Shrooms

Shrooms (2007)

Runtime: 84 minutes

Directed by: Paddy Breathnach

Starring: Lindsey Haun, Jack Huston, Max Kasch, Alice Greczyn

From: Capitol Films, amongst many different companies

Yep, I am tying in tonight's review to what I talked about last night. Plus, this is a movie about American kids in Ireland finding wild shrooms and then taking them, so that is humorous. Then, on the discussion page for the film on IMDb there is a huge kerfuffle about how Ms. Greczyn wears a tank top in one scene and obviously, she was “European” at the time and she didn't believe in shaving her armpits at the time. Now, I've looked at enough of her photos (um, I mean...) to know that she has been doing that in recent years; maybe it was just a phase... now, that sort of thing isn't for me but that is a lady's choice to do such a thing. I know from her linked to blog yesterday that she is the GIRL POWER type which is cool and all, but she isn't the extreme type who seem to hate all men and act like they are militant about it. Boy could I rant about some of those dames, but that is far from what I am supposed to talk about here.

Anyhow, like I said, this is about a group of kids who vacation in Ireland and a big reason they are there is to have some magic mushrooms growing wild in a field. They take some then they hear a wild story about some spooky stuff happening in those woods. The shrooms start to take effect and they see some weird things, but is it the psilocybin mushrooms or is the weird stuff actually happening to them?

I'll note that this production, half Danish and half Irish, was actually filmed in Ireland. The different from the norm story and the unique for me setting did pique my interest.

As for the actual movie... I should mention first that it is not a movie about gore. It's not violent at all. Rather, it's about being freaky and creeping you out. I'll say that the movie was certainly better in idea than in execution but it was still fine as something out of the norm. The second half is rather trippy and it's quite hard to figure out what's real and what's is the result of the shrooms taking effect. As a weird sort of dream thing I say it's fine.

Unfortunately, there's an ending which takes a turn that made me groan out loud. No spoilers, but it's an ending that's been used too often in recent years and it isn't really that clever anymore. But hey, in this kind of movie you can argue that the ending we saw was just another trip and that was not what actually happened. Thus, I can't get too mad at it.

In terms of things I liked, the Irish setting was used well. A lot of forest, some of which looked unique. There was also a scene which took place in a marsh and there were tall reeds. That looked cool. The acting was fine, and very important to me, none of the characters annoyed me or pissed me off to the point that I turned against the film. Yes, I even was fine with a lout who was only known as Bluto. So, if this sort of thing that is like Total Recall in that you aren't exactly sure what's going on and things aren't wrapped in a nice bow at the end, then you might as well check this out on Netflix Instant Streaming.

Oh, and you also get to see a TALKING COW. That was as great as it sounds.

I'll be back on Tuesday night.