounds and practice target shooting down in the mine. But, get this: they're pacifists.A black kid joins their group though he does not obey their rules and there is a violent confrontation at the end.In films, the odd unexpected development helps maintain interest. In a movie in which none of the characters motivations make sense, none of their behaviour is explained or explicable, these developments are merely irritating. Watch "Dear Wendy" for examples.

I'm afraid that I don't really see the ironies that other reviewers seem to see. Maybe the film is too good, or maybe it's just difficult to be ironic about this sort of thing.It comes across, to me, as a documentary. This is just the sort of thing that children, particularly inadequate ones, do in that part of the world. The use of massive lethal force against a group of , essentially unarmed children (their weapons are ancient and don't work very well) also seems par for the course in that part of the world.I suppose that buying a real gun in a toyshop by mistake is a bit of a stretch, but, in the context, it seemed quite likely - I'd not be surprised if it had happened.So, what's the moral message? I suppose, if you have children, bring them up in a civilised country. That's all I can see.

I was guiding our school for a movie performance. Our kids (aged 16-17) are taken to the theater a couple of times for a special "high quality" movie. Most of the times the movies the school board chooses are not appreciated by the young audience. Last time it was "Rabbit Proof Fence" which won several prizes, this time it was "Dear Wendy".The plot could work: How confused young teenagers cope with life in America, a land consumed by violence and weapons.But well executed? No. The actors do a fine job, but the script just doesn't work. The film is really sluggish, it seemed like hours, although it only took a hour and a half. Every time you keep asking, is there more to come? A boy writing a long letter to his gun just isn't very appealing. A club of teenagers dressed in weird clothes, adoring guns but stand for pacifism? Come one, that just has to lead to hilarious moments, while the goal of the writer obviously is to make people think, but again, it just doesn't. The movie is just bizarre, weird.When I read lots of other reviews here about "Dear Wendy" I am just gobsmacked how it can be so popular. The movie has won a prize and several nominations. I know how it comes. Just a small amount of people would like movies like these. Lets say scared parents, people who want to be politically correct in all ways and say, hey, a non-Hollywood like movie to promote pacifism would be a thriller for all our teenagers and kids, yay.But no.When I asked our pupils from our school if they liked the movie, and no one said yes. I, as a teacher and adult neither liked it. It is just to weird in all aspects. This is just a movie who likes to give a message to the people, but they are trying to try to hard and make a freak show out of it. Just like they are doing with a lot of other films.The talent is to make a good movie, with a message underneath that works. And we all know that is possible, but hey, we all know the directors who can.To finish I can conclude:Dear Wendy is a movie who tries to forces something out, it is really sluggish and doesn't give a lot of entertaining value, nor makes it people think. Not all movies who try to be politically correct are good movies. I like entertaining movies, I like Hollywood movies (the crew of Dear Wendy obviously hates Hollywoord) and there is nothing wrong with a Hollywood movie. At least it entertains people, and we teachers don't have to suffer from our teenagers who nag about how bad the movie was. :)

What a stupid movie! It feels like it is going on for ages and it goes nowhere. The director, haven't heard of him in my life, I have to say did not such a bad directing, or editing for that matter. The cast was pretty god as well, Jamie Bell outstanding as usual, Chris Owen and Danso Gordon weren't bad at all, but all that could not give the rubbish script any substance or save that disaster of a movie.Clearly there is a moral of the whole story-guns don't kill people, people do, but I bet there was far more interesting way to point that out. A bunch of kids sharing the same love for firearms and exit wounds, playing cowboys pacifists could lead to one thing and one thing only- someone will get killed. It was a bit too violent that they all got shot so mercilessly and pointlessly, putting all that nonsense to an end. How this movie got rating 6.5 I will never know! What a waste of time and money! ...