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Home Room

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Home Room (2002)

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Reviews Counted:21

Fresh:11

Rotten:10

Average Rating:5.5/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 12 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: In the aftermath of a small town high school shooting, nine are killed and one, popular Deanna (Erika Christensen), is wounded. As students and the victims' relatives try to make sense of the... In the aftermath of a small town high school shooting, nine are killed and one, popular Deanna (Erika Christensen), is wounded. As students and the victims' relatives try to make sense of the situation, Deanna recuperates in the hospital. A detective (Victor Garber) is given the difficult task of laying the blame on someone, and he focuses his attention on Alicia (Busy Philipps), an intense, outsider-type student who was the only witness to the entire incident. A clearly troubled and unpopular girl, Alicia is forced by the school principal to visit Deanna daily in the hospital. While Deanna, though troubled by the ordeal, is friendly and sociable, Alicia is angry and verbally abusive. Over the course of days, however, the girls form a bond that arises out of coping with great tragedy. Small but ambitious, HOME ROOM deals with the sensitive subject of teenage gun violence sensitively and intelligently. With the intimate style of a stage play, Paul F. Ryan's screenplay attempts to examine the senseless aftermath of a school shooting, from every angle. Busy Philips's carries the film with her magnetic performance of Alicia, the troubled goth girl who hides her secrets with a tough exterior. [More]

Starring: Busy Philipps, Erika Christensen, Victor Garber, Ken Jenkins

Starring: Busy Philipps, Erika Christensen, Victor Garber, Ken Jenkins, Holland Taylor, James Pickens, Raphael Sbarge

Director: Paul F. Ryan

Director: Paul F. Ryan
Screenwriter: Paul F. Ryan

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Home Room

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/03/05
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

Though the film is overlong (it runs over two hours), it's never boring - mainly due to a pair of fantastic lead performances.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
01/11/04
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
12/05/03
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
11/18/03
Film Threat

The relationship that Deanna and Alicia forge is fascinating...as it allows for a genuine search for truth instead of something that is forced or contrived.

Full Review Source: Movie Views | comment Comment
11/05/03
Ryan Cracknell
Ryan Cracknell
Movie Views

Thanks to Philipps's explosive need and Christensen's struggling vulnerability, we see the human costs inherent in tragedy once the TV trucks have left and only the haunting remains.

Full Review Source: New Times | comment Comment
10/14/03
Bill Gallo
Bill Gallo
New Times

Weighted by good intentions, Ryan turns a potentially riveting story of two lost souls shaken by trauma into a sappy teen drama.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
09/12/03
Erika Gonzalez
Erika Gonzalez
Denver Rocky Mountain News

Alicia and Deanna's journey toward friendship, or at least a truer understanding, is moving.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
09/12/03
Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post

In the midst of this didactic, self-conscious movie about a high school shooting comes an extraordinary and intense performance by a young actress named Busy Philipps, which elevates the whole picture.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
09/08/03
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Dismal but not disheartening, this tale of picking up the pieces is as cutting as those pieces can be and as satisfying as cleaning up the mess.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
09/06/03
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

Overall, it plays like the world's longest -- over two hours -- after-school special.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
09/05/03
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

Too often crosses the line between good melodrama and rank cliché.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
09/05/03
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

Its noble intentions are undermined by syrupy, movie-of- the-week direction.

Full Review Source: Citysearch | comment Comment
09/05/03
Justin Hartung
Justin Hartung
Citysearch

A powerful movie that loses some of its momentum by touching on too many stories. It's not always easy to watch, but it's thought provoking.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
09/05/03
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

Ryan's tough-minded little movie avoids any sort of sentimentality; nothing warm and fuzzy here, just honest emotions from two excellent young actresses.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
09/04/03
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

At 133 minutes, Home Room is sluggishly paced and refuses to lighten up for even a second.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
09/04/03
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

With an unconscionably long running time of 2 hours and 11 minutes for what is essentially a two-hander between Philipps and Christensen, Home Room feels like detention -- without the possibility of recess.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
09/04/03
Kevin Crust
Kevin Crust
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Overwrought, way too long, and rife with emotional implausibilities, the film comes very close to being an affront to the memory of the victims of these real-life catastrophes, because very little in it comes very close to being real.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
09/04/03
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday

At times, Home Room threatens to become a Driving Miss Daisy for the Clueless set.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
09/04/03
Scott Foundas
Scott Foundas
L.A. Weekly
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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