Plot
A rebellious girl hooks up with an escort agency where her stepfather is a client.
Release Year: 2006
Rating: 5.8/10 (4,940 voted)
Critic's Score: 45/100
Director:
Nick Guthe
Stars: Alec Baldwin, Nikki Reed, Carrie-Anne Moss
Storyline Desperate to be free from her drunken, unloving mother Diane, the beautiful, scheming young Mini seduces her stepfather Martin and soon convinces him to join her in a sadistic scheme to have Diane declared insane. But their conspiracy soon escalates to murder and when John Garson, a young detective starts investigating, Martin and Mini begin to turn on each other.
Cast: Alec Baldwin
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Martin
Nikki Reed
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Mini
Carrie-Anne Moss
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Diane
Jeff Goldblum
-
Mike Rudell
Luke Wilson
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Garson
Svetlana Metkina
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Jelena
Sprague Grayden
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Kayla
Artie Baxter
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Troy
Rick Fox
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Fabrizio
Michael Laskin
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Irv Flachsman
Joe Egender
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Jimmy
Orlando Seale
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Carlos
Jerry Giles
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Promise Keeper
Jean St. James
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Helga Hauptführer
David Shatraw
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Husband #1
Taglines:
Sex. Murder. Blackmail. There's a first time for everything.
Opening Weekend: $21,828
(USA)
(16 July 2006)
(7 Screens)
Gross: $48,913
(USA)
(15 October 2006)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Quotes: Mini:
With desire, focus, and the willingness to treat every obstacle as an opportunity, it's amazing what you can accomplish.
User Review
Great dark comedy
Rating: 9/10
If you're a fan of this genre, you'll love this film. If not probably
not for you, but one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time.
Depraved, unrelenting, will probably scare the hell out of some parents
or Christian fundamentalists who think Hollywood is glorifying deviant
behavior in our teens.
The conceit of the film, a girl who will try anything once is very
effective because you're always wondering where this philosophy will
take us next. Without giving anything away, this idea mixed with an
ethereal, driving score pulls you into Mini's world and you'll follow
her anywhere.
The performances by all 5 leads are incredible. Baldwin gives his best
performance in years and that's saying a lot because he's been doing
great work. It's easily the best I've seen this year so far in any film
by a male lead. He renders this macho, yet beaten down PR exec in a way
where although he doesn't deserve our sympathy, he gets it.
Reed is astonishing. Part vixen, part little girl lost, the glee with
which she sets about her goals, takes a character who is, in fact a
sociopath and makes you respect and like her. Although what she does is
without a doubt destructive there is an implicit understanding that she
is surrounded by adults who only pretend to be moral. Her intellectual
honesty is actually refreshing.
Her performance works in part because of Carrie Anne Moss' willingness
to deliver one of the most chilling and hilarious performances in years
as Mini's mother. The incarnation of Hollywood self absorption. It's
clear that Mini wasn't born this way, she is a product of Diane's utter
lack of mothering. Mini is an inconvenient appendage in Diane's life
and Diane lets her know it whenever she can.
Jeff Goldblum is spot on perfect as their TV producer neighbor, whose
lighthearted, Dionysian life is a constant thorn in Baldwin's side.
Luke Wilson also gives as subtle a performance as he has in years. At
first playing an incarnation of his sad sack Mitch from "Old School"
and then switching on a dime to show us just how smart this detective
has been all along. The look of muted terror on Baldwin's face when he
realizes how he's been the recipient of Wilson's own PR play is
priceless.
I'm sure some parents groups will attack it as encouraging teenagers to
turn on their parents and to indulge in the darkest parts of society,
but it really felt like a cautionary tale about what happens when kids
know in their bones that they aren't loved.
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