Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Chumscrubber, The

EMAILPRINTNewmarket Films

Chumscrubber, The reviews
41
5.4 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 12 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 23 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy  |  Drama

Written by: Zac Stanford
Arie Posin (story)

Directed by: Arie Posin

Release Date:
Theatrical: August 5, 2005
DVD: January 10, 2006

Running Time: 102 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for language, violent content, drug material and some sexuality

Starring Jamie Bell, Glenn Close, Ralph Fiennes, William Fichtner, Carrie-Anne Moss, Josh Janowicz, Camilla Belle, Lou Taylor Pucci, Justin Chatwin, John Heard, Allison Janney, and Rita Wilson

Richly layered and thematically provocative, The Chumscrubber renders a portrait of the fractured and fractious quality of life in American suburbia with crystalline precision. (Newmarket Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

At once dreamily surreal, acutely intelligent, and strikingly tough-minded, this pitch-dark dramatic comedy recalls David Lynch and "Donnie Darko" while remaining fresh and original to its core. A stunning directorial debut.

Read Full Review >
75

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A frustrating combination of inspiration and routine, acuity and dullness, originality and fashion. Part web-of-life indie film, part troubled teen drama, part suburban satire, part comic book fantasy, it vacillates between the engaging and the silly, buoyed by energetic performances but pulled underwater by self-satisfied writing and direction.

Read Full Review >
60

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Either a bit more humor or a bit more heart could exponentially improve things.

Read Full Review >
60

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Every adult in the movie is a caricature: Close, Janney and Wilson are compendiums of such broad, unattractive traits they make the ladies of "Desperate Housewives" look complex. The men, meanwhile, are weak, clueless and preening, with the exception of Fiennes, who's nuts.

Read Full Review >
50

Film Threat Jeremy Mathews

A series of pretentious social commentary punctuated by windows of excellence that only make it more frustrating.

Read Full Review >
50

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

It's a Big Idea movie that comes out only half-baked.

Read Full Review >
42

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The few genuine moments of connection -- are as refreshing as they are out of place. They only highlight how false and affected the rest of the film is.

Read Full Review >
40

Empire Olly Richards

A tragic waste of acting talent, with nothing new to say. Can we please now politely close the door on middle-class repression before we get really angry?

Read Full Review >
30

Variety Scott Foundas

An insufferable, self-conscious cult movie, The Chumscrubber smugly heaps on half-baked ideas about media violence, the homogeneity of suburbia and the disintegration of the American family.

Read Full Review >
30

The Onion (A.V. Club) Staff (Not credited)

The resulting film is an example of how a film with camera and acting skills in its corner can still fall flat on its face.

Read Full Review >
25

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

An appallingly clumsy and stupid take on drugs, kidnapping and suicide in suburbia.

Read Full Review >
20

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

Shrill, smug would-be satire.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.4 (out of 10) based on 23 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Rob A gave it a5:
Its not a great movie, but there is worse. Horrible title.It is of course very cliche. Ralph Fiennes is ridiculously awful. Its tone is very scattered. The wasted potential only makes it worse.The video game angle is over the top. Thats the real problem....it can go from over the top to understated in seconds, which makes it muddled and draining.

Nikki L gave it a10:
What an amazing movie! much, much better than Donnie Darko. Such an interesting cast, it had alot to say about parent's ignorance of their children's lives. If I had one gripe about this movie is that it loses direction every so often.

Seth C. gave it a1:
Not only does it rip off nearly every "suburban dystopia" movie ever, it has the guts to pass itself off as groundbreaking and original. Not to mention the overbearingly smug tone throughout. It gets a point for the decent acting, but other than that it's pretentious (I rarely use that term, but it fits PERFECTLY here), predictable, shoddily written and directed, and boring. I don't think I've disliked a movie as much as this in a while.

Spongeee gave it an8:
Very solid movie with great sarcasm and a surreal feel. The movie was not at all pretentious and original - the simple story allowed for the characters to shine through. If you liked Donnie Darko you'll probably like this.

Erick gave it an8:
For a real listener this is a good movie.

Sam R. gave it a1:
What was the cast thinking? So much talent wasted. This guy shouldn't direct another film for a long time.

Connor C. gave it a0:
This literally made me want to kill myself. It's the most depressing and odd thing I ever saw. I saw SUPERNOVA, and this was so much worse.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: College Signing Day | Olympics | Lost | iPhone | Cell Phones | Video Game Reviews | Free Music

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use