Mean Creek

Mean Creek (2004) seems like its going to be a movie about bullies and it is to an extent. When a group of kids decide to play a prank on a bully they invite him to go on a boat ride down a creek. At first you begin to feel sorrow for this kid. You get a sense that his bullying is not intentionally hurtful, but that he is playing a role. You start to sympathize with him. But while he may not be as bad as he seems, there is still an underlying nastiness about him that makes him deplorable. You shift back and forth between wanting to like him and hating him.

When the climatic scene comes, I'm not sure anyone would say he deserved it, but one doesn't find oneself terribly sympathetic. The story pretty much degenerates from there. There are some semi interesting questions of whether retaliating against a bully is worth the effort, and some exploration of why a bully is, but nothing that satisfactorily answers the question. In the end I'm not sure what one is supposed to get out of Mean Creek. There are some decent performances by the young actors who make up the cast but the film misses its mark on the tragedy aspect.