Day 1 -The Vicious Kind
Director: Lee Toland Krieger
Studios : 72nd Street Productions, Candleridge Entertainment
Genre: Dark romantic comedy
Starting off with a bang today I watched Lee Toland Krieger’s 2009 dark family drama the Vicious Kind. This film portrays one of my favourite subjects matters— human destruction amid family dysfunction.
Right off the bat it needs to be said that although the film is marketed as a romantic comedy there isn’t really anything funny about it, that is, unless the comedy is the carnage Caleb (Adam Scott) makes of his life. Effectively the movie is along the lines of a darker, more explicit Noah Baumbach film.
The Vicious Kind illustrates Caleb’s internal sufferings when his brother, Peter (Alex Frost) brings his girlfriend, Emma (Brittany Snow), to his hometown for Thanksgiving.
The story unfolds through Caleb’s eyes and we quickly learn he is bitterly estranged from his father Donald (J.K Simmons). We understand the two haven’t spoken to each other in 8 years which coincidentally is around the time his mother died ( obviously not a coincidence).
Father issues aren’t Caleb’s only burden though and pretty much he is just a beacon of hate for all things in the world, especially women. We see this right from the beginning with his introductory words of “you know they’re all whores right?”.
As the movie continues we see moments from Caleb’s past and surmise he has been deeply hurt by a women he loved. This heartbreak still effects him and in one great scene he retaliates by taking photos of himself having sex with a prostitute before leaving said photos on his ex’s doorstep. Ultimately, Caleb is one classy guy and lovably unlikable.
The film sparks up when we discover that Emma bares a striking resemblance to Caleb’s ex. Caleb, who at this time isn’t sleeping at all, is then propelled into an insomniac blur where reality is mixed with sleepless dreaming. This causes Caleb to do some questionable things and in general he seems to forget what normal human behaviour is. As a pretty rough sleeper myself I really enjoyed the descriptions of Caleb’s insomniac moments and the numb outlook on life he had during sleepless bouts. So that was a big plus and does, to a degree, soften Caleb’s character.
Everyone is messed up in their own way and it’s intriguing to get an insight into what people believe is a liveable truth for them. The affair/love story is predictable but unique conceptually and while Caleb’s motives are clear it is hard to really understand where Emma’s passion for Caleb comes from. After all he is an awful human being.
The movie runs for 92 minutes and sets out all it needs to. I would have liked to have seen more of Caleb’s past though. I also think his relationship with Donald could have been explored in greater detail or at least resulted in a more dramatic confrontation between the characters. In general though the movie had good bones.
I’d give it about a 68 /100 poor prostitutes Caleb has surely verbally violated through declarations such as ‘you must have been molested as a child’. (Not cool Caleb, not cool.)
Highlights:
- Watching Caleb’s friend achieve total domination over multiple men in a bar fight.
- J.K. Simmons holding that shotgun.
Lowlights:
- Emma’s unfathomable attraction to Caleb.
- Peter’s annoying naivety.
