- Actors: Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, Tim Heidecker
- Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
- Language: English
- Subtitles: Spanish
- Region: Region 1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rated: R
- Studio: Lions Gate
- DVD Release Date: June 19, 2018
- Run Time: 90 minutes
Flower sold itself as a coming-of-age
film, albeit one that’s primary goal seems to be creating a protagonist whose
amoral behavior is intentionally shocking. But as transparent as this character
development may be, it does little to prepare the audience for a complete shift
in tone and story in the final act. Flower
isn’t one movie, but two crammed into the same narrative, and the really sad
thing is how completely it manages to fail at both of them.
At times the
film seems to be reaching for a tone somewhere between Ghost World and Juno, but
even those films allowed their protagonists the opportunity to grow and learn
from their mistakes. Instead of doing that in Flower, the script bends over backwards to justify the bad behavior
of its leading character, even including murder. But mostly Erica spends the
film justifying her desire to give countless blowjobs to men of all ages,
occasionally in order to blackmail them, but often just for fun.
This is yet
another film that would like to make the argument that men are allowed to
behave sexually in a way that women are judged for, but the role of Erica (Zoey
Deutch) would be obnoxiously immoral regardless of gender. I actually find it
more offensive to suggest this kind of behavior would be acceptable of anyone,
and am positive that the cruelty of Erica’s character would never be accepted
in the form of a male protagonist. It is only considered acceptable for a
female under the mistaken belief that this is somehow equivalent to feminism.
Mostly, however,
Flower tries desperately to be
shocking. Like Erica, the film seems to think that is the only way it can get
any attention. Unfortunately, that just makes the movie memorable as one of the
worst I’ve seen this year. Nearly every filmmaking decision is the exact
opposite of good taste, which may make it memorable, but certainly not in a
good way. Although blow jobs take up an unnecessary amount of the film’s
dialogue, the story is more focused on Erica’s foul attitude towards her mother’s
boyfriend (Tim Heidecker) and his emotionally disturbed son, Luke (Joey
Morgan).
When Luke moves
in with them, Erica’s first response is to offer him a blow job,
unsurprisingly, despite their parents being engaged. After that, she uses him
in order to get close to an older man (Adam Scott) she has been lusting after
at the bowling alley. The catch is that this man is also a former elementary
teacher that Luke accused of sexually assaulting him as a child. Erica says
that she plans to trap and blackmail him, like every other older man she has
entrapped, but her lustful desires inevitably get in the way of punishing a man
who is supposed to be attracted to young boys. This is only one of numerous
gigantic gaps in logic and plot holes contained in the sloppy screenplay,
written by three men, I might add.
It isn’t the
most forgettable film of the year, but Flower
is the one I hate the most. The DVD only contains a commentary track with
Deutch and director Max Winkler (son of Henry Winkler), another example of
nepotism mattering more than talent. It is unfortunate that Deutch was attached
to this film. Already too old to believably play seventeen, Deutch also
deserves much better than this script, and this character that was written in a
vacuum by a group of men trying to imagine what teenage girls sound like.
Entertainment Value:
6/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 3/10
Historical
Significance: 2/10
Special Features: 3/10
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