Customer Reviews

Homecoming [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Some might say four stars is a bit generous for a film of this nature. But let me start off by saying that I'm a Mischa Barton fan, and that I also like this type of movie. This film is kind of a mix between "Swimfan" and "Misery." While certainly it is not as good as the latter, it is up there with other films of this nature.

Basically, Barton plays a jilted ex-girlfriend of a popular, very friendly and charismatic college athlete. The athlete returns home for his old high school's homecoming with his new girlfriend, and Barton does not approve. At first, she appears to accept the turn of events, and begins to befriend the new girlfriend. But her true intentions become revealed sooner rather than later - and you can guess what they are by simply viewing the cover art of the film.

Aside from the two female leads (Barton and Stroup), the acting is okay at best, which is typical for a b-movie. There is a decent amount of suspense and drama, but not really a whole lot of exciting twists and turns. The film moves along at a steady pace and it entertains, which is all a movie like this is intended to do. Barton is solid in the lead role, much moreso than in some of her other more recent films. Overall, if you're a fan of drama, campy violence, and obsessed lovers turned evil, than this will make the perfect rental for you. I would suggest it as a rental rather than a full purchase, though, because as you might have gathered, there's nothing here worth viewing on repeated occasions. 3.5 stars.

Mischa Barton is gorgous. No doubt about it. She also lights up the screen, but here she is just OK. And that really describes this film. It wasn't bad, in fact, it was alot better than I thought it was going to be. This isn't a thriller, this is definetely a drama. Didnt deserve those harsh reviews it got.

A young freshman Mike (Matt Long) was a star quarterback in a small town called Mt. Bliss, and now he comes back to his home for a visit with a new girlfriend Elizabeth (Jessica Stroup). It is only natural that Shelby (Mischa Barton), who was dating Mike when they were in high school, is not very happy about that. To make matters more complicated, Mike says his relationship with Shelby is over while Shelby just doesn't think so.

On the night of their reunion something terrible happens to Elizabeth. That is when Shelby gets a chance to make her former boyfriend hers again. Shelby, obsessed with the idea, would never let this opportunity go.

Though pretty tight and well-acted, "Homecoming" is a disappointing thriller. The film borrows so many things from other films, and it is not a thrilling experience to watch all three principal characters doing stupid mistakes: Why leave your girlfriend there? Why leave the door open? Why not smash the window? Why not fight back?

Those who are looking for silly, over-the-top, campy movies should look elsewhere. The story is silly, but Mischa Barton's performance itself is fine and convincing. The acting of other actors is not bad, and the photography is decent. The script is clichéd, formulaic and built on incredible premise and coincidences, but the film itself is professionally done and somehow I was not bored. I also liked the fry pan scene. Nice way of using it.

The list of thrillers about obsessed female character may not be very long, but still is impressive - last year's "Obsessed," "Play Misty for Me" (Clint Eastwood's directorial debut), "The Crush" (starring Alicia Silverstone), "Single White Female," "Misery" and of course "Fatal Attraction." "Homecoming" is definitely not the best of this minor genre, and perhaps not the worst.

Homecoming (2009) is a rather pedestrian drama involving a delusional woman, who can't accept that her ex-boyfriend has moved on. The movie doesn't offer much that is new, as the story is something of a twisted variation of Steven King's Misery.

Away at college, Mike Donaldson (Matt Long), a former football star, is planning to return to his hometown, because his high school is retiring his old jersey number during the homecoming game. His current girlfriend Elizabeth (Jessica Stroup, The Hills Have Eyes 2 (Unrated Edition)) will be coming along, and meeting his family for the first time.

Mike`s former girlfriend Shelby Mercer (Mischa Barton, Walled In), owner of "The Alley" a financially troubled bowling alley, is still in love with him. When Mike drops by The Alley, Shelby wants to take up where they left off, and doesn't take the news that their relationship is over very well. Apparently Shelby has a change of heart, as she becomes very cordial to Elizabeth, plying her with drinks. When it's time to leave, Elizabeth doesn't want to meet Mike's family drunk, so Mike's cousin police officer Billy Fletcher (Michael Landes), drops her off at a motel. When she finds that the motel is full, Elizabeth ends up walking along the road headed for the closest motel, where she is accidentally hit by a truck driven by Shelby.

When Elizabeth wakes up, she is in a bed in Shelby's house, with an IV in her arm. Amazingly after being hit headlong by a truck, her most serious injury is a broken leg. Shelby gained her medical experience from nursing her sick mother, and apparently plans to keep Elizabeth out of circulation long enough to try and get back with Mike. With remarkable ease, Mike and most of those concerned attribute Elizabeth's disappearance to anxiety about meeting Mike's family. Meanwhile, Shelby takes increasingly stronger measures to keep Elizabeth a prisoner in her home.

Once things head down the kidnapping path, there isn't too much wiggle room for how things may end up, and the film progress down what are mostly predictable lines. The weapon used to deliver the final blows is a nice touch, but there's not too much here that rises above a Lifetime network type suspense thriller. Although the story is just average and isn't that credible, the acting performances are pretty engaging, and production values are good, making it rather easy to go along for the ride.

I like movies that start off with excitement from the first few scenes, and I like movies that build up to it. What I don't like is movies that do neither, but instead give everything away from the start, leaving no room for anticipating what's going to happen next besides the predictable same ol' same ol'. That's what 'Homecoming' does.

The whole premise of the movie is this guy and his new girlfriend go back to his hometown to retire his college jersey. As soon as they arrive, Jessica (Mischa Barton) doesn't seem to understand that they're broken up even though he's moved away, been gone for awhile, hasn't even talked to her, and has a new girlfriend. As soon as they arrive at this bowling alley Jessica owns, he lets Jessica know they're not together anymore and he has a girlfriend who is also there with him. Jessica seems fine with it and has drinks with his new girlfriend, acting happy about their relationship.

But for jessica, it's all an act. Everything begins from there. There's nothing that slowly builds up to different acts of her craziness and hatred towards his new girlfriend. If you've ever seen the movie 'Misery', I guess you could say this is the poor mans version. There's an immediate car accident and wouldn't ya know where the new girlfriend ends up. That's not giving anything away since you'll see this yourself within the 1st opening scenes.

This is also probably the worst acting by Mischa Barton I've ever seen and I've always liked her. It's almost as if she's reading from cue cards. There's nothing scary or edge of your seat about 'Homecoming' and nothing that hasn't been done a thousand times before. This is a movie to buy if you find it in the $5 bin and just want to pass the time when there's nothing else on TV.

There is no shame in rating this film 4 stars. I too LOVE Mischa Barton and I'll admit that if she wasn't in this movie, I'd probably deduct a star. Seriously, how many awful films have been nominated for oscars simply because the voting academy loves a particular actor or director. Having said that though, this is not an awful movie. I won't give away the plot. While it isn't an original storyline I wasn't expecting the film to go in this direction. Its a really good weekend popcorn flick and I think its better than 90 percent of the movies that get released theatrically nationwide.

First of all, I'm a fan of Jessica Stroup & Mischa Barton; they go hard core in front of the camera on every role they get. I've been on them since I have first saw them, 'Fastlane' being Mischa Barton & '90210' being Jessica Stroup. I love these dames, but I like how they handled these roles. I really want to admit that this is five stars because of the actresses, the actors, the setting, the direction, the casting director, the Screen Actors Guild, the music score & the in between of the scenes. The entire team, unit production manager, first assistant director, second assistant director, the guy that played Billick (Joshua Elijah Reese), the camera crew, hair & make up, set dressers & the assistant set dresser. Touche, tou-muthaf***ing-che...