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Overall Rating : 7/10
Directed By : Morgan J. Freeman
Mischa Barton (The OC (TV) )
Matt Long (Sydney White)
Jessica Stroup (The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007) )
Michael Landes (Possession)
Supplied By : Paper Street Films/Animus films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : June. 14, 2009
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| PLOT Mike is a small-town star athlete who is the first in his family to attend college, receiving a football scholarship to prestigious Northwestern University. When he returns home over Christmas break to the people he left behind - his family and friends - they are all surprised to see him with a new girlfriend, Elizabeth, a pretty rich girl from Chicago. No one is more shocked than Mike's homecoming queen ex-girlfriend, Shelby, who immediately wants to be rid of Elizabeth and plots to take care of the problem. The story then takes many twists and turns as Shelby does everything it takes to get Mike back. |
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| THE REVIEW For years, Shelby and her football star Boyfriend Mike were the talk of their small Pennsylvania town. The two were in love and both of them pictured a life with a family together in their future. But when Shelby's mother fell ill and Matt moved away for college those plans were dashed - well for Mike at least. For Shelby, she still holds onto and cherishes her relationship with Mike, so when Mike, the one time high school football star is scheduled to come into town for the Homecoming game and to retire his old jersey number, Shelby see's it as the most opportune time to rekindle their love. But there's one hitch, and the hitch is that with the time, away, Mike has found someone new, a beautiful girl named Elizabeth. Upon their arrival, to everyone it's apparent that Mike's love for his new Girlfriend is real, especially to Shelby, whom immediately tries to come on to him, but is quickly shutdown. Following this, armed with a fake smile, Shelby pretends to ge along with Elizabeth, all the while hiding her disdain. Little did she know that she'd have a chance to act on it, but after a chance coincidental accident occurring during the late night hours, an unknowing Elizabeth finds herself in a predicament. Elizabeth awakens the next morning to find that she is injured and has been taken hostage by Mike's jilted ex lover, who will basically stop at nothing to have back what once was her's, even if it does mean murder. on July 17th Paper Street Films, in conjuction with Animus Films will release HOMECOMING to select theathers. The Director of such films as DESERT BLUE and BORN KILLERS(aka PIGGY BANKS), with this film delivers a thriller that is essentially about a woman, who won't let the past be just that, the past, and will stop at nothing until she gets what she wants - and in this case it's her ex Boyfriend Mike. The jealous ex wife/girlfriend plot is nothing new, in fact we have seen this type of story in just about every variation imaginationable, most recently with a film that closely resembles this one, a film called OBSESSION(I have yet to see this film, but a review will be coming soon). To me, films like this are pretty predictable and routine most of the time, the outcome, predictable and the characters usually generic. The characters that are usually the most generic are the protagonists themselves, as they are often portrayed in the most over the top manner, so much so that the filmmakers give off the impression that they believe that the only way they can show that one character is insane is through physicality alone. It's usually this element alone that makes these types of films all seem so similar, but in the case of HOMECOMING, I have to say that I quite enjoyed how Freeman approaches the story. In this film we have a young girl who once had it all, the guy of her dreams, the hometown hero. But in a moment she loses it all when he goes off to college, and in his absence she still holds the dream in her heart, and in her mind their relationship remains intact. When Mike and his new girl Elizabeth arrive into town for the big homecoming game, it's apparent that Shelby is visually upset, but it appears that she has decided to just "go with the flow" as they say. It takes some time for us to really discover just how deranged Shelby might be, and it's through various things that Freeman reveals to us trough out the film that we find out the degree of that crazy. I really did enjoy that about this film, some things here just aren't rushed and are given to us as the film progresses instead of right out of the gate. This in turn keeps a viewer interested in the subject matter as tension builds. Sometime a year or so ago, I reviewed Morgan J. Freeman's film BORN KILLERS and at the time I thought it was special and since then have been quite a fan of it. Well, I was glad to see that HOMECOMING is that same kind of film, the film's story slowly builds adding to itself all the way to it's end until it concludes with one great ending to finalize the experience. Out of his films I have seen DESERT BLUE, AMERICAN PSYCHO II, BORN KILLERS and now this one, so far I have enjoyed all of them. While BORN KILLERS was a step up for Morgan J. Freeman as a filmmaker and storyteller, it's this, his newest effort that is his most complete film to date in my opinion. I thought that throughout, the story stays pretty even from it's beginning, middle and end. Although I really liked it, I'll admit that BORN KILLERS had a bit of unevenness to it and that a viewer gets lost a little along the way. With HOMECOMING the plot is pretty focused in the way the plot is executed, it may not be the smartest thriller of it's kind, but it's definitely an enjoyable one. Aiding in making this an enjoyable film is a great cast. This is a low budget film, so the cast isn't some huge ensemble, it's a smaller one, but one that works well together as they keep things tight. In the film we have Matt Long as the football star the, hometown hero who's returning home to retire his old number, he's also the ex Boyfriend at the center of the tale. up next we have Jessica Stroup, who portrays Elizabeth, the wide-eyed(and what beautiful eyes they are) new Girlfriend on Mike's arm. And lastly, there's Shelby who isn't the center of Mike's world anymore but she wants to be, an will do anything to get there. The Mike character may be the one that the film centers around, but really when it comes down to it, it's truly all about the females here. But this is not to say that Matt Long doesn't do well, because he does, it's just that the the key parts that are most memorable here are lead by the Elizabeth and Shelby characters. Both Barton and Stroup do fairly well in developing their characters, for the most part you're likely to find yourself rooting for the wounded in Jessica Stroup's character(as it is intended and as one should). but strangely, although you will distance yourself from Barton's Shelby because of her 'craziness', I also found that there are some instances where you might almost feel sympathetic for her as she realizes that her dreams and wants are officially crushed, if that's easy to believe. HOMECOMING may be like many films you have seen before, but none the less it's not the same old boring film. I can't say that this will be everyone's cup of tea, but I can say that I myself found this film to be pretty entertaining and enjoyable and that's all that I can say. |
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| GORE
METER 3/10 It's rather light of gore but there are a few shots of some bloody wounds and a little blood splatter here and there. |
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MUSICAL
SCORE 5.5/10 A good mixture of indie rock and a suspenseful score. Freeman's films always seem to have great backing tracks behind them. | ||||
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM In this review, I didn't want to be too detailed as it has yet to make it's limited theatrical run. One question that you may ask is, is HOMECOMING worth the limited release? To that I would say Definitely. A film like an OBSESSION may have a bigger budget and may feature some big names, but to tell you the truth, it never interested me. But with this film, I was really into it from the start, eager to see what a creative mind like Morgan J. Freeman would do with this story, and the end result is pretty rewarding for indie fans. If you are able to find this playing at a theater near you, I recommend giving this one a shot! This film will be released in select theaters on July 17, 2009 |
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