Home Room (2002)

simply one of the best films I have seen in a very long time.I never lost interest and the dynamics between the very disparate young ladies was way up there.No one film is going to appeal to everyone and I am sure this won't but, it is really a gem.Sort of reminded me of Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter" where the lawyer/dad looks for explanations where sometimes stuff just happens and there are no pat answers.Not everything in life has a logical necessary antecedent and these two movies showcase this.

I rented this movie along with 'Elephant.' The two films are very different but obviously deal with the same subject (school shootings). I found the movie to be above average. In comparison 'Elephant' was better in my opinion. They are very different films but it seemed to me that 'Home Room' did what every other movie could have done. The cliché 'rich girl meets goth girl' idea did not really do it for me. I'm sick of 'odd couple' movies unless they have really good character development and are witty like say, 'Tin Men.' I didn't really feel the characters were developed interestingly enough. What I really liked about the movie however was the turn it took at the very end revealing how 'Alicia Browning' saved many more kids from being killed and how she had a baby die a year and a half earlier. I totally wasn't expecting that ending. Overall a well-made film with mediocre acting and mediocre dialog with a good ending.

While i was the video store i was browsing through the one dollar rentals and came upon this little gem. I don't know what it was about it but i just had a gut instic about it and wow was i ever right.The story centers around two girls who have just survived a school shooting. One of the girls is Alicia a teenage reble who is the only witness for the full attack and another is Deanna another survivor who survived a bullet to the head by some miracle. Thrown together by fate, they slowly begin a painful and beautiful display of healing and moving on.I just hate it when amazing movies fall through the cracks. Because wow what a performance by Busy Phillips and Erkia Christensen not to mention the rest of the cast! My only complaint is that the DVD was sorely lacking in special features. Oh and some of the jump cuts in the movie were kind of jarring. But all in all a excellent movie.

Why a stupid, boring, crappy overrated film series like "Star Wars" gets all the hype, and a truly amazing film like this one goes completely un-noticed.. is beyond me... This movie will really open your eyes to the dark, disturbing, sad, and scary world we live in...Unlike the boring "Elephant", this movie isn't one of those "just a typical day until someome pulls the trigger" movies.. this movie focuses more on what happens AFTER the event...Deana, played by the very hot and very talented Erika Christensen, is a happy and healthy straight-A student with great friends and a great life... until... she is injured on the day of the shooting, by being shot in the head.. Luckily she is not killed, but is severely injured and has to be in the hospital for a while, causing her to be in a lot of emotional pain, in addition to the physical...Meanwhile, Alicia, played by the also very gorgeous and talented Busy Phillips, is a nasty, cold-hearted, rebellious, anti-social goth girl who doesn't have a single positive trait on her... and she is unharmed when the shooting happens.. because it turns out, she was FRIENDS with the shooter and knew he was going to do what he did... which causes her to be brought into the police station and be asked some questions.. When she refuses to tell the cops if she knew the shooting was going to happen, they constantly come by her house to try to convince her to say something... and she still doesn't, so the principal of the school makes her attend a funeral of one of the dead students, and after she walks out on that... the principal decides enough is enough, and forces her to go visit Deana in the hospital.. Of course she refuses this too, but the principal says that if Alicia doesn't do this, the cops are going to continue to try to get her to say something.. and so she actually goes to see her...The lonely, traumatized, and both physically and emotionally wounded Deana is more than happy to have someone visit her, but of course, Alicia is anything BUT happy to be seeing her.. Deana attempts to give her a friendly welcome, but of course, Alicia responds with nothing but harsh and hurtful comments and a harsh statement on how she is only here because she is being forced, and has no intention of being friendly with her at all. But sooner or later, that intention will change... (and that's all I'll say :) This is truly one of the most moving movies ever, as well as one of the most dark and disturbing.. Actually, I think I would tie this with "American History X" as equally disturbing and moving at the same time...WARNING: Watch this movie at your own risk!! It contains VERY graphic scenes and images! EXCELLENT and criminally under-appreciated movie! I feel so ashamed that I'm pretty much the only one that knows about it!