Customer Reviews

Bully (Widescreen)

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

definetly reccomend the movie... ordered it and a few weeks later it arrived.. excellent service :-)

This is about the infamous case of Marty Puccio murdering his best friend in Florida a few years back. The movie is mostly just a raunchy fabrication with splashes of truth mixed in. But thats expected. The media hardly ever portrays the actual truth and in this case it makes for some very effective viewing.

You will see this and think about it long and hard and then google up the case and read up on the facts. Perhaps that is the point. It will effect you, you'll want to know more.

As with all Larry Clark films, nudity and sex is ever-present. And with all Larry clark films, its slightly unneccesary. Theres unneeded crotch shots of 90lb Bijou Phillips, added scenes of explicit sex that has nothing to do with the plot and tons of shots of Rachel Miner simply lounging around in the nude for no reason at all. Sure, some of the sex is very important to the plot but 80% of it is just there for shock value or masturbatory purposes.

Larry Clark is indeed a perverted man. But thats no secret. Just keep this in mind when you turn the dvd on and look around the corner to make sure the kids are still sleeping and the parents are busy.

Overall, the movie is important. Its powerful and the raunchy additives add to the grusome details but in some parts its overdone in the sex department. If you've got an open mind and you're willing to sit through several explicit scenes then you should certainly get this movie. Otherwise, don't bother. You'll just be offended or simply annoyed.

This movie is one of my favorites Larry Clark knows how to make learning lessons interesting and fun. In kids it was all about learning how aids can get around so fast. This one is a learning how killing someone is not the right way to go and how you plan is not how the murder will end up.If you watch his movies for more than sex and drugs you will see a true message behind each one. He knows how to truly get inside peoples heads and make them think he is a director that thinks outside the box and directs his attention towards trouble youth. Also there is good eye candy for girls and guys.

Larry Clark's "Bully" might be considered a sequel of sorts to his 1995 release, "Kids." That film featured pathetic, foul-mouthed, adolescent kids whose entire lives revolved around sex, drugs and rap music. In "Bully," the characters are different and in their late teens. But they're just as (if not more) void of any sense of morality. They are soulless, empty and joyless--living day-to-day in a drugged-filled fog.

If you subscribe to the idea that every generation is more spiritually and morally deficient that the one that preceded it, you'll understand the motivation of the characters in "Bully." The spiritual bankruptcy, materialistic decadence and oblivious permissiveness of these Baby Boomer parents has resulted in the creation of their children-turned-monsters.

Unfortunately, that is all that "Bully" shows us. It seems like director Clark is a one-trick pony. He makes films about the absolute worst examples of American youth, attempting to suggest that these self-absorbed half-humans are far more prevalent than is true. Clark doesn't even try to tell his stories with even the slightest degree of tact or subtlety. (...)

Clark uses the fact that "Bully" is based upon the true story of a South Florida murder merely as a vehicle to engage in cheaply titillating and raunchy soft-porn. Aside from the graphic sex romps, ask yourself if these scenes and sounds from "Bully" can be considered "entertainment":

Marty physically assaulting his girlfriend Lisa after see tells him she's pregnant with his child...

Eight-year old boys calling girls "bitches" and "ho's"...

Close-up crotch shots...

Heather telling the story of how her grandpa murdered her gramdma with a clawhammer and spent the next couple of days drinking and raping the dead body...

Donny vomiting repeatedly after taking LSD...

Expletive-ridden rap music heard on the soundtrack throughout...

Bobby forcing Ali to watch a gay porn video while he violently rapes her...

An extreme close-up of Bobby having his throat slashed...

And those are only a few of the depressing images in this worthless waste of celluloid. Larry Clark offers us no solutions, no hope, no light--only darkness, depravity and evil. In short, he's not telling us anything we don't already know, so what was the point of even making this film? The truth be told, Clark had no point. In my opinion, he merely wanted to live vicariously through the characters in "Bully." We become whatever we embrace, and Larry Clark appears to repeatedly embrace the demonic.

DO NOT BE FOOLED by the high ratings other reviewers have given this film. Clark is simply preaching to his choir, who are more than happy to feast on such garbage and praise it. I truly wish I could have given "Bully" ZERO stars. Don't waste two precious hours of your life on this utterly execrable excuse for a movie.

Bully is a darkly profound story about irresponsible and thoughtless adolescents lacking adult supervision. The story revolves around Marty Puccio (Brad Renfro), who has been a friend of Bobby Kent (Nick Stahl) since childhood, but despite their friendship Bobby is constantly hitting and verbally abusing Marty. After a sexual encounter Marty and Lisa Connelly fall in love, but she also discovers the true nature of Bobby's bullying of Marty. This frustrates Lisa as she feels helpless and she discusses with Marty that he needs to do something about the situation, which leads the two of them into a plan of killing Bobby. Lisa asks for help from her troubled friends who after some persuasion agree to kill Bobby without any deeper consideration for the consequences or what they are getting themselves into. Clark leaves the audience with a bitter taste of the disturbed reality of some adolescents who live on the fringe where boundaries and guidance are nonexistent. However, it functions as a daunting wake-up call for those who have slumbered from their parental responsibilities or are unaware of what their adolescents might be up to. This story will give ground for parents to keep an interest in what their children and adolescents are doing on their free time as Clark provides a thorough illustration of what could go on within any parents home.

The girl in this movie, the one with the red hair, is really hot. That's what this movie is about. It's about how this really dumb girl, who I totally identify with because I've seriously met many girls like her and even dated some of them, discovers the powers of her own sexuality and uses them to empower her boyfriend and they end up...(no spoilers). Anyway, if you liked KIDS, you'll like this movie. If you like just about any piece of art whose setting is the dark, seedy cave of suburbian young minds such as, NIN, korn, nickelback, eric bogosian, or nirvana, you will like this movie. Oh yeah, and let me emphasize the beauty and downright angelic quality of the feminine protagonist. When you see her you will just, ohmygod, like, have fun and stuff.

In terms of acting and story, I think this one is better than Kids. There's no doubting that Larry Clark improved a bit after making Kids and Another Day In Paradise (which is his only film I've yet to see). And the actors in this film are all superb. And considering this one is 100% true, based on a true story even, I think it makes it more compelling. I also think Leo Fitzpatrick really got much better in terms of acting as time passed. However, this film doesn't leave nearly as big an impact as Kids does. However, I think that I like watching this film more than Kids. It's a very hard call, though. Both films are excellent, as is his newest film Ken Park, which isn't yet, nor do I think it will be any time soon, released in America. Larry Clark is a god among filmmakers.

You cannot, and let me repeat, CANNOT watch a film like Bully if you're a punk and that goes for the females. Being a film loving-diva myself I found Bully at times repulsive, definitely disgusting and vulgar...but you know what? That's exactly what it was supposed to be(...). I am speaking of the character in the film and not the real person. You have to be careful when you review this film and talk about the characters because these were real people and this murder really happened. I read the book and can understand why Larry Clark changed things and omitted facts. Who can do a tragedy like this justice in only a few hours? But, that's all the studio was willing to give Clark. He uses his two hours to tame the audience and bring them into a world a lot of parents are afraid to go to. Why, because many of their so-called perfect children are already living in that world and they can't stand to admit it. Clark is always criticized for putting teens in awkward positions ( no pun intended ) but the actors were all of age and he reflected the movie from his perception of Bobby Kent's real murder.

This is a good film. A film anyone over twenty-one should see. A film that will open your eyes and even at times have you thinking murder is right. Finally, it's not until you see the culprits all polished up in their prisoner suits that you realize you shouldn't feel sorry for either one of them. Murder is murder and not even an abused sole such as the pathetic Marty Puccio ( I'm speaking of the film's character, not the person ) should be allowed to solve his own battles by bloodshed. Many people don't like these kinds of films. Why? Because it shows them that kids are bad in every place and time. It doesn't matter what neighborhoods you come from or how much money you have or what race you are, kids are going to be kids and sometimes kids are just plain murderers.

(...). Clark threw in so much Bully starts to look like a 90210 epiosode crossed with a cheesy porn flick. (...) I'm guessing Bobby's abusive nature came from the super-obsessive hold his father had over him. What got me was how come Rachel Miner played Lisa when anyone who knows the story and book knows Lisa was a large young lady. So why didn't they get a full-figured actress? Come on, Hollywood the big ladies are sick of being ignored. Another thing were name changes of some of the minor characters for what reason...I don't know. This film educates to a point but be careful because it can brainwash you into thinking murder's the way to go. That's when you hose off and realize, these kids were high, bored and being abused. Still at the end of the movie what they did was wrong. It was very wrong. But if you're interested in true-life crimes brought to the big screen you will enjoy going along for the ride. And yes, this is one of those films you think about for hours after you've seen it.

P.S. Get the book.

I'd give it a 3.5 if I could. Great acting. Good pace. Interesting (and true) story. Adds up to a good movie. The acting deserves special mention, it was truly outstanding. While the movie's unique device is to tell the story dispassionately, I still balk at the lack of character development. The only social angle we get on our bored suburban teenage protagonists is that they have a lot of sex, use drugs, play video games, and just generally remain shallow and naive.

That said, the climax is alarming, incredibly raw, and definitely nerve-racking. Overall, Bully is a life-like and engrossing film, yet incomplete in its story, and should NOT be viewed by those who are easily offended or upset by bizarre, grotesque, or graphic violence, sexual imagery/dialogue in film.

no offense to bobby kents parents but who cares if bobby kent is dead the less bullies the better