i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

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.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

The first time I watched "The Chumscrubber", I didn't really enjoy it. I felt something was missing. A few months later, one of my best friends forced me to watch it again, AND I LOVED IT! Arie Posin's clever and different way of telling a story, the brilliant cast that turned up for this movie, the FABULOUS soundtrack by James Horner, and of course, the things you can learn about American suburbia in this film makes it one of my favorite. "The Chumscrubber" radiates an intense feeling of melancholy and anger, mixed with some comedy.Definitely one of my favorite Films, alongside "Requiem for a Dream" and "Paranoid Park".10/10

This movie is a study on the lack of communication between people in a micro-scale (in this case a small town). It's like a radical view of today's pharmaceutically-enhanced society (particularly America). The adults are self-obsessed, superficial and completely ignore each other and specially their kids, who are kept from being anarchists by pills.But what happens when there are no more pills? Reality kicks in, and the movie goes on to expose the "interaction" between the residents of this small town amidst a bigger plot, the grief of a shy teenager who is forced to face the truth.I was specially surprised with Lou Taylor Pucci's performance after watching Thumbsucker (a somewhat similar movie, but IMHO a superior one), showing he has a bright future ahead of him. The cast here is very good and does its job superbly. The direction is very subtle and if you're not paying attention you might miss some of the most fun little details.This is not a particularly disturbing film, though, because there is a sense of naivety and superficiality throughout the whole thing. In some places it reminded me of "Bully" and in others, "American Beauty". If you're looking for an off-beat, weird little film with a good cast and a message, this is not a bad option at all.

At February 2008 I rated this alongside The Quiet as the best of the first four of Cammie's features as a young woman, but Stranger as the quality Cammie acting in the four. Now I also rate this as quality acting as well. I find it difficult to rate the acting of Camilla Belle as my first impressions tend to be that it is worse than it actually is, as if there is a barrier. My problem with Jack and Rose is just the storytelling style, not the acting at all. The Quiet, for me this starts with Belle's acting feeling squashed, memories of Trachtenberg at the very start and end of Clausen's Pier, also Belle in 10000BC. To really enjoy the Quiet I have to apply tolerance to the first ten minutes. I rate Annie 2 and Practical Magic even higher than these, but they are two very different types of amazing story. Few features attain the level of Practical Magic even though it does not seem to attract many positive professional reviews. Griffin Dunne's Fierce People also gets a dearth of positive attention, except from fans, despite it being as amazing as Practical Magic. It is as if there is a barrier there. * There is a question of just what this feature is about and that could be a rather personal thing. I found the DVD's commentary and Making Of to give useful extra detail for musing on one's own personalised interpretation. This is a way better commentary than most. They even help me to smile more when Fiennes first notices the purposes of the school mural. To quote a Katherine Applegate 'Making Out' novel, reality is humorous for those who think but tragic for those who feel. Chumscrubber and The Quiet have the tragedy, but in a way that allows it to be tolerable. There does not appear to be a prescription for the insanity that abounds here, but how Jamie and Cammie develop can be taken as a hint.

This is a movie with tremendous potential, but because of an incredibly poor choice for a title, has had little traction. It will undoubtedly be a cult classic. But it was a box office bomb. "Chumbscrubber" means nothing to most people. It means something now to anyone who has seen the movie, but I'm not sure that was the audience Mr. Posin sought. For the hip 16-20 age group, it may have been too complex and depressing. For anyone older, the idea of a movie based on a video game character is a put off. Then there's the problem of no sex, not good for a lot of young males. There's a little violence, at the end. What there is a lot of is talking and that usually requires a more mature audience to want to listen and ponder. The acting is, for the most part, superb. If one is going to make an art house movie, he has to cater to that crowd. Don't mix in video games. If one is going to appeal to teenagers, then do so... give them lots of action, sex and a car chase or two. First, figure out the audience desired. But bravo for trying to make something perceptive. Obviously most people in this country aren't perceptive or we wouldn't have such a dunce for Pres.