Wonderful character development!

Really Surprised!

It is a performances centric movie

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

The story centers around TJ after his mother has died as he and his dad attempt to get their life back to normal. TJ is a bad luck kid who is not only depressed, but bullied. Hesher, an anarchist, bullies his way into TJ's life and shows up at improbable times, almost as an imaginary alter ego. The writer attempts to shock the audience with the audacity of Hesher's acts as well as his crudeness, which I thought didn't work as well...especially the idiotic scene where he is talking about granny rapers, or his "perverted metaphor." The inability of the author to create audacity without constant crudeness shows a weakness.The actors did an excellent job. There were many scenes you sit and ask yourself, in a good way, "What just happened here?" Or "What the heck is he doing now?" Life as usual falls to its least common denominator as the grief stricken family starts to imitate the anarchist ways, which seem to lack consequences in this film. Parts of the film were excellently done, while other scenes were weak. I suppose the ending of the film was supposed to make us feel good about the whole thing, but it doesn't compensate enough. Personally I think that if they toned down the crudeness of Hesher and put in Zack Garifalakis in that role the movie could have been a box office smash.Normally I love these indie style quirky comedies, perhaps I have seen too many of them to enjoy this one to its fullest. And what the heck was Natalie Portman doing in this film?Excessive F-bomb use, crudeness.

TJ lost his mother. His father Paul (Rainn Wilson) is despondent. They're living in his grandmother (Piper Laurie)'s home. He breaks a window bringing the cops to a construction sign where Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is squatting. Hesher is displaced and decides to squat in the family's garage. Nicole (Natalie Portman) rescues TJ from school bully Dustin.There is a lot of bitterness and despondency. Gordon-Levitt is great as the anarchist character. There is some humor. There are some poignant moments. It is not sentimental or a standard comedy. This is more like the anarchist Hesher, willing to burn everything down. It's an unique character and I like every one of the adult actors. The little kid isn't the most charismatic.

TJ (Devin Brochu) is a thirteen year old kid, who a few months after losing his mom in car wreck, is riding his bike through a housing development when he crashes and in his anger throws a rock through a window. This summons the long haired, tattooed, heavy metal listening, Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Who was squatting in the house TJ through the rock into. After this point Hesher will not leave poor little TJ and his family alone. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great as the title role, not his best acting job which is "The Lookout", but pretty damn close. From the moment Hesher entered the frame I knew I was going to be watching one crazy ass movie. Now the film never tells us one thing about Hesher, but I thought in doing that it created more of a character that stands out on the screen.Devin Brochu is truly a remarkable kid actor. He has the on-screen presence that most kid actors lack. There are scenes where TJ is being bullied, and they happen to be the worst scenes in the film. Its not because of Brochu it's because of the teenage actor who played the bully, all of his dialogue was absolutely awful, and plus the kid was very pale and reminded me of the movie "Powder" but with spiky red hair.Natalie Portman who plays Nicole, a clerk at a local supermarket that saves TJ from the bully. Portman is great at playing the weird, awkward, indie girl and it shines through in this movie. She also helped produced the movie, so if it wasn't for her, "Hesher" might not have been.Rainn Wilson plays Paul, TJ's father. Paul is depressed and has not changed his clothes or left the couch since he lost his wife. Wilson gives the best performance of his acting career. Every scene that Wilson was in he stole it. Im not going to give anything away, but there is a scene when Paul is arguing with TJ and he has a moment of self-realization, and it was heartbreaking. This is Spencer Susser's first feature film, in which he co-wrote and directed and he could not have done any better, well maybe just writing the dialogue for the bully a little bit better. But other than that, "Hesher" is one hell of an entertaining movie. I give "Hesher" an 8.5 out of 10

I can't believe how many people thought this was such a great movie ?!?!...Who was Hesher and where did he come from to just plant himself in these people's home ?!?!..But that's not the point ... What a mouth on this character ..... I am no prude and have been known to curse up a storm but this guy was ridiculous --- and all the filthy sexual acts he described in detail using this language ..... There was a time that this would have been considered an "X" rated movie for the language alone ........and Hesher was more of a bully than the one in school that was terrorizing the young boy ....What ideas this movie could put into a young vulnerable person's head ..... What kind of people are thinking that this was such a great movie ?!?!?!! .What was Joseph Gordon-Levitt thinking ?!?!.. I couldn't even stomach watching the whole thing and shut it off ..... What a waste of my time ..... If there was a "0" rating, that is what I would have given it .....