Product Details

• Actors: Jamie Bell, Alison Pill, Chris Owen, Bill Pullman, Michael Angarano
• Directors: Thomas Vinterberg
• Writers: Lars von Trier
• Producers: Bettina Brokemper, Birgitte Hald, Bo Ehrhardt, Gillian Berrie, Juliane Thevissen
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Fox Lorber
• DVD Release Date: March 21, 2006
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BQ5J2C
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #60,073 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #56 in

  Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Country > Denmark

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration) and written by Lars von Trier (Dogville), Dear Wendy is an audacious and stylish exploration of guns and violence in America. When a young loner named Dick (Jamie Bell) discovers a vintage handgun, he finds himself strangely drawn to it in spite of his pacifist views. Soon he forms a secret club with other misfits in his town who collect and revere antique guns and refer to themselves as "The Dandies." But despite their firm belief in the most important Dandy rule of all - "never draw your weapons" - they eventually discover that some rules are meant to be broken.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fight for peace - with guns, August 8, 2006

By	Wux Iapan "Fantas" (Zurich) - See all my reviews

I think DEAR WENDY requires different point of views and offers several interpretations. I guess we all share some kinda fascination for fire arms. It doesn't mean we disklike the existence of fire arms and their destructive power. Lars von Trier loves guns, he's a fire arm fanatic (I was told) and it becomes a bit obvious when you watch the interview on the DVD. So the film is a bit like a personal investigation, examining the fascination for fire arms in context to naturally disliking the use of it.

When compared to Moore's quasi-Documentation BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE you could say that it's not the fear that drives people to have fire arms but rather lack of self-confidence. The weapon literally becomes your friend and as with a good friend it's easier to walk along strangers and look them in their eyes. That's the result for the hero in this film. Only to carry the gun unseen by the others serves enough to make him able to walk straight and not feel like a complete loser. An experience that he begins to share with a friend. When they sorta think they have the proof that this simple thing actually works, they don't want to keep it to themselves as it would be "a shame not to share it with others". So next thing they do is builing a little group of so-called "Dandies" who worship their guns by the restriction not to use it and show it elsewhere but in their hideout.

It's very confusing later on, as I didn't quiet "get" what the thing about Sebastian was. He's black, and his grandmother used to serve in the hero's house years ago. As soon as Sebastian is part of the show, his grandmother is as well, triggering a really unpredictable plot point that, as a consequence, seems to force the dandies to break the roules and awaken their guns. Is there a message behind this? I know some people who think black people have more violant potential, and those would clap their hands at the end of the film. I see a bit of a risk there. Additionally, I don't see why it is the killer's grandma who gets them into the real trouble. It's interesting and entertaining, and confusing.

Maybe the movie wants to tell us that a fire weapon cannot be misused for anything else but destruction. In the context of the actual world situation (Iraq etc.), it seems plausible. But generally, it's not really true.

However, I thought the film was very interesting. Maybe I should give it less stars as some critical points are very unclear to me. But nah, It's a recommondation for sure.

3.0 out of 5 stars Unique film, August 14, 2006

By	Wendy Schroeder (Englewood, Co United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's an strange movie. Wendy is a small gun. The main character Dick brought it for a birthday gift for a peer but decides to keep it. Later, he finds out it's a real gun by a co-worker and together get into shooting guns. Then they form a club with the other young people like themselves, timid and introverted. They call themselves the Dandies. All of them see themselves non-violent but get confidence from their guns. The Dandies relate to their guns as if they had a soul or personality. As you can guess, this movie doesn't have a happy ending.

If you are looking for something different, you might like this. It will get you pondering about America's relationship with guns and the culture around it. There was something about this film that got me thinking about the Columbine killers.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sick and evil, December 11, 2007

By	Mr. Ian George Fraser "Nonsmokinjoe" (Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In general I do not write reviews of bad films but this one is so sick and evil I feel I need to warn people about it. Basically it describes how a group of misfit teenagers form a gang centered around their love affairs with firearms. I'm not using the word "love affair" here metaphorically either. Maybe it was intended as some sort of parable but its moral values are so confused and corrupted it is difficult to see any good coming of it. I couldn't watch the final predictable bloodbath, I just felt too nauseous. Do not watch this pretentious, awful film. Above all do not let any children see it.