Terri (2011)

I was hesitant when I saw it was another from the epicenter of bad taste and cringe worthy clichés that is the sundance film festival. Media containing John C Riley, and an over weight teen has appeal like it could have some powerful endorphin driving, dialog and dialect about character and reality... Which is exactly what was attempted, only to be abruptly diluted in a mixture of melodramatic assumptions of what being a loner "teen" is like, and the shock value of implied child pornography. The Movie "Terri" simply tries, for an hour and forty minutes, to be artistic and moving, yet completely fails to develop any character or moral in anyone, much less an actual story, enough to evoke liking or similarity.

'Terri' has to be the most awkward movie I've ever seen…dang, I must've forgotten High School, it's been so long. This WAS high school for me, except for the fact I would Terri's Siskel to his Ebert. At any rate, it was an enormously slow-paced film filled with tension – I mean, you never know with these types of films: Will Terri pull out that gun and finally pull the Columbine on his peers? Will that principal ever hit on one of the male students? Will anyone do anything for the 105 minutes? Actually, I sound harsh on this – despite its low-key, high tension and awkwardness, I enjoyed it. The acting was FANTASTIC all around; the movie was incredibly real and touching, yet weird at times. You can never ever get your head around a lot of these complex characters, namely and especially Terri. I know I couldn't, but by the end, I did have a better appreciation for him. Great little movie. 4/5 Stars.

Hollywood films have their clichés, but so do Sundance indies as well. We've all sat through underwritten sensitive stories about loners where so much of what is going on is "left unsaid." It's a fine line between poetically subtle and just plain underwritten, and this film falls in the latter category. Who is Terri? Why is he the way he is? Who are any of these people? And none of the relationships here are at all interesting. Nor is there any attempt to provide any kind of psychological insight. Several times characters are confronted about their behavior (Terri in gym class, the girl regarding a sexual encounter, the principal in his office), only to shrug and fail to offer any insight. There's no "there" here. It's an empty bag, a "Sundance favorite" that has nothing to offer. This is something anyone could have written over a weekend. It's been 6 decades since Holden Caufield, and yet people still try to do the sensitive teen thing. Rent Rushmore instead.

I thought this is a film that can really hit home with a lot of people. In today's modern age, we're given less of a chance to get to know someone because there are always loopholes to social conversations or meeting a person, well, in person.Terri is a very good hearted kid in this film, that's obvious, but he also buckles under pressure from Chad and Heather. And with this it almost makes it less sympathetic only because it seems to be a weak point in himself. And throughout the movie, I couldn't decide if it would end well or not. By the end there's a sense of depression rather then empathy for him. Nothing seems to be working out but he still holds a smile at the end.Overall, I very much liked this film seeing as it can touch base with how some kids are. Chad, for instance, seems self destructive and can also buckle under the pressure to be liked. And that is where all three characters relate, they all want to be wanted by someone because no one else wants them. Uncle James is too sick to care for Terri and it seems both sets of parents for Chad and Heather aren't around, as well. Even if this film doesn't connect, it doesn't fail to show diversity in people and how everyone just doesn't click with one another. I did, however, think the ending was a bit choppy but leaving it to the viewer to decide on how things went.