"The Battle
of Shaker Heights" was the second offering from
the Project Greenlight program offered by Matt
Damon & Ben Affleck in which a winning script is
greenlighted as a Hollywood film and given a
$1,000,000 budget.
I'm assuming that some of these stars are
working for considerably less than their typical
wage...for example, while Amy Smart is
definitely not quite the household name
yet...she's far above anything this film has to
offer. Why'd she do this film? To give a
newcomer a chance? To sleep with Matt Damon? One
has to wonder. It couldn't have possibly been
the script.
I wanted to like this film, and found it
entertaining on a certain made-for-tv movie
level. Yet, there were a couple MAJOR things
that bothered me tremendously throughout the
film.
First, the two leads...the two boys who take
revenge...these two boys are somewhat physically
similar to Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the
two boys responsible for the Columbine Massacre.
The entire film I thought about Columbine...I
kept thinking to myself...these are the kinds of
boys who would do such a thing. Having these
thoughts took me beyond any point of empathy for
the characters, and I started to feel sorry for
the "bad guys." That is, in fact, another
problem with the film. "Bad guys" seem to be
anyone who disagrees with these two...Kelly
(played by Shia LaBeouf), has parents who are
largely peace oriented people, involved in the
community...he has a father struggling to
maintain sobriety and help others. Quite simply,
Kelly is a complete ass whose only social skills
center around war games...So, Kelly's parents
are bad? Or this kid who they terrorize...who,
in reality, was only defending his father...yes,
he did so in a physical and inappropriate
way...but, truthfully, if you mess with someone
I love...I'm not going to hug you...I'm going to
kick your ass. So, in reality, what was bad
about any of these people? So, we end up with a
shallow, manufactured conflict that is poorly
developed and VERY poorly written.
LaBouef is a decent enough actor, but this
character is simply horrid. As his partner in
crime, Elden Henson is only slightly above
functional. Smart does a nice job with an
underdeveloped character.
My other big issue with the script is its simple
meanspiritedness. Does anyone in this film
actually care about anyone beyond themselves?
Kelly abuses his parents, his classmates, a
co-worker who wants his attention...classmates
abuse each other...the parents, while caring,
have no communication skills whatsoever...the
school dismisses Kelly...This truly is a
Columbine situation waiting to happen. That, for
me, is ultimately why I can't put this film
above the "D" range...A weak script, average
performances and lack of a moral center have
overcome any goodwill I have for the wonderful
Project Greenlight.
©
Written by Richard Propes
|
How We Rated This Film
|
TC Candler -
|
 |
D- |
| Richard Propes
- |
 |
D+ |
|
Jacob Hall
- |
|
|
|
TC Candler's Comment
The
director's of this film deserve what they got
for messing up Erica Beeney's literate and
quality screenplay... absolutely nothing!
No phone calls. No job offers. No
careers. No praise. No nothing.
This is a dreadful display of how a director(s)
can ruin a good idea. Oh... and LaBoeuf
was dismal.
Jacob
Hall's Comment
N/A
