Devolved (2010)

The problem with this film is the directing, acting and script writing. The film portrays itself as a teen comedy but although there are teens, it is not funny. At best it is the kind of humor that young kids would laugh at. The film also tries to be dramatic in parts but this does not work as it is spoilt by its unserious nature. The script writing is abhorrent because it portrays 'The Raj' as this incredibly annoying, immature character who is followed around mindlessly by the 'cool kids'. The script writing does not even make sense. How on earth do all the teens get their food? Where do they sleep? The characters seem so blank that their actions never are understood. In all there are only 3 characters that are at all interesting in the film. Also, the 'reporter' scenes which are the most amateur and badly done parts of the film have no place. The acting is also terrible. The only OK actor is Lindsey Shaw while the others cannot comprehend what the word 'acting' means. They cannot accurately portray a character in their scenario. About the music, it was so bad that I don't even remember it. No themes or anything. Boring. All in all, a terrible film with the humor of a child but with teenage themes. No point watching it.

You'd think some (French) people were watching Tree of Life instead of a low-budget teen comedy. I don't think the movie re-invents anything, but there are a lot of sharp laughs to be found here. It's certainly gotten a lot of good reviews, many more good than bad in all the ones I read.It doesn't start off the best, but gets going as soon as The Rog (Robert Adamson) shows up. He's sort of a low-rent Spiccoli, except without the brains. As soon as he arrives, the laughs really begin, as we now see the setup between the two groups. Lindsey Shaw is also very good as the Rog's girlfriend Peggy.Chris Kattan shows up, and while I'm not a fan of his, it was one of the less annoying performances I've seen him give.The rest of the movie is basically a back and forth between the two groups, with the island sort of becoming a metaphor for high school.I get the feeling this is destined to become a cult film. Not a cult classic, mind you, but a fun little movie that has some kind of message. My guess is that if you don't like the message, you won't like Devolved.

This movie is not as bad other have said. Generally I turn anything I rate lower that a 5 off and never make past the 1st 1st half hour. This is watchable better than most of the Saturday night live skits. The characters are definitely stereo types and writing is somewhat juvenile but I thought it was a better comedy than most of those Leslie Nielsen films. Basically the style is knockoff of Idiocracy with a voice that explains things. The lord of the fly thing is about 2 minutes of the movie and is not the core of the movie. The acting is definitively B players. The other reviewer is correct the Chris Kattan character is a waste but he is the only star in the movie.

Don't let the critics fool you. This movie has zero redeeming value. It's meant to be some sort of teen movie pastiche, but just clunks along. Maybe it's the bad acting, the lousy script, the awful jokes, the poor delivery, the bad direction, the low budget, the ridiculous setup. There's even a bad voice-over (which drops out midway through the film) and an even worse television news reporter.The premise: a group of teenagers --half are jocks, half are nerds/misfits -- from the same high school take a cruise off the coast of Mexico and end up shipwrecked on an uncharted island. Why they are in Mexico is never explained, although presumably they're on some sort of Spring Break. Do high schoolers have Spring Break? Also, why would jocks and nerds party together on the same cruise ship? Along the way the boat explodes -- although miraculously all of the high school kids make it to shore. On an uncharted island off the coast of Mexico. Uncharted island. Right. What follows is an exercise in such utter unbelievability, with such low concern for any sort of reality that it sucks the life right out of the premise. Impossible to buy into the story --and therefore the attempts at humor -- when the premise is so far-fetched. And anyone who dares to compare this film to Lord of the Flies should be banned forever from writing film reviews. Oh yes, one of the teachers, played by Chris Kattan, ends up shipwrecked with the kids. There's seems to have been no purpose adding this character to the film, as he's featured for all of five minutes -- and succeeds in further sucking any scrap of life left from the film in the process. Call him this film's Boris Karloff. Kattan's not the worst of the actors, hard enough as it is to believe this. That honor goes to Robert Adamson, who plays the over-the-top jock leader. Lindsey Shaw spends much of the movie being sullen and petulant, and in no way is believable as a head cheerleader. Perhaps the real goal of the filmmakers was to win a Worst Movie of the Year award? Well, they're certainly on their way. Good luck to them.