"Mean Creek" Review

We've all been bullied at one point in our lives. Didn't that make you feel really angry? Wouldn't it feel great to get back at that awful jerk? Yeah! Surely you loved to imagine humiliating the soulless freak, hurting them so badly they'd never even THINK of touching you ever again! Wouldn't that be great?

Well, in your head, it is. But if you ever went over the edge and tried to do it for real, you'd likely end up getting something very different than what you expected- and often something less than joyous.

Sam, a young boy in middle school, has just been beaten senseless by George, the widely-disliked school bully. When Sam tell his older brother about it, the two and a few friends formulate a scheme to he back at George: take a boat out to a local creek, then force him to strip and walk home naked.

Yet, once they're already out in the woods, Sam discovers something: George isn't really that bad. He clearly has some sort of social disorder, and just wants to be accepted. But it's too late to back out now- and the so-called prank ends in a far more horrible fashion than anyone could have expected.

The child actors of Mean Creek are uniformly fantastic. Sam, the lead, is played by Rory Culkin, Macaulay's younger brother- is it in the blood? The standout of the entire cast of standouts would have to be Josh Peck, who plays the bully, George. Peck, previously known for his lighthearted roles in Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show and Drake and Josh (the latter of which was still airing at the time of Mean Creek's release), initially plays George as a fairly similar character to his usual typecasting: a shy, awkward kid. But when George discovers, suddenly Peck becomes a frightening, raging terror, screaming in anger at his would-be pranksters, in a rage that leads to his demise.

The fate of George should not be too difficult to discern to those who have not yet seen the film, since the marketing materials give you all the clues you need, but that doesn't make Mean Creek any less shocking or disturbing. We'd all like to get back at our bullies- but if we ever actually tried, it's unlikely things would turn out as well as they do in our daydreams.

Awesome