Why should we even care about these characters? "We Need to Talk About Kevin" sets up many scenarios to not just care for these folks but to get down to the psychology of it all. But when it can delve in to the psychology, it instead revolves around slapdash directorial tricks and goofy editing that attempts to dazzle rather than posit an analysis. Tilda Swinton has the ability to rise above any material, it's just everyone else who gets pulled down in to the depths of this abysmal tale of a mother and a son at war. John C. Reilly serves no purpose except to act as a tool for his son's manipulation, while the introduction of a new child in the fold serves no real function other than to really sell how evil Kevin is. He tortures his sister relentlessly to the point of near death. Because he's evil! Get it? Yes, we get it Lynne Ramsay, it's painfully clear how we're supposed to see Kevin, but it's never clear where we're supposed to be with him. Should we fear or sympathize with him? Pity or loath him? The movie never quite figures it out thus we're left with a cloudy resolution that does nothing to answer any questions and merely turns Kevin in to a snarling bastard who does little to make us feel what the movie was supposed to originally do: Help us analyze where love ends and sociopathy begins.

An irritating, morbid, and unfocused picture, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" clubs us over the head with clunky metaphor and goofy symbolism, all the while failing to ultimately conclude what we came to watch in the first place. It's a waste of talent and a waste of time.