In a number of movie threads I’ve noticed alot of people trashing the movie Kids. They say the content is disturbing and that it is just a bad movie. There have also been a number of people who say they have enjoyed the movie. So is Kids horrible or is it actually worth seeing?
Um, if you’re seeing in a lot of threads mixed opinions, it doesn’t make much sense to start a new thread because you’re going to get the same mixed opinions. 
UnuMondo
imho it is a terrific, although disturbing, movie. Recommended but not only if you want a movie with the ability to make you think.
I found nothing redeeming in it. It was all played for shock value. Yawn.
I can understand the controversy, but it was definitely good filmmaking. Have you seen the movie Bully? It has the same director and some of the same actors in a movie based on a true story (though they changed the name and nationality of the murder “victim”; in real life he was Iranian).
It’s fictional but has a very documentary-y feel to it. To Yookeroo’s point, I’ll confirm it IS shocking, but I differ in that it has worth beyond it’s shocking content.
Depending on where you live, you may have different feelings about what percentage of youths today this movie represents. It ain’t 100% but it sure ain’t 0% either. That it represents any percentage gives me cause to think about how my childhood is similar or different than what these kids have. To consider what choices or influences did I have along the way to keep me out of that situation – which I can apply to the raising of my own kids (when I get 'em).
It’s fictional but has a very documentary-y feel to it. To Yookeroo’s point, I’ll confirm it IS shocking, but I differ in that it has worth beyond it’s shocking content.
Depending on where you live, you may have different feelings about what percentage of youths today this movie represents. It ain’t 100% but it sure ain’t 0% either. That it represents any percentage gives me cause to think about how my childhood is similar or different than what these kids have. To consider what choices or influences did I have along the way to keep me out of that situation – which I can apply to the raising of my own kids (when I get 'em).
It’s a polarizing movie. Either people think it’s insightful and well done, or they think it’s a piece of pig vomit.
I watched it one and a half times. The first time, I fell asleep an hour into it, the second time, I watched it the whole way through.
God is not going to give me those three hours back. Your time would be better spent watching a better movie, such as Battlefield Earth or Manos: The Hands of Fate.
I think it is an interesting commentary on the way kids grow up real fast these days. These kids have sex, drink, do drugs, and some of them aren’t even in High School yet. They are living adult lives, making adult mistakes, and paying adult prices. yet they still are just kids. Kids today have access to so much information. The internet and television have made it so they deal with mature themes (sex, war, hatred, crime) daily. From videos to CNN to music to the internet, they learn alot quickly. They want to step up to the world for resprect from their peers. They demand to be respected like adults, and if you won’t give them the respect, they take it.
Disturbing, thought provoking, well-acted, and a good soundtrack. Check it out. But it aint a happy flick. Oddly enough, probably not suitable for kids . . .
dj, do you really think the movie is representative of how kids of that age are today? I don’t know that they are or are not; I sure hope not.
I found the kid (forget his name) who keeps on deflowering virgins a little implausible . . . I mean, what’s his secret? He’s not very good-looking, he’s not bright or charming, and he’s just barely capable of human speech.
Well being a kid of approximately that age, I’d say that it seems pretty close (drug use, promiscuity) to some people I know. I haven’t seen the movie. Most kids aren’t, but I know a few people who seem to be real-world “Tellys”.
I teach high school, and I think the film is brilliant. I recommend it whenever I can. I remember I saw the film around the same time the documentary “The Lost Children of Rockdale County” came out about a teenage sex/orgy ring in Rockdale County, Georgia. It was an absolute case of art imitating life.
Sometimes shocking things aren’t for shock value. Sometimes they’re to mirror real life.
Very powerful, very disturbing. Will make you think.
Well, SOME kids. I think there is a tremendous pressure on kids these days to emulate the adult world they see in movies/videos/television shows. To be accepted by peers all to often means being “rebellious” or “hard” - which in these times means sex, drugs, and disillusionment/jaded attitude at an early age. Plenty of kids are not that way, but a growing number are pretty close and quite a few are dead on like those in the movie. These children are out there and there numbers are pretty significant it seems to me.
DaLovin’ Dj
I disliked the movie, but not because it disgusted me or I thought it was highly implausible. It was well-done and I think the subject matter was realistic. I guess it just didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know or haven’t been thinking about since I was that age. I found it kind of boring. But I think it is worth seeing.
Great movie
See also: Bully (actually, i thought bully was better)
Read: the basketball diaries. (I never saw the movie on that one, but the book was really good and disturbing on the same level as Kids, my guess is that the movie was watered down)
I think that the beauty of a movie like Kids is that nothing in it was glamorized, or inherently cautionary. By that I mean it didn’t seem like the movie was trying to teach anyone a lesson. Rather, it just wanted to tell a really messed up story.
Definitely the feel bad movie of that year.
It’s a good movie, but not all that great. It’s mildly boring, but with the repetitive subject matter, drinking, smoking, screwing, it didn’t really have a choice. It’s not all that revelationary, but seeing kids doing what you only suspect is shocking and a bit of an eyre opener. I’d err on the side of caution and say watch it.
The question you asked was whether it was worth seeing. I’d have to say it definitely it. Be prepared for the worst.
That said, I think films like this are a rather cynical and unfair representation of youth. I’ve taught high school in a tough part of Houston, and most of the kids were fine. I think this film feeds on a long-standing societal fear we have of our own teenagers.