- Actors: Busy Philipps, Erika Christensen, Victor Garber, Raphael Sbarge, Ken Jenkins
- Directors: Paul F. Ryan
- Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
- Language English, Spanish
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: R (Restricted) (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Sony Pictures
- DVD Release Date: 14 Oct 2003
- Run Time: 132 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0000BXMZ7
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 46,531 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This film had not been heard of in my country (Turkey) but when I happen to catch it, I was unexpectedly surprised and overwhelmed by the approach of the director to high school shootings. This is a story about two shooting victims, one recovering in the hospital and the other being the only eye witness to the events. These two very different girls develop the unlikeliest of friendships, and it is through this friendship that the horror and meaninglessness of such traumatizing events are explained. Be prepared to cry your heart out. Absolutely excellent!
Format:DVD
Like the other reviewer here, I'd never even heard of this 2002/3 film until I happened across it on cable TV in a hotel in Israel. There's not a wasted line of dialogue in the film and no 'filler' scenes at all.
The two central characters - two massively powerful female roles, the kind for which young actresses would understandably kill - are gifted dialogue by Writer/Director, Paul F Ryan, which borders on anything in the very best of David Mamet's canon.
Whilst it deals with just-about-to-graduate high school kids (where one of the central characters is displaced and held back an academic year - for reasons we don't find out until the last ten minutes of the film) who are the victims of that sadly all too American tradition of turning up at school one day and executing your fellow class mates en masse, the fall out is crippling in its intensity and revelation. The dialogue in all the hospital scenes is riveting and both Busy Philipps and Erika Christensen will be names I will now seek out actively as their work here is of such a high standard.
Where as other films about high school massacres (e.g. 'Elephant') and early/mid teenagers in general (e.g. 'Kids') might leave with you with an unsympathetic view of certain leading individuals depicted in the subject material, this film breaks that mould as you find yourself needing to get the answers to the many questions and plot lines dangled tantalisingly throughout the film.
A lucid and gripping film - highly recommended!
The two central characters - two massively powerful female roles, the kind for which young actresses would understandably kill - are gifted dialogue by Writer/Director, Paul F Ryan, which borders on anything in the very best of David Mamet's canon.
Whilst it deals with just-about-to-graduate high school kids (where one of the central characters is displaced and held back an academic year - for reasons we don't find out until the last ten minutes of the film) who are the victims of that sadly all too American tradition of turning up at school one day and executing your fellow class mates en masse, the fall out is crippling in its intensity and revelation. The dialogue in all the hospital scenes is riveting and both Busy Philipps and Erika Christensen will be names I will now seek out actively as their work here is of such a high standard.
Where as other films about high school massacres (e.g. 'Elephant') and early/mid teenagers in general (e.g. 'Kids') might leave with you with an unsympathetic view of certain leading individuals depicted in the subject material, this film breaks that mould as you find yourself needing to get the answers to the many questions and plot lines dangled tantalisingly throughout the film.
A lucid and gripping film - highly recommended!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
46 reviews
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Powerful, wonderfully acted film.
29 Oct 2003
Format:DVD
If there is one movie that will be completly ignored and shouldn't be at this years Academy Awards it's Home Room. One of the most intense, heartbreaking films I have seen all year. Turning in a career making performance is Busy Phillips (Audrey of Dawson's Creek). Here she proves to be one of the best young talents today delivering an emotional performance as Alicia. Busy Phillips is the embodiment of the word versatile. She can play the crazy, outgoing, and fun Audrey on Dawsons to the angry, bitter, depressed Alicia in Home Room. She makes the film worth seeing. Erica Christenson also turns in a heartbreaking performance. Her portrayel of Deanna is so sincere and honest. The 2 have an amazing chemistry. Everyone please see this film. It's very powerful and has some of the best performances of the year.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Astonishingly Good
11 Oct 2005
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Home Room" like "Zero Day" and "Elephant", was inspired by the recent wave of school shootings. But unlike the other two films, "Home Room" focuses on two survivors (not the shooters or those killed) in the aftermath of a shooting. Making it less exploitive and more useful because little effort is wasted in asking questions for which there are no answers.
Don't give up on this little film during the first 20 minutes, it is supposed to set up the real story but plays like a rejected "Hill Street Blues" episode. It is lame but bear with it, at least it pads the running length enough to get the film classified as a feature. I recommend skipping this entirely and just jumping ahead to the hospital scenes-there is nothing here that you can't pick up from the remainder of the film.
Like a lot of good little films this was creatively a one-man show as Paul F. Ryan was both the writer and the director. While this arrangement does not guarantee a good film, it is usually a good sign because it will mean a certain unity of construction and execution that is often lacking in big budget dramatic features. Because the script of "Home Room" is its real strength it is fortunate that the writer also executed the production and insured that his vision made it onto the screen.
Ryan takes a huge chance with an ending that tests the limits of the average viewer's sentimentality tolerance. He runs it right up to the edge but against all logic leaves you crying instead of cringing. Why the ending works is some combination of the audience need for a reward at the end of this kind of journey, the song (Sarah McLaughlin's "Sweet Surrender") he goes out on, and the amazing editing of the final few seconds.
The other strength of the film is the casting of Busy Phillips (Alicia) and Erika Christensen (Deanna) as the main protagonists. Although Phillips plays her standard alienated surly teen and Christensen her intelligent daughter of a good family, they both bring more intensity to their roles than ever before. The family life of both girls is more than satisfactory and of little interest to Ryan. What is happening here is all about the two of them despite a lame side story about a police detective wondering around town trying to tie Alicia to the lone shooter. If they ever re-cut and trim the film this side story should be condensed.
A story about two extremely disparate girls bonding and helping each other is hardly a novel idea and Ryan could have easily steered this film into cliché and predictability. But instead his script has them engaging in a fascinating and convincing sparring match, slowly chipping away at each other and sharing moments of vulnerability, only to retreat back inside themselves. Deanna's "I'm dying inside" line just tears you apart-I can't think of a moment in any other film that I felt as intensely as that one. She desperately needs a connection that Alicia just as desperately resists. Deanna only makes progress when she retreats. The viewer keeps expecting the group hug that never seems to happen.
Ultimately this not only generates a lot of suspense but leaves you admiring both characters and the two actresses who brought them to life.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Don't give up on this little film during the first 20 minutes, it is supposed to set up the real story but plays like a rejected "Hill Street Blues" episode. It is lame but bear with it, at least it pads the running length enough to get the film classified as a feature. I recommend skipping this entirely and just jumping ahead to the hospital scenes-there is nothing here that you can't pick up from the remainder of the film.
Like a lot of good little films this was creatively a one-man show as Paul F. Ryan was both the writer and the director. While this arrangement does not guarantee a good film, it is usually a good sign because it will mean a certain unity of construction and execution that is often lacking in big budget dramatic features. Because the script of "Home Room" is its real strength it is fortunate that the writer also executed the production and insured that his vision made it onto the screen.
Ryan takes a huge chance with an ending that tests the limits of the average viewer's sentimentality tolerance. He runs it right up to the edge but against all logic leaves you crying instead of cringing. Why the ending works is some combination of the audience need for a reward at the end of this kind of journey, the song (Sarah McLaughlin's "Sweet Surrender") he goes out on, and the amazing editing of the final few seconds.
The other strength of the film is the casting of Busy Phillips (Alicia) and Erika Christensen (Deanna) as the main protagonists. Although Phillips plays her standard alienated surly teen and Christensen her intelligent daughter of a good family, they both bring more intensity to their roles than ever before. The family life of both girls is more than satisfactory and of little interest to Ryan. What is happening here is all about the two of them despite a lame side story about a police detective wondering around town trying to tie Alicia to the lone shooter. If they ever re-cut and trim the film this side story should be condensed.
A story about two extremely disparate girls bonding and helping each other is hardly a novel idea and Ryan could have easily steered this film into cliché and predictability. But instead his script has them engaging in a fascinating and convincing sparring match, slowly chipping away at each other and sharing moments of vulnerability, only to retreat back inside themselves. Deanna's "I'm dying inside" line just tears you apart-I can't think of a moment in any other film that I felt as intensely as that one. She desperately needs a connection that Alicia just as desperately resists. Deanna only makes progress when she retreats. The viewer keeps expecting the group hug that never seems to happen.
Ultimately this not only generates a lot of suspense but leaves you admiring both characters and the two actresses who brought them to life.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Don't judge someone before you know them..
29 Jun 2005
Format:DVD
I bought this dvd used on Amazon after reading some reviews and the description, I never heard of this movie before I purchased it I just decided to take a chance. This movie is great, shows you shouldn't judge someone before you know them. Two people become close friends because of the shooting incident and they're two completly different people. I recommend buying this movie!!
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