Finn is a teenager trying to escape his drug-addicted mother by going to study tribal people. His hopes are dashed when he gets caught scoring drugs for her, and she decides to start their lives over by moving them in with her massage client, billionaire Ogden. At first, Finn indulges in the luxury around him and falls for Ogden's granddaughter, but he soon finds that the rich can be more savage than any group in the wild.
A buoyant coming-of-age adventure welded to an amiable wealth fantasy.
– Bruce Westbrook,
Houston Chronicle,
21 Sep 2007
rotten:
Rarely has self-pity become so monotonous so quickly.
– John Hartl,
Seattle Times,
21 Sep 2007
rotten:
There are lots of potent things floating around in it -- sexual initiation, drugs, fantasy-land wealth, brute violence, primitive rituals, Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland -- but the mix just sits there without producing any notable reactions.
– Steven Winn,
San Francisco Chronicle,
21 Sep 2007
fresh:
On balance, it's a movie worth seeing with its artistic inserts, appropriate soundtrack and organic performances.
– Jennifer Preyss,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
24 Nov 2007
rotten:
Director Griffin Dunne, working from Dirk Wittenborn's adaptation of his own novel, pounds away at the analogy between the inherent cruelty of the tribal rituals of the Iskanani and those of the well-heeled.