I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Susan Berman plays young woman named Wren who hangs out in New York City's punk underground, but who is unable to translate her interest in the burgeoning music scene into a lucrative form of work. Director Susan Seidelman, who also conceived the original story with co-screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, understands this gritty milieu exceptionally well, and the film's low-end budget works for her scenario. Still, "Smithereens" isn't an edgy film, nor a particularly dangerous one. It gives us a rather inept heroine who's locked in a hopeless situation, with no avenues available for a personal or professional redemption. As a result, the finale represents a dead-end rather than the thoughtful or provoking portrait Seidelman clearly intended this to be. ** from ****

Unromantic view of East Village life perfectly captures the people and the place. Depressing and totally convincing. I love the first couple of minutes, which so perfectly and wordless establishes the character of the protagonist and the style of the film. And the score is terrific. I can't believe this sleeper hit and critical darling only has a six on IMDB!

(SPOILERS, kind of)I love this movie. Susan Berman plays Wren, a trash queen who finds herself homeless and living in a van with her new admirer, Paul, as she attempts to shove her way into punk rock with Eric (Richard Hell), who isn't exactly a great guy to trust.This is a great movie if you're just tired of nice settings, peppy protagonists, and happy endings, or if you're a lover of punk and all its forms. For those in the first group, the film is full of humor but at the expense of the sympathetic but questionable characters. It makes you feel for even those who most would classify as not deserving sympathy, like the hooker who offers Paul a blow job and a tuna sandwich in return for being allowed to sit in his van and keep warm. It ends on such a down note, too. If you're a huge fan of punk rock, this kind of movie really shows the commercialization of it at the end of the 70s and the early 80s and the fact that it was all just a big messed up corporation by 1985. Wren sees it as her big break and a way to make loads of money and be famous, and that really misses the point of punk.Of course, I doubt thats how the film was intended, but who cares, everybody loves self-interpretation. I'd recommend this movie to anyone with about an hour and a half of free time. or something.

I watched this film probably about 2 years ago at some very early hour of the morning. The Smithereens was one of those films which was strangely compelling in an empty sort of way, there is this incredibly overpowering early 80's economically, socially and artistically bleak skew on everything. This feeling alone makes the film worth watching, and the completely disconnected and irrelevant life of the main character evokes strange emotions of sympathy and intense loneliness. I can't tell you much about the story-line other than it is following the life of a young woman who is a bit of a miscreant and is getting nowhere incredibly fast. Desolation, vacuity and depression at its best!