Sadly Over-hyped

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Dreadfully Boring

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Penelope Spehhers' "Suburbia" is just like "The Goonies", but so boring and typical, and instead of a bunch of mid-class kids we got a bunch of homeless punk kids playing the neighborhood's bad guys. Maybe Sphheris wanted to make sort of a denounce of all those kids who live in the streets, but she just idealizes that way of life. Come on, this has nothing to do with REAL margination and poverty. The movie is just an excuse to show some punk rock bands playing and some scenes of street vandalism... and that's OK only if you do it in style, but this is not the case.*My rate: 3/10

Okay, punks. If you grew up on punk icons Good Charlotte, if you call Green Day's Dookie or Offspring's Smash "old school", if you paint your leather because you saw it on VH1, if you think the term "hardcore" relates to Ozzfest somehow, if you think skinheads originated in America as a racist gang, if you think tagging cars and brick walls started with hip-hop, if you call slam dancing "moshing"... here's a little history lesson:1. Good Charlotte is a mainstream pop-rock band2. Green Day released great records called 39 Smooth and Kerplunk on Lookout. Offspring's debut (if you can find an original copy) is fast, sloppy, out of tune and pretty cool. But if you're really looking for old school, The Damned can give you a good glimpse into where T.S.O.L (with two songs in the movie) and even Brit-pop come from.3. Four offset bars are required on all leather jackets. Thank Greg Ginn. 4. Hardcore is, well, without explaining American post-punk and straight edge, Dead Kennedys, SNFU, 7 Seconds, Agnostic Front, Crucifucks, Youth of Today, Judge, Gorrila Biscuits and thousands more, not Slipknot. Go listen to Propaghandi. 5. Violent, young, maybe confused in their politics, but ignore the news stories and find a 4-Skins or Sham 69 record. Then look up S.H.A.R.P. on the internet. 6. Look for the Exploited's mantra "Punks Not Dead" on the walls of your local alleys, it's probably still there somewhere. 7. There's a way to do it, look at a Circle Jerks shirt. Stage diving used to be legal... honest.AND... if you needed to be told any of that, go rent Suburbia and you'll take your first step toward enlightenment. Oi, Oi That's yer lot.

Despite the low budget and poor acting, this movie is one of my favorites. I really felt sympathy for the TR kids. I knew some people who were like them, and I even identified with some of them. There was a time in my youth when my friends and I all had a crash pad we could run off to if things got unbearable at home. Another highlight of the film were the excellent performances by TSOL, DI, and the Vandals. It's neat to see how far the 'scene' has come. Many still argue that punk is 'dead', I will not comment. TR kids were angry, poor, outcasts trapped in a world of disappointment, anguish and rejection. They weren't the best of people, one dealt in drugs, others were burglars. They're anti-heroes, showing what life was like "when punk rock was dangerous". This movie is funny at times, with comic relief in the form of a young Flea (before his stint in the Red Hot Chili Peppers) stealing the show in every one of his scenes. There are others that seem just for shock value, such as in the opening scene when a young child gets mauled by a wild dog. All flaws aside, I think that if you're into punk rock, you should at least check out Suburbia.

Penelope Spheeris, loyal punk film director, presents a starkly depressing tale about a handful of ostracized teenagers known as The Rejected Kids. They're a group of punks who left home, neglected in one way or another (except for the main character, Jack) and take up living in condemned housing in Los Angeles. Trouble seems to follow them wherever they go because they make easy targets.This is a treat in several respects, despite being such a horribly depressing and, sadly, honest film. First, you get to see performances by old punk favorites, T.S.O.L., DI, and The Vandals. Second, Wade Watson (bass player for the US Bombs) and Flea (in his film debut) are casted as two of the delinquent teens. The instrumental soundtrack, too, is very good. And third, is the sheer honesty with the disappointment of the suburbs, which were once proclaimed as the future Utopia. What it turned out to be was a disaster of crass consumerism that denied too much human affection, replacing it instead with the satisfaction of consumption, so much so that in the end, the suburbs had their problems just like everyone else, only they did a better job of hiding it behind the imagery of white picket fences and perfect lawns. This film is one of many to make that point.