Evergreen (2004)

Director:

Enid Zentelis

Writer:

Enid Zentelis (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A young girl seduced by a boy's affluent, seemingly idyllic family, goes to extremes to gain acceptance and escape her poverty-stricken homelife.

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Cara Seymour	...	Kate
Mary Kay Place	...	Susan
Noah Fleiss	...	Chat
Gary Farmer	...	Jim
Lynn Cohen	...	Grandmom
Addie Land	...	Henri
Bruce Davison	...	Frank
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Jensen	...	Extra
Zach Zulauf	...	Mark Zakowski

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 on appeal for sexual content involving teens, and for language.

Runtime:

USA:86 min (Sundance Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Everett, Washington, USA

Company:

Granny Was an Outlaw Productions

Trivia:

Enid Zentelis was at the Sundance Scriptwriters Lab in 2000 with the script for this movie when its title was "Avon Calling".

Boring, slow, and transparent.

I saw this movie at a screening at a local AMC theater - they were at the time considering whether or not to pick up the movie and show it at some places in their chain and randomly invited people to come and see it. I was selected and brought a friend of mine.

I didn't have any idea what to expect so went in with an open mind. The premise of the movie was interesting and showed promise, but the characters were all complete clichés and had no depth. I blame the writing of the script because the actors did a decent job with what they were given to work with. The way the story carried out was just slow, slow, slow! All of the conflict felt manufactured and not real. The plot development just didn't work in my opinion. There was just no reason for me to actually care about anyone involved in the movie.

The main plot involving the girl and her "rebelleous side" could have been lifted out of a bad "Svaed By The Bell" episode it was so shallow. The subplot involving the mom and her new boyfriend, for example, felt completely fake and contrived.

I feel bad writing such a bad review of this movie but the fact is it just isn't good. I respect the fact that the writer really put a lot into making this movie (she was at the theater and we got to talk to her afterwards) and made it this far, but it just isn't worth seeing. I have seen many independent films that I wish would have been promoted by AMC at arthouses that never made it and they were thinking of giving THIS film a shot at the big time? Give me a break!

Check the user ratings - currently 4.5/10. That says it all IMO.

* 1/2 out of ****