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Wassup Rockers
User Score
7.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5

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  1. ChadS.
    Dec 1, 2006
    8
    With every new film by Larry Clarke, there's an audience divided, perhaps unevenly; three-quarters are pervs, and one-quarter are cineastes(there might be a quarter who are both, so the new math is one-half perv, one-half perverted cineastes). In "Wassup Rockers", there is no trollop(that trollop would be Bijou Phillips in "Bully") dripping wax on her nipples, and no nubile(that nubile would be Chloe Sevigny in "Kids") being raped in her sleep. All the sex, and all the nudity are implied this time, because the last time(that last time would be "Ken Park"), there was no American distribution(thanks a lot Christian evangelicals) for this fearless(some say, incendiary) filmmaker. "Wassup Rockers" is a sequel of sorts to "Kids", the frank sex-talk is still there, but this time, " the kids are" likable(they're "alright"). Remember that scene in "Crash", in which Ludacris ran over a "China man", and kept referring to him as such? That same sort of incidental homicide occurs in "Wassup Rockers" when the ghetto boys enter the Californian suburbs, and even though this switch from realism to surrealism mucks up the tone, the social commentary is priceless and worth the imperfection. The murders are a metaphor for how some viewers indict these young boys as a menace to these sheltered suburbanites based on race alone. Their(audience) assumptions are the murder weapons. That's the only way I can explain it. Clarke is doing something extraordinary here. It's as if he's blaming the audience for the deaths, like some kind of frame job. What happens doesn't meet the audience's expectations of how a group of non-white kids would behave, so they finish the job for them. Like the boys said, "We just came here to skate." "Wassup Rockers" is a very interesting film, and I hope this made sense.… Expand
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
56 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 23
  3. Negative: 2 out of 23
  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    70
    A thoroughly winning and unexpectedly observant lark about the antics of seven Latino skateboarding pals in South-Central Los Angeles.
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  2. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    50
    Wassup Rockers is amateurish, but without the redeeming qualities found in "Kids" and "Bully."
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  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    50
    Larry Clark's latest finds the grizzled shock-meister in a thoughtful mode and a mellow mood.
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