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111 of 122 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, Anne Hathaway is 'nude', but there was also a movie...., December 15, 2005
Obviously the main draw of this DVD is the fact that Anne Hathaway appears 'nude'. However, if your expecting all out full-frontal nudity and borderline porno scenes with Hathaway---think again. Several scenes (most notably the one with Hathaway and Philips in the bedroom) had oh so much potential, but in the end there are simply a few scenes of Hathaway topless. (a lot more of Philips)
Now, on to the movie...
This is an interesting topic to make a film about...wiggers AKA white kids with too much time and money. Ironically the term is mostly used by white people to label other white people. Anyways, THIS particular film did not achieve anything spectacular. The story begins with 2 'crews' arguing with each other and introduces us to the PTC (Hathaway's crew). The story itself is not very interesting (white kids go to the hood and get involved with a gang), but, surprisingly, the film is entertaining to watch.
The character's themselves (in the beginning) were a little to close to 'Malibu's Most Wanted' to fully embrace this movie as a drama and care about them. Also, as the story progresses, not enough effort is put into learning about or developing the characters. (More details about Hathaway's character in the beginning would have been great)This is unfortunate becuase later in the film, it would have been helpful to care a little more about these people. The characters really only start to become more than two dimensional in the last 25 minutes or so. Anne Hathaway and Bijou Philips were good on screen together and had the most authentic feeling relationship in the entire movie.
Overall, this film definitely had potential to be a good film and could have been done wonders with a few more plot intricacies and more character development. But, as is, I would RENT this movie instead of purchasing it.
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69 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Allison might talk the talk, but she and her friends can't walk the walk, January 27, 2006
When I saw "Brokeback Mountain" I thought that was the film in which Anne Hathaway made it clear she was not going to be doing any more princess movies for Disney by dong a nude scene. But then I discovered that after making her second princess movie and then doing vocal work for "Hoodwinked," Hathaway made "Havoc" and went from PG to R without a transitional PG-13 movie (okay, unrated in terms of the DVD, but R in the theater). I heard that Mandy Moore was originally cast as the lead for this film and I have to wonder if she bailed given what the role required or if they changed the script to give it this "harder" edge that it has now. Putting in deleted scenes to justify labeling it as unrated might increase the word of mouth about the film, but it did not improve it in any way that will impress anybody with a more than prurient interest in the festivities.
Hathaway plays Allison Lang, a bored high school student who lives in an affluent part of Los Angeles. Along with her boy friend, Toby (Mike Vogel), best friend, Emily (Bijou Phillips), and everybody else in her group, Allison talks and dresses like bone fida members of the gangster culture from the music they listen to. They strike us as being pretty sad and pathetic, a judgment that is amply underscored when Toby tries to score some crack cocaine in East L.A. and is brought all the way down to the ground by Hector (Freddie Rodriguez, who does a much better job of getting beyond his role on "Six Feet Under" to impress viewers). If not for Allison's intervention Toby and everybody else in their car might have ended up dead. After this encounter Toby retreats into bravado, while Allison, having seen the real thing, responds to the danger. She drags Em along for the fun, and keeps pushing things with Hector and his gang until they come to a head.
The story here can be traced back to a spec script called "Powers That Be" that Jessica Kaplan sold in 1995 when she was still a teenager. Kaplan, who based the screenplay on her experiences in high school were her white friends were caught up in imitating gangster culture, died in the crash of a small plane in Los Angeles in 2003 (the film is dedicated to her). Stephen Gaghan revised the story and finished the screenplay, so he ends up being responsible for what we have seen. The idea of telling a story about these characters is certainly worth pursuing. I can remember chaperoning a prom and watching a bunch of white girls standing together on the dance floor singing along to rap songs and thinking that it would be hard for them to be removed much farther from the culture they were imitating.
The flaw with "Havoc" is rather interesting. It constructs a situation so that when Allison and Em agree to be initiated into Hector's gang that you know this is going to get bad. What follows makes it clear things are going to go so far beyond bad that you have to face down an impulse to stop the movie before you get to the really bad part. But then "Havoc" backs off and after an initial sense of relief you realize this is a movie that was made with the safety on, which puts us in the "no guts, no glory" territory. Ironically, what derails the movie is a scene that shows the best part of what is going on is the relationship between Allison and Em, even though it does not always seem like this is a good thing. Ultimately the only sympathetic character is Eric (Matt O'Leary), whose omnipresent camcorder distances him from the rest of the group, but who is able to make a pointed remark that surprisingly hits home for Allison.
Those who check out this film because of Hathaway's nude scenes will find something similar in the scene where she is being filmed by Eric where things get rather interesting and then the off switch is hit. Basically, that is what this movie does. It plays a game of chicken with cold harsh reality and then it yanks the wheel hard and quick so it can paste together a "happy" ending before the credits role. I can appreciate Hathaway's reasons for taking this job, but her character of Allison ends up proves to be guilty of slumming, and not even first-rate slumming at that. That makes the nudity and profanity somewhat gratuitous, all things considered.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Completely Ridiculous: Not to be missed, March 3, 2006
The test screenings for this movie went so badly that it was sent straight to DVD. Apparently the test audiences just couldn't see the fun in watching a really, really bad movie. What's up with that?
Its true absurdity is revealed about two scenes in: at a raucous, drugged-out high school party, Anne Hathaway silences the crowd by seductively beckoning her wigger boyfriend and crooning, "How do you want it? How do you feel? Growing up as a nigga in a cash game, living in the fast lane, I'm for real."
Your jaw will drop open and remain there for the entirety of the film. But meanwhile in the world of "Havoc", Hathaway's peers (including a cracked-out Joseph Gordon Leavitt) react with admiration and awe. Minutes later, the erstwhile Princess is taking off her shirt (unnecessarily) before going down on the aforementioned mack daddy. And even this nudity seems organic to the narrative when contrasted with a later scene where she masturbates while being videotaped - an episode that truly strains all credibility.
The script to this movie is so absurd, it makes you question whether Stephen Gaghan really "gets it" at all. Allison, ostensibly the rebellious but intelligent heroine, merely comes off as an anti-intellectual, spoiled slut. Not helping matters is a subplot involving a disaffected documentarian that adds absolutely nothing to the action, unless its intent is to make us hate the film's protagonist. Nevertheless, the odd bit of nudity and the outright hilarious pronouncements by members of the "PLC" (the Palisades High School gangbanger club) always keep the laughter coming.
The supporting players do a lot to lighten the mood. Bijou Phillips, as best friend Emily, turns in a priceless scene where she agrees to a sexual intiation that (big shock) goes too far! When Hathaway gets in trouble, all of a sudden the guy from the first Terminator and Laura San Giacomo show up as concerned parents. JGL has a scenery-chewing moment where he screams, "That is my queen! I would kill for that woman!" in reference to snaggletoothed Bijou. And Freddy Rodriguez, who really should have known better, is paired with Hathaway in what one assumes is supposed to be romance. All-around, this movie is so lame, it's a classic. You just have to see it.
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