st. courtney shane, julie freeman, marcie fox, lizz purr, judy greer
USA 86 mins rated M
released by columbia tristar films
I love teen flicks and teen tv. You just can't have too much crap. Teen films reflect the cheapness, shallowness and sordidness of life so well. Life is about getting laid and little more, is it not? The world needs more high school based films and thank the gods that Hollywood can pump them out at a near obscene rate. Jawbreaker is a story of the beautiful people, those that want to be the beautiful people and those that don't want to be the beautiful people.
The film starts with footage of the four girls who are the elite of the school. They are beautiful, they are popular, they are what we aspire to be. But one of the girls (Elizabeth) is just that bit more popular than the others, because she has compassion. When Elizabeth is kidnapped by the others as part of her birthday celebrations, things turn nasty. Rose McGowan stuffs an oversized confectionary item in Elizabeth's mouth to keep her quiet, then dumps her in the boot of her car. When the girls stop for breakfast, they open the boot to find their friend is dead.
Confusion and panic ensues as they plan what to do with the body. Confess or hide the corpse? Rose takes control and they return the body to her bedroom and arrange the carcass to make it appear she had been raped and murdered. Their effort is interrupted by Fern, the classic geek, and a deal is struck. Fern will be converted into one of the beautiful people and welcomed into the inner circle of the school's elite.
Fern is transformed into Violet and goes power crazy with her new popularity, leading to confrontations with Rose who now sees herself as the most popular girl in school, and a certainty for prom queen. The group itself is falling apart. Foxy decides she has had enough and leaves the circle of cool to hang out with the sexiest boy in school (an actor) to whom she confesses the truth of their deed. Meanwhile, the police are on the case, and Pam Grier plays the detective leading the investigation.
As personalities clash, Rose sets about to frame some poor dupe (Marilyn Manson, her real life squeeze) just in case the police suspect her of any foul play. Rose's coverup of the murder is pathetic and unconvincing from the start of the film, and in reality the police would have to be more stupid and inept than ever be fooled by her clumsy efforts.
The holes in her coverup are huge and plentiful, but for the sake of plot convenience, the police are fooled, and it comes down to Foxy (the bad girl gone good) and her pretty boyfriend to expose Rose for the devious murderess that she is. The school prom is the place for the showdown, and after the obligatory Carrie reference, good triumphs over bad.
There is not much to like about this film, which covers the subject material seen in Heathers, Massacre at Central High, and a hundred other films. Even at only 86 minutes running time, the director found it necessary to pad out the film with musical interludes. There were an unsettling number of low angle shots of the girls in short skirts which seemed exploitive and out of place. On the positive side, Marilyn Manson's role was funny, and The Donnas (American all girl Ramonesish band) were playing at the prom. Marilyn plays a guy in a bar who Rose picks up, fucks in Elizabeths bed so the police will suspect him of the murder. He doesn't speak, but looks suitably sleazy.
sebastian niemand
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