Highly Overrated But Still Good

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I find it difficult to articulate how truly awful this film is. The whole premise relies on such a staggering suspension of disbelief as to be literally incredible. The characterizations are shallow, the acting ineptly relies on constant shouting in an attempt to conjure up a semblance of emotion & drama, the direction & cinematography are very sloppy, relying heavily on irritatingly shaky hand-held camera work.The biggest flaw however is the script; a childish, incoherently written mess with an unbelievable premise, clumsily executed.In all this film is quite an insult since, by presenting it as a genuine narrative work, it assumes that its audience will have such a feeble intellect as to somehow miss the utter ineptitude it really is. I'm not sure if this is the worst film I've ever seen, but it's certainly the worst film I've seen this year.

I don't blame anyone for not liking this movie and few years ago I probably would have thought much less of it myself. I've never written a review on IMDb, but after looking through all the other reviews and not seeing any by anyone who is in a fraternity, I decided I'd give it a try.I'll be honest in saying I didn't watch the first 20 minutes or so. It was on a movie network randomly and I'm always a sucker for watching "frat movies", if not just to see how accurate they are. I have to say I was really surprised by this movie: the acting and the story line both rang true with me on multiple occasions. The typical fraternity movie is all about partying and for good reason-- that's what some fraternities are all about. This movie definitely honed in on some of the other aspects of fraternity life. On my campus in particular, any little mishap that the administration finds out about can get you kicked of campus indefinitely. I guess most people don't care, but when you're in a fraternity you take this seriously. The "us against them" thing is definitely something that can come up in Greek life. Not to mention, if someone decides to take their friend to the hospital they can get in a lot of trouble, and that comes up all the time, fraternity or not.Yes, most of the situations that came up in the movie were completely ridiculous and you would have to be stupid to actually allow them in your chapter. A fraternity alumnus becoming a cop (haha), telling pledges to rob a store, locking a pledge up in a trunk with a bunch of booze... But the weird thing was that all of these situations were only a few steps up from things that actually happen. The ending, for me, was chilling.Locking someone in the back of a trunk might not be realistic, but there are other similar ways that could have happened. Just a few years ago, a local fraternity got kicked off campus, disbanded, and people involved arrested because a pledge drank too much and passed out. They took him to the hospital, but on the way there he woke up, so they thought he was fine. He passed out again but the next morning he didn't wake up. I don't know how the guys who found him felt, but I definitely felt more watching this movie than I did when we all had to watch interviews of the guys involved in the case at my college as new members. To sum it up, a lot of people will see this as just an OK thriller, but I think the last scene adds a lot of worth to this film. The conflict of interest in the movie was really intriguing. A few random things though: The pledges, and some of the members, looked way too old, although they did a decent job of looking like they had no idea what was going on. The crazy girl wanting her toilet seats back was pretty funny, and sadly this was actually believable (minus all her friends being there to back her up). The cop could have taken the guy to the hospital and written whatever he wanted in the report. The scene where they give the money back is just over the top. I'll probably watch it again though

I think this is the greatest motion picture of 2010. Will Canon (writer/director) is the brains behind this film. Let me also say that when I first tried to watch it, I shut it off after two minutes. Now, a few weeks later, I finished it. I admire it. ...... ...On another note, I would like to explain my disapproval that IMDb requires a review to be "lengthy." 1. My first reason is because, I do not want to spend all day on two reviews. 2. Second, I like to get a large amount of reviews and opinions. 3. Third, If the first review is 8 pages long and 5 stars. I will not watch it. Now, what if the next 100 reviews are all 10 stars? Do you see why I am complaining? 4. Fourth, Netflix knows better. Netflix allows you to drop a one line review. 5. Fifth, I am not a man that likes to just sit here talking and talking about a movie. I also like to give the next guy time to write a review. I also expect the same from other reviewers. 6. Sixth, It is much easier for me to go through reviews reading efficiently, when they are not lengthy. 7. Seventh, to give an example: When you are watching an infomercial, and they keep giving you prices, but they do not give you the real price until the end. Just give me the price! 8. Just tell me if you liked it or not!

So, with limited preparation (I had no idea what the film was about) I set about this American fraternity thriller. And, I have to say, it wasn't bad at all. The opening scenes are in the back of a van where three teenagers are being yelled at by one of their peers who then charges off, gun in hand, claiming he is going to rob a convenience store. He reappears seconds later to tell the trio they have to follow suit if they are to be accepted into a sought-after university fraternity. It quickly transpires that the initiation ceremony is a fake and, before each individual gets to the door of their respective stores, they are stopped by a fellow frat man who gives them the cash they have been instructed to rob, to make it look as if they have been successful. Unfortunately, he is not there when the last of the three , Kevin, (Lou Taylor Pucci) goes off to do his robbery and, therefore, Kevin tries to carry it out. However, things start to unravel pretty quickly. Kevin is shot in the shoulder by the shop assistant who refuses to believe he is not being properly held up until the concept is beaten into him by Kevin's friend Adam (Trevor Morgan) and Frank (Jon Foster), the teenager who had been giving the dummy instructions on the hold-up. Frank, fearing that the police would not understand the hold-up had been a prank, insists that Kevin, despite bleeding heavily is taken back to the frat house and the emergency services are not called. This begins a sequence of dramatic events in which just about everything transpires against a successful outcome for the group. All of the time, Adam is fearing for Kevin's life and is desperately pleading with Frank to take him to hospital. As sparring takes places over the decision, the dynamics of power and peer pressure are put acutely under the microscope of director Will Canon. Canon's movie is low budget but he builds up tension and develops characters well and, in less than 80 minutes, ratchets up considerable tension.