Mean Creek

Mean Creek
Publicity poster
Directed by	Jacob Aaron Estes
Produced by	Susan Johnson Rick Rosenthal
Written by	Jacob Aaron Estes
Starring	Rory Culkin Ryan Kelley Scott Mechlowicz Trevor Morgan Josh Peck Carly Schroeder
Music by	tomandandy
Cinematography	Sharone Meir
Editing by	Madeleine Gavin
Distributed by	Paramount Classics
Release date(s)	January 15, 2004 (Sundance) May 14, 2004 (Cannes) August 20, 2004 (limited)
Running time	89 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$500,000
Box office	$603,951[1]

Mean Creek is a 2004 independent film produced by Susan Johnson, Rick Rosenthal, and Hagai Shaham, written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes and starring Rory Culkin and Josh Peck. The film concerns a group of teenagers and young adults who devise a plan to humiliate an overweight, troubled bully on a boating trip. The movie was filmed mostly in Clackamas County, Oregon, including the cities of Boring, Sandy, and Estacada, though footage on the river was filmed on the Lewis River^[2] in southwest Washington.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004, and was later screened at the Cannes Film Festival that spring. The film was then given a limited release in major cities on August 20, 2004, mostly playing at art house theaters.

Plot

The movie was filmed and set in a small town in Oregon. When small and shy Sam (Rory Culkin) admits to his older brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) that the school bully, a dyslexic boy named George (Josh Peck) has hurt him, Rocky devises a plan to get revenge on George.

Rocky recruits his friends to assist him in his plan. Rocky's two friends are Clyde (Ryan Kelley), a shy teenager who is constantly harassed because of his two gay fathers by Marty (Scott Mechlowicz), the other friend. Marty is an angry and violent young man, traumatized by his father's suicide years earlier.

The boys decide to take George on a boating trip for a manufactured birthday party for Sam and to then get him to strip in a game of truth or dare, then make him run home naked.

Sam invites his girlfriend Millie (Carly Schroeder) along. He does not tell her the plan that the group has agreed upon until they arrive near the river. Millie refuses to continue until Sam promises that he will call the plan off, which Sam agrees to do. Sam tells his brother to stop, and Rocky tells his friends what Sam has conveyed to him. Although Clyde has no problem with it, Marty is very reluctant to not go through with the plan. Throughout the trip, George attempts clumsily to fit in with the others by telling jokes, which the other members of the group do not find amusing. The group soon realizes that although George is annoying, he is very lonely and just wants to be accepted.

On the boat, Marty goes against the others by starting up a game of truth or dare, though the rest decide to go along. After George shoots Marty with a water gun in good fun, George makes a funny quip about Marty's father, not remembering that it is a sore subject. This sets Marty off, who tells George the whole plan and starts to ridicule him.

Angered and humiliated, George launches into a tirade against everyone else on the boat, ending by crudely mocking Marty's dead father. Marty snaps and Rocky, in an attempt to stop the fight, accidentally pushes George off the boat. Unable to swim, George struggles to remain afloat in the water. As the others regard the scene in horror, George accidentally hits his head with his video camera and does not come to the surface. Rocky dives into the water but is unable to find George. Minutes later, George appears face down in the shallow water close to the shore. Rocky exhorts the others to help him bring George to shore, where Millie gives him CPR. The effort is in vain as George is dead and it is apparent that he cannot be revived.

The group is traumatized and in fear of being charged for murder, so they dig a hole and bury George. Clyde's plan is to explain that it was an accident but Marty threatens them, gaining the complicity of both Clyde and the rest of the group. As they had already tricked George into not telling his mother where he was going, she wouldn't know of their involvement. Marty speaks to the only witnesses of George with the group, his brother and his brother's friend, and they agree to keep quiet.

Marty goes to tell the news to his friends, who have all gathered at Sam and Rocky's house. They are willing to accept the consequences as opposed to having the guilt of George's death hanging over their heads. Marty refuses to turn himself in and feels betrayed by all of them. He storms out and convinces his brother to give him his gun and car. The brother again agrees to the favor, albeit reluctantly. Marty robs a gas station with the gun and drives off, becoming a fugitive. Meanwhile, the others go to George's house and confess to his mother.

The film ends with the police watching a tape George made of himself talking on his video camera about his dream of becoming a filmmaker so he can document his life in hopes that somebody can understand his mentality.

Cast

• Rory Culkin as Sam
• Josh Peck as George
• Scott Mechlowicz as Marty
• Trevor Morgan as Rocky
• Carly Schroeder as Millie
• Ryan Kelley as Clyde

Reception

Reviews

The film was met with acclaim by most professional critics. Mean Creek received an 91% rating from Top Critics at Rotten Tomatoes (31 fresh and 3 rotten reviews)^[3] and an overall rating of 90% from all critics (104 fresh and 12 rotten reviews).^[4]

See also

• List of artistic depictions of dyslexia

References

1. ^ Mean Creek at Box Office Mojo
2. ^ "Mean Creek filming locations". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377091/locations. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 
3. ^ Mean Creek at Rotten Tomatoes (Top Critics)
4. ^ Mean Creek at Rotten Tomatoes

External links

• Official website
• Braveart Films
• Mean Creek at the Internet Movie Database
• Mean Creek at AllRovi
• Mean Creek at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mean Creek at Box Office Mojo
• Screenplay at Drew's Script-o-rama