ridiculous rating

Fantastic!

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This fast-paced, intelligent parable about sexual equality took me completely by surprise--I know a movie really works for me when I forget to check the clock or get snacks or just nod off. This is a chase film of a sort, and a whodunit--but much more. Even before the titles, the thriller grabs the viewer with a scene of bloody violence, simultaneously contrasted with the insensitivity of those who exist in a bubble of wealth: the pace does not slacken, although the violence does.The director has given each character time to expand, and, if they choose, to grow. It's true that most of the men in the film are shown to be beasts who think women chattel, but every film has a point of view, and this one is handled with a good deal of humor, with superb performances by a cast of relative unknowns; The tone of this offbeat character-driven romp reminds me of an Almodovar film without the craziness and eccentricity, but with a similar transcendent sense of empowerment.

Everything about this film is plastic. The style is stale. The writing is pathetic. I am writing this after I heard Malika tell her life story. Most of the dialogue is inept and the plot is completely inane and Rachida plays a prostitute worse than Julia Roberts. There is nothing unique or even interesting in this film. The characters are either great and courageous (female) or terrible and asinine(male). There is no character development and everything is staged. I don't care about anyone in this film because they act like actors or actresses badly playing their parts. I don't believe anyone in this film. This is one of the worst films I have ever seen. None of these actresses have the skills to pull off a film like this.The film drove me to web surf. The fight scenes are so unbelievable. Finally the conclusion that took forever to arrive. What a load of garbage! No surprises, a lot of preaching, garbage through and through.

"Chaos" is a modern melodrama with a feminist edge. As with old-fashioned melodramas, each character is either highly sympathetic or highly disagreeable—and here, the two groups of characters are divided strictly along gender lines. On one side, there's Helene (Catherine Frot), a bourgeois empty-nester whose great capacity for love and devotion is stifled by her authoritarian husband and lazy son. And Malika/ Noemie (Rachida Brakni), a beautiful, extremely intelligent prostitute of Algerian descent. She has a heart of gold for her fellow women, and a heart of ice for the men who abused and enslaved her. The movie eventually becomes a lively, often funny tale of how Malika gets her revenge, aided by Helene.But all of the men in the movie—Helene's husband and son, Malika's father, the older men who fall for Malika's tricks—are cruel, foolish, and patriarchal, and just as unlikable as Malika's pimps. This black-and-white worldview, as well as the frequent melodramatic contrivances (e.g., Malika recovers too conveniently from life-threatening injuries), ultimately undermines the movie. "Chaos" wants to be a feel-good, pro-women film, but its mean- spirited attitude toward men leaves a nasty aftertaste. Yes, the heroines triumph in the end —but they do this only by separating themselves from men. Thus, the film seems to say that men can never change, that heterosexual romance cannot exist, and that although women are powerful, they are not powerful enough to reform their men. It's a bleak conclusion.However, on the surface, the fast-paced "Chaos" is the opposite of a bleak movie. It rapidly shifts between social drama and black comedy, so much so that I wished for a little more time to stop and breathe. The story is exciting, even if based on mean-spirited attitudes (not only does the movie ridicule men, it also has a low opinion of young people, as shown by the scenes with Helene's son and his girlfriends).As a feminist, I wish that I liked "Chaos" better, but I was turned off by its overstuffed structure and cheap-looking digital video cinematography, as well as its extreme antipathy towards men. There has to be some way of making a feminist film without demonizing the other half of the human race.

What impressed me more than anything about "Chaos" was the energetic acting. The two female leads seem absolutely driven in their portrayals, and it's a good thing, because their characters need all the energy they can get to cope with the whirlwind of savagery and plot twists in this terrifically entertaining (though sometimes hard to watch) film.The only thing I disliked in "Chaos" was the cardboard portrayal of the husband. Though I consider myself a Francophile and have long enjoyed French films, I find French farce heavy-handed and really hard to take--and this role was handled farcically. But that's perhaps a cultural quibble, and overall I was greatly impressed by the film.Highly recommended, but not for the squeamish.