The Chumscrubber

 Chumscrubber 2005

• Director: Arie Posin
• Based on the book: no.
• Cast: Jamie Bell, Camilla Belle, Justin Chatwin, Glenn Close, Rory Culkin, Thomas Curtis, William Fichtner, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Godall, John Heard, Lauren Holly, Jason Issacs, Allison Janney, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lou Taylor Pucci, Rita Wilson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jamie Bell – Rocketman, Skin, Fantastic Four, Snowpiercer, Filth, Jane Eyre, The Eagle, Defiance, Hallam Foe, Jumper, King Kong, Dear Wendy, Undertow, Billy Elliot
• Camilla Belle – Practical Magic
• Justin Chatwin – Doctor Who, Orphan Black, War of the Worlds
• Glenn Close – The Girl with All the Gifts, Nine Lives, Sarah Plain and Tall, Mars Attacks, Mary Reilly, Hook, Hamlet, Reversal of Fortune, The World According to Garp
• Rory Culkin – The Night Listener, Igby Goes Down
• Thomas Curtis - North Country
• William Fichtner – The Space Between, Elysium, The Lone Ranger, The Dark Night, Nine Lives, Crash, The Perfect Storm, Contact, Heat, Strange Days
• Ralph Fiennes – Hail Caesar, Spectre, The Invisible Woman, Skyfall, Harry Potter, Coriolanus, The Reader, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Maid in Manhattan, The End of an Affair, Sunshine, The English Patient, Strange Days, Schindler’s List, Wuthering Heights
• Caroline Goodall – A Street Cat Called Bob, Mental, Schindler’s List, Hook
• John Heard – The Great Debaters, The Sopranos, O, Pollock, The Pelican Brief, Waterland, Awakenings
• Jason Isaacs – Hotel Mumbai, Harry Potter, Case Histories
• Allison Janney – I Tonya, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Girl on the Train, The Help, Life During Wartime, Juno, The Hours, Nurse Betty, American Beauty, 10 Things I Hate about You, The Ice Storm
• Carrie-Anne Moss – Humans, Fireflies in the Garden, Snow Cake, Matrix x 3, Chocolat
• Lou Taylor Pucci – Spring, Thumbsucker
• Rita Wilson – Runaway Bride, Sleepless in Seattle
• Why? Jamie Bell.
• Seen: 22 October 2021      

       Drugs and booze in Suburbia USA. Parents, kids, everybody.

       Dean (Bell) finds his best friend hanging from the ceiling. Dean is threatened at school by two thugs (Chatwin and Taylor Pucci) who want the friend’s stash or else. There are several side stories that all tie together.

       I wonder why we should care about these rich white American kids with fancy cars and fancy horrible parents. Because it emerges that they are all profoundly unhappy and Dean slowly falls apart. The acting, as expected of this gang, is strong, especially Bell (as always).

       You could say that the film depicts Marx’s theory of alienation in a capitalist society.

 4 * of 5