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Movies / On DVD / Bully
Bully

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Bully (2001)

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Reviews Counted:84

Fresh:43

Rotten:41

Average Rating:5.6/10

Consensus: With its lingering shots of naked teenage bodies, Bully feels more sordidly exploitative than realistic.

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Bobby Kent (Nick Stahl) is not a nice guy. He beats up his "best friend" Marty every chance he gets, he abuses Marty's girlfriend Lisa, and he rapes Lisa's friend Ali. From director Larry Clark... Bobby Kent (Nick Stahl) is not a nice guy. He beats up his "best friend" Marty every chance he gets, he abuses Marty's girlfriend Lisa, and he rapes Lisa's friend Ali. From director Larry Clark (KIDS) and screenwriter David McKenna (AMERICAN HISTORY X) comes this gruelling thriller based on the true story of Bobby Kent, a bossy Florida teenager who was beaten to death by a group of his peers. There isn't a lot to do in the suburban Florida town that Bobby and his "friends" inhabit. They play violent shoot-em-up video games, they work at the Pizza Hut, they go surfing at the beach, and they cruise in their hot rods. But mostly, Bobby and his friends have lots of sex. The film is drenched in graphic shots of barely legal naked teenagers. (This has been Clark's favorite subject matter since his days as a photographer, as illustrated in his 1997 book TEENAGE LUST.) Sexual identity is an undercurrent in Bobby's story: he watches gay porn while he rapes Ali, and he forces Marty to dance with him at a gay club. Some of the other teenagers think that Bobby and Marty are a couple. But this is a minor issue. They decide to kill Bobby because he's a bully who has hurt and angered them; and because they're bored and desensitized to violence. In BULLY, Clark provides another hard look at the hard lives of American teenagers, in all their confusion. It isn't pretty. [More]

Starring: Nick Stahl, Bijou Phillips, Brad Renfro, Leo Fitzpatrick

Starring: Nick Stahl, Bijou Phillips, Brad Renfro, Leo Fitzpatrick, Rachel Miner, Kelli Garner, Michael Pitt

Director: Larry Clark

Director: Larry Clark
Screenwriter: David McKenna
Producer: Jordan Gertner, Chris Hanley, David McKenna
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Reviews for Bully

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
03/03/02
Guardian [UK]
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N/R

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Full Review Source: FilmFour.com | comment Comment
03/25/02
FilmFour.com
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
12/15/03
Jason Solomons
Jason Solomons
Daily Mail [UK]

There's something troubling about a film which, on the one hand, wants to take a moral stance about a lost generation, and on the other relishes shooting the nubile flesh of its young actors.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
02/20/02
Tom Dawson
Tom Dawson
BBC
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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment 1 Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
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A brutal, though darkly humorous film.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/30/02
Brian Walker
Brian Walker
ViewLondon

Joins the list of great American films about killing

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
03/10/02
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

Larry Clark has an astonishing way of getting into the minds of teenagers.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
12/10/01
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

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Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/24/02
Boston Phoenix
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
07/19/01
Ebert & Roeper
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
07/29/08
Dennis Harvey
Dennis Harvey
Variety
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N/R

A needy movie made by a needy director, peopled with actors who come off as mindless blanks.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
08/31/01
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
N/R

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Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
N/R

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Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
08/09/02
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News

Clark bludgeons the same points over and over (and over) again.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
07/13/01
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Some of his detractors have called Mr. Clark a pornographer, but this is an insult to honest smut-peddlers, who treat their subjects with more respect than he does.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment 1 Comment
07/13/01
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Clark turns Bully into something approaching kiddie porn. That is what is creepy here.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
08/17/01
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies

Closer to teen pornography than to teen tragedy.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
09/06/01
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer

One has to wonder about the mind-set of a middle-aged filmmaker who repeatedly seeks out material about amoral and promiscuous teenagers with little to say.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
07/12/01
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Bully

January 17, 2008: Brad Renfro: 1982-2008
Brad Renfro, star of The Client and Apt Pupil, passed away Tuesday of unknown causes. He was 25. More...

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