'Here On Earth', currently screening on Foxtel


SPOILER ALERT




Due to extreme holiday boredom, I sat down to watch this flick and wasted a couple of hours of my life with this utterly forgettable crap. Keyword for this movie: BORING!!




Directed by Mark Piznarski, who has mainly done TV shows and a miniseries, and starring Chris Klein, Leelee Sobieski and Josh Hartnett, this 'romantic drama' could have been better but is let down by a crap script, better suited to daytime tv. It's a soapie movie, if that makes any sense...the three young talents try to act their way through but to no avail. Which is a shame, coz they are three of the better 'teen actors' around at the moment.




Plot: Rich boy Kelvin(Klein) attends boarding school close to country town, inhabited by Country Girl Sam(Sobieski) and Country Boy Jasper(Hartnett). Kelvin visits diner and tries to chat up Sam, much to Jasper's annoyance. This tiff between the two boys escalates into a testosterone-driven car chase through hick town, culminating with the reckless destruction of the gas station and nearby diner. The two boys are sentenced to helping rebuild the diner over the Summer, and Kelvin must move in with Jasper's family in order to be close to the site. Sam is attracted to Kelvin, who also reciprocates this affection and before long they are smooching in the paddocks, he astounding her with his geographic prowess and literary knowledge. Jasper eventually gets wind of this hanky-panky and convinces Sam that she belongs with him. The two boys have a punch up in almost every scene they have together, but the biffo scenes aren't really anything special in terms of hard-hitting action. Finally Sam decides that Jasper is really 'her best friend' and her heart belongs to Kelvin. However, the movie is far from finished.




One of the main characters is struck down with a fatal illness and eventually passes away, after generous amounts of soppy music, soft filters and general overwhelming schmaltziness forced down audience's throats.




This film does have a few redeeming features in my opinion, and before I list them you should know that since this movie isn't really an intellectual one, neither are the high points. So if you're expecting a brilliant summary of the thematic importance of Frost in relation to the budding relationship, you won't find it here.


What I liked about this movie:


- Chris Klein (spunk!!)


- Chris Klein's many topless scenes


- Josh Hartnett (spunk, but alas no gratuitous nudity)


- Leelee Sobieski (she's cool)


They are all quite accomplished actors who will no doubt go on to make better films than this. Actually, most of them have already done so.


Josh Hartnett has an alarmingly bad haircut, which perhaps suits the character, but fortunately wears a green baseball cap most of the time. Cap is good.




If you manage to stay awake for the whole movie, congratulations. I managed, but was squirming on the couch for most of it, trying to tear myself away but mysteriously drawn to the shite.


The IMDB user ratings for this are 4.7/10 which I agree with. Only watch if all other tv channels are showing golf highlights. And you don't like golf.




Em!!