Screen_Blitz Larry Clark, director of the controversial coming-of-age drama 'Kids', takes a turn into a darker territory of the coming-of-age genre, diving into the story of the infamous murder that took place in Hollywood, Florida in the summer of 1993. This film centers on high school dropout Marty Puccio (played by Brad Renfro) who was friends with a popular kid down the street named Bobby Kent (played by Nick Stahl) since childhood, and was dating a sweet redhead Lisa Connolly (played by Rachel Miner) who also happened to be a high school dropout. As Marty and Bobby grew up, Bobby developed a more sadistic side and began abusing Marty, physically and mentally; and was further more cruel to Marty's girlfriend Lisa Connolly. Fed up with his abuse, Marty and Lisa conspired with some old friends: Ali Willis (played by Bijou Phillips), Donny Semenec (played by Michael Pitt), Heather Swallers (played by Kelly Garner), and Lisa's cousin Derek Dzvirko (played by Daniel Franzese); to murder Bobby, with the assistance of self-proclaimed hit-man Derek Kauffman (played by Leo Fitzpatrick).When portraying a chilling story like this, it is important not just to keep it faithful to the real-life event but also give it an authentic touch; a task director Larry Clark slightly stumbles with. There is no doubt that the story is relentlessly frightening and spine-chilling because it is. The film does a solid job at conveying a disturbing atmosphere when depicting the cruelty of youth and juvenile delinquency, the story pulls no punches to shock viewers. As the plot developments, the story hits greatly on the nihilistic nature of the characters. The screenplay is the aspect that lies the film's flaws. The story portrays the teenagers as morbidly trashy with their constant experiments with drugs like marijuana and acid, which several sources have claimed to have been happening during the events. But then there is the explicit sexual activity and nudity that runs rather rampant throughout the picture, with nonsensical nude shots of Rachel Miner and sex scenes that are borderline pornographic. The scenes portray the characters in a more exploitative than realistic manner, and the depiction can be quite appalling for many viewers. Overall, this seems to be the biggest takeaway of the authenticity of the plot, though it doesn't necessarily hurt the story. The performances are fine to very least, Nick Stahl is very convincing as the tyrant and conveys the strong sense of cruelty in his character. Bully is quite a disturbing movie inspired by a true story that leaves chills down your spine. This is film is not bad, could really use a more realistic approach rather and probably a more powerful script. This is film is definitely not recommended for those under 17, mainly for its lewd and disturbing content which can be uncomfortable to sit through.

powermandan Bully is based on the real life murder of Bobby Kent in 1993. Iconic Brad Renfro leads a cast of young upstarts in a movie that (I'm sure) does justice to the real case. If not, and the movie was changed for dramatic purposes, it was changed perfectly. Despite there being great acting by a great cast, the violence is gory and there's lots of explicit sex. So I recommend watching this alone. Not with a group, not with one boy or one girl, alone. Trust me on this.Brad Renfro plays Marty Puccio and Nick Stahl plays Bobby Kent. Marty and Bobby has been best friends since they were children, but Bobby has always mistreated Marty. Bobby has mistreated everybody in very disgusting ways that's all shown. Everybody gets fed-up with Bobby and all plan to kill him, with Mary being the most motivated.Renfro stated that Bully was his favourite movie of his. I must agree that it is his best he was in and the best he's acted in. So there's lots of sex among other things that make for an interesting viewing, but for a dark teenage crime-drama, it is a slam-dunk! As you might have guessed, Brad Renfro is the best in this and Nick Stahl is right behind him. There was something so awesome about Renfro in this that made his portrayal so sick and made me shake. That's right, Renfro did such a good job in this that he made me shake. Nobody else has ever done that to me.

LiveLoveLead This movie is so difficult to rate and definitely not for everyone! If it wasn't based (supposedly very accurately) on a true story, it would be hard to believe kids (and parents) are this trashy, ignorant, & self destructive. It's difficult to watch the graphic rape, nudity, porn, teen sex and bullying, but I understand the movie was trying to show how these kids were so casual about sex and had no self respect, dignity or skills to stand up for themselves. If it wasn't for the fact that it was true, I would've thought this just a stupid, explicit, gratuitous, teen sex film. On the other hand this movie can really open our eyes to how desensitized, ignorant and/or oblivious our society can be to the degradation caused by casual sex, bullying, drugs, teen peer pressure, violent video games, lazy parenting, etc. It's shocking how time after time we hear about kids killing and raping and how disconnected the parents are to the life their kids have been living. **Spoilers** This story shows a "boy", Bobby, who has bullied (mentally & physically) his best friend, Marty, all through their childhood. He rapes and mistreats other friends, and is finally killed, through mob mentality, drug influenced, ignorant revenge, but there is so much more to the story. Although this movie is centered on the teens I was disturbed by the parents who give their kids cars, money, no restrictions, and who turn a blind-eye, just letting their kids waste their lives away, hanging out with other deadbeat friends, doing drugs and not giving them any expectations, rules or building blocks to life and self respect. I was frustrated that the parents are so oblivious to their kids cries for help...like the passiveness and ignorance of a mom who lets her daughter hang out in her bedroom (door closed) with boys and girls, doing drugs, making out...and plotting murder; a son who comes to the dinner table in only boxer shorts, with a bruised face and begging his parents to move away from this neighborhood and they just yell at him that they aren't moving; a teen girl who's parents take care of her baby while she runs around half naked, hanging out with friends, having sex, and doing drugs; and the one parent that seems to be hands-on, trying to set expectations and goals for his kid, does it in such a forceful (bulling) way, with no care of the kids thoughts or feelings, that he drives his son to act out his lack of control and frustrations, out on his friends. It's unbelievable and shocking! There are lessons to be learned through this movie, but I doubt that the people who need the lessons would watch or understand. Because of the content (full nudity, sex, rape, porn) you can't really show this movie to kids and it's even too hard-core for teens. Maybe it will further open up the eyes of some of society to what is happening out there in some families, but I'm left with the question...what can we do about it?? The main lessons are to be engaged/involved with your kids! Listen! Be aware!! Don't conform to society... Don't let them do things just because "everyone else is doing it"...like going to unsupervised homes, dressing slutty, playing violent videos, being disrespectful... Parents do have more control over teens than they think...take away privileges: their cars, their phones, money they don't earn and enforcing curfews & restrictions. But the key is Love and Respect and to be involved and hands-on when they are young. If you instill respect, empathy, compassion and self-esteem from when they are babies, you won't have half as much trouble with them when they are older...I digress... anyway, I give it 3 stars for all the nudity, sex, porn, and disgusting content but 7 stars for the truth, grittiness and showing the mentality of these people and situation. I know it's contradictory, but I guess I just want to warn people that it is an interesting story, but definitely hard to view and not for everyone IMHO! March 2014

lambsy_uk What I like about this film was the way it made me think about things, how teenagers think, how naive they are, how a bit of guidance was required, and how they'd feel about what they had done later in life.The film started by doing a good job of making me fell that Bobby was a nasty piece of work who deserves what's coming to him, but then you realise they are all a bunch of misguided idiots who probably deserve all they get also.In the end Bobby is a messed-up teenager who has a father who loves him very much, who will be heart-broken by his death, you are led to appreciate that such violent acts have far reaching consequences, there's far more to this than gaining revenge over a bully.The group who plot the deed talk themselves into it, many believing that if they didn't actually push the knife then there was no blood on their hands, just being there didn't equate to taking part.In summary it showed what a mess this was, kids who didn't appreciate the full consequences of what they were doing, all in denial, many felt that telling all their other friends about it was a cool thing to do, and the fact is if they hadn't spent so much time hanging out with each other and had used their time more constructively, none of this would have happened. Mob-mentality took over, each fuelling the other's egos, none wanting to back out in front of the others, bravado leading to the death of a teenager, who just happened to also be a bully, 20 years later they'll be thinking "If only I knew then what I know now"! Great film to watch but recognise the lessons being told!