An Exercise In Nonsense

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

SO CONFOUNDED BAD, IT'S KINDA GOOD.......The aims and messages of any political theory contrary to Capitalism are always dumbed down and joked up, and this is certainly the case with THE ANARCHIST COOKBOOK (dir. Jordan Susman). Opposing views pertaining to the strengths and weaknesses of our political reality are always portrayed as the feeble musings of, 'American troublemakers'. If, "Get a haircut, ya Commie hippie!", works for you, you might just like this film. If your political outlook is a bit more sophisticated, I would recommend any film by Noam Chomsky as a cinematic antidote to the cracked Hollywood styling of THE ANARCHIST COOKBOOK.

I think this movie was totally worth seeing. It's shaped around one character who's entire life is centered around fitting in. Then the filmmakers take this concept of anarchy and throw this guy into the middle of it. He wants to just fit in but "how far will he go?". The story twists around his wanting to fit in and his conscience of what is actually right and wrong. The characters are by no means Abercrombie and Fitch, but more normal everyday looking people.This movie has depth that some people might not be able to see...and even though sometimes it might get slow maybe they did it on purpose for you to reflect or so you can say yeah I'm not just watching another mindless movie.Also this movie points at social issues like the 60's hippie movement. And how it's shaped us now, instead of hippies were anarchist. Or how were always trying to rebel against something. It's very interesting to see the "new age hippie" mixed in with the radical 60's hippies (who are now adults).So if you don't want to see another mindless Hollywood carbon copy this is definitely an interesting movie to see.

Let's see, we have Anarchists, Nihilists, anti-government right-wingers, wealthy Republicans, Neo-Nazis, but no Democrats at all. Being a moderate Democrat which at times veers towards Centrism, I found this movie lacking a bit. While some scenes were smart, others came off as stupid, un-original, un-realistic and improvised. Puck lives with his friends in a Anarchist commune somewhere in Texas. These are Anarchist that resemble more flower children. One day, a Nihilist called Johnny Black shows up, offer everyone drugs and violence as a weapon and somehow becomes the leader. Later on, the Anrchist forge an alliance wit other anti-establishment groups such as Neo-Nazis. First of all, not all Anarchists are peace loving intellectuals. Many are upper-class spoiled brats that simply want to vandalize anything (Yes I know plenty of these, they do exist). Many do follow Anarchist theory but fail to realize it's utopianism. Johnny Red the early leader,constantly lionizes Sweden as an exemplary society but somehow Social Democrats are missing from the film's universe. Anarchists tend to be socially liberal and would NEVER form an alliance with Neo-Nazis. If Puck didn't agree with the system, he could of found ways to subvert it by integrating himself into alternative cultures and political movements (YES, lobbying does work). Other reviewers are correct in pointing out the similarities between this movie and SLC Punk and Trainspotting. Despite its plot's weakness, Anarchist Cookbook has a witty script and at moments stylish direction. Gina Phillips as the commune temptress, steals most of her scenes.

I think the problem is too many people are comparing this movie with other movies and failing to realize thats its not SLC Punk or Fightclub. Anarchist Cookbook deals with a more philosophical and physiologically aspect of Anarchy over anything else. The whole movie starts with comparing Hippies to Anarchy, the idea of accomplishing anarchy by means of peace, respect and intelligence. Puck believed that was Anarchy, then Johnny Black shows up and basically takes that whole concept and says it will never work. Johnny Black was right in sense too, the fall of the system could never be acquired by means of peace. Johnny Black believed the only way to bring down the system was to use violence, aggression, and destruction. This meant going out and openly attacking the system by aggressive vandalism, attacking people, and altering peoples judgment by addiction. The movie does this by comparing Johnny Black to Nazi's, and rednecks. Puck not only didn't agree with this method, but it also opened his eyes to the truth of Anarchy, and thats why in the end Puck just left the scene. He knew the truth and he knew the real decision to be made was not to how to carry out Anarchy, but weather or not Anarchy could be carried out.Watch this movie if you got an open mind and are searching for a philosophical aspect of Anarchy, otherwise stay away because you'll just misinterpret it and think the movie makes no sense.