insomniac_rod
Sometimes independent or low budget pictures get undeserved praise because it's believed that "a little more effort" should be recognize."Pups" demonstrates that independent cinema does not means filming or writing anything you want if you don't have the talent.The whole movie is confused of whether it should be considered a black comedy or a serious teen drama. You can't say.The truth is that it's a teen bad version of the wonderful "Dog Day Afternoon". But I repeat, you can't say if it's somewhat a homage or a new vision of the fore-mentioned movie.The acting is embarrassing. Cameron Van Hoy is a terrible child actor. Really, his lines "I'm psycho" or something like that was truly horrible. A painful moment. Mischa Barton is pretty, cute, and does a decent job. Burt Reynolds makes a fool out of himself as the conciliator cop. The ending may be the best feature about the movie... an unintentional "mistake" solves the whole sad situation.Overall, this movie is a dull, boring, and will make you mad if you are looking for something different.
w_akeup
This film was worth seeing. It tackled the issue of gun violence among youths head-on and was very witty and thoroughly entertaining. Cameron Van Hoy, as Stevie, puts forth a tremendous performance and has amazing presence in front of a camera, bringing to our attention the very real anger and emotion of this young, fragile looking boy. Rocky, a young Mischa Barton, is very full of wit and is very corrupt in her innocence as well, and their dialog is clever and amusing. Their relationship projects the idea that they have grown up too fast, which makes sense in today's world. The emotional connection that each of the hostages (who's individual characters are also developed very well in this movie) make with each other and with Stevie and Rocky is heartwarming, and the way this movie comes together is brilliant and shocking. Considering that it was so low-budget, i think everyone involved did a fantastic job. It even has Burt Reynolds. My rating: 7/10
caleybaumgarten
I found Misha Bartons character to lack substance! In fact a lot of her character's do (yes even 'the OC') She doesn't know how to act and yes she has a good body but her acting skills are dreadful!Although it had say 2 "big" names in it, this movie - ultimate low budget and not to mention the script was boring - was completely crap!I think the writer just wanted to put as many swear words as possible in to the movie just to make it more interesting!Although the thought of most of the things that were brought the viewers attention in the movie were real life struggles people have to deal with I just found it all a little bit too much!but all in all, i can't believe I watched the whole thing! lol
daniel-mkatz
Well I'm giving this a 7 because of the movie it could have been. Generally, most of these comments are pretty accurate, but it really was a very good idea - the movie shows the media obsession with violence, similarly to natural born killers, but with the added spin of the effect this has on children. This was not meant to be a serious movie and while people have been criticizing it as more of a child's fantasy than a real drama, I think that this was the point and I rather criticize the movie for not making it as obvious. The acting leaves a lot to be desired and the script could have used some editing but this could have been a very good movie. Shame really.
AD
