X
- 2018
- R
- The Orchard
- 1 h 30 m
- 2018
- R
- The Orchard
- 1 h 30 m
Summary Rebellious, quick-witted Erica Vandross (Zoey Deutch) is a 17-year-old firecracker living with her single mom Laurie (Kathryn Hahn) and mom's new boyfriend Bob (Tim Heidecker) in suburban Los Angeles. When Bob's mentally unbalanced son Luke (Joey Morgan) arrives from rehab to live with the family, Erica finds her domestic and personal li...
Directed By: Max Winkler
Written By: Alex McAulay, Matt Spicer
- 2018
- R
- The Orchard
- 1 h 30 m
- 2018
- R
- The Orchard
- 1 h 30 m
Flower
45
5.5
Where to Watch
Summary Rebellious, quick-witted Erica Vandross (Zoey Deutch) is a 17-year-old firecracker living with her single mom Laurie (Kathryn Hahn) and mom's new boyfriend Bob (Tim Heidecker) in suburban Los Angeles. When Bob's mentally unbalanced son Luke (Joey Morgan) arrives from rehab to live with the family, Erica finds her domestic and personal li...
Directed By: Max Winkler
Written By: Alex McAulay, Matt Spicer
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
45
30% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
40% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
30% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
45
30% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
40% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
30% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Flower is hilarious one moment, tender the next and takes some surprising turns. And it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a dynamic lead who steadily navigates the twists with an emotional authenticity that keeps the movie on its bumpy track.
Even with the ways it handles some dicey thematic material, Flower is an engaging ride that largely serves as a vehicle for the excellent Deutch, and further shines the spotlight on telling stories about empathetic young women.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 21 User Ratings
5.5
38% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
33% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
29% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 21 User Ratings
5.5
38% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
33% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
29% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
Zoey Deutch has been steadily building a career as a bright comic talent and this film solidifies her place as one of the most charismatic new stars. She plays a bubbly high schooler whose up some gleeful mischief. She also has a crazy fun relationship with her mom (Katyryn Hahn). When mom's new boyfriend's son moves into their household, it changes things. The dialogue has plenty of original touches and all of the performances are interesting. Director Max Winkler (Henry's son) has created a exuberant world full of quirky teenage energy. I found this examination of a misfit teen and her mom much more enjoyable than "Lady Bird."
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The bubbly, ditzy yet insanely intelligent Zoey Deutch steals the show here, as she does in just about everything she appears in. She is by far the reason to see this film. There's nobody out there quite like her.
In FLOWER, she plays a high schooler (and it's good she isn't 100% convincing as being that young, considering the things that she does or happen to her), and we meet her as she is finishing a sexual act on a police officer. This is done so that a couple of her friends can secretly film what's happening in order to blackmail the cop. Purely for money. And this is an activity that she engages in frequently, and has NO qualms about performing this act on anyone. This makes her character uncomfortable to **** she "owning her sexuality" or is she deeply messed up. It's hard to say. She's clearly an intelligent and hyper-aware young lady. But she's got a messed-up relationship with her mother (Kathryn Hahn), her deadbeat father is now in prison and her mom's boyfriend (Tim Heidecker) and his fresh-out-of-rehab son are about to start co-habitating with them. Her intelligence is perhaps covering the pain. Or she could be totally in control of her emotions and her reactions. She's either very well-adjusted or very messed-up!
Anyway, the blackmailing scheme takes a darker turn when Adam Scott, a former teacher, enters the picture. He could be a very bad guy, or he could be wrongfully accused. Choices are made and potential consequences are dire.
The film walks the line between dark comedy and drama, not always comfortably. It wants to be silly and light-hearted at perhaps inappropriate times. It shoots for pathos that it hasn't always earned. Tonally, the film is a bit of a mess, frankly. Just like Deutch's character. She is capable of walking the line and making it all seem credible. The rest of movie isn't quite so successful. It's difficult subject matter, and perhaps it might be impossible to manage it better.
I still enjoyed this a great deal. Deutch is great, and everyone else is pretty good as well. Scott does a good job, in particular.
If you're looking for a quirky, squirmy, super-dark yet strangely upbeat (and pretty dirty) indie film, FLOWER would fit the bill. Who, exactly, IS looking for a film like that is a question that probably explains why the film had virtually no box office interest. It's an odd film, but I was glad to have discovered it.
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Audiences get a collection of great performances, led by a truly exceptional one, in search of a script that’s worthy of them in a movie with so much to offer that disappointingly, but bafflingly, seems determined to add up to less than the sum of its parts.
For 90 minutes we’re presented with idiot characters who do terrible things to themselves and each other, and in its final gasp the movie tries to retrofit them into heroes.
Uneasily combining its determinedly edgy plotline with failed sentimentality, Flower is redeemed only by Zoey Deutch’s magnetic performance, which would be star-making if in the service of a better vehicle.
Flower can’t quite nail the necessary tone, aiming for dark, but missing the comedy.
There are some movies that are misguided in a simple way, and then there are those rare unrelentingly awful movies like Flower that decide to go wrong in as many ways as possible in as short a time as possible.
Not your regular coming of age story. Zoey Deutch is fantastic without even trying. Not the best ending though.
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Flower is a perverse, misguided, bizarre, profane, and absurd film. In spite of all that, there is a truly compelling heart in this film that will keep you hooked until the end. If I were to describe Flower, I would say it's like someone took Ladybird, Goodtime, Goodfellas, and American Honey, put them in a blender, and added a really good soundtrack and absolutely stunning cinematography.
The cast is incredible. Zoey Deutch gives a great, layered, truly complex performance as our heroine, and newcomer Joey Morgan as her vulnerable step-brother truly holds his own with her. Adam Scott also gives a great performance, and Tim Heidecker got chuckles out of me as always.
Despite how truly odd this film is, it hooked me by the end of the first act, and really got some good emotional reactions out of me. I don't see Flower being commercially successful, and the critics are lukewarm about this movie at best. However, I see Flower potentially becoming a popular cult movie, if the audiences come out to see it and feel as I did about the film. If you are looking for a change of pace, go check out Flower.
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enjoyed this quite a bit until the third act. particuarly the last 10-15 minutes. It's still an enjoyable movie with solid performances (notably Zoey Deutch), but I don't like the direction they ended up taking it in.
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