{"id":28517,"date":"2018-07-19T16:22:25","date_gmt":"2018-07-19T20:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=28517"},"modified":"2018-07-19T20:27:23","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T00:27:23","slug":"flower-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2018\/07\/19\/flower-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Flower (2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Probably the most disappointing movie I\u2019ve seen all year, I probably would have shut \u201cFlower\u201d off midway were it not for the great turn by Zooey Deutch. Deutch has become a rising star in film, never failing to be charming, charismatic, funny, and beautiful. She\u2019s one of the survivors of Disney television whose managed to convey some genuine humanity and appeal in a variety of roles ever since. It\u2019s just a shame she got saddled with such a mean, vicious, and despicable dark drama romance that\u2019s about as demented as it gets. \u201cFlower\u201d feels like the writers tried to combine Diablo Cody and Larry Clarke in to one twisted freak of a film, and man does it suck.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be honest I went in to \u201cFlower\u201d expecting something in the realm of \u201cDiary of a Teenage Girl\u201d or \u201cEdge of Seventeen,\u201d but it\u2019s so much more convoluted and aimless in its delivery, and veers head first in to dark drama so abruptly the \u201cdemented romance\u201d pictured feels painfully tacked on. Deutch plays Erica, a girl bordering on underage who, for whatever reason, seduces men and convinces them to allow her to have sex with them. When she records the sex, she threatens to out them unless they pay her money. She\u2019s saving for the bail for her father who is in prison, and convinces herself she\u2019s committing to some kind of valiant crusade where the ends justify the means. Meanwhile her mom in getting engaged with a man who she dislikes, and is forced in to conversing with her soon to be step brother who has anxiety and mental illness issues.<\/p>\n

When she realizes a local from the bowling alley might have molested him she sets out to also seduce him and out him to the police. \u201cFlower\u201d has such a long winded premise because it just seems to pile on to what is such a nonsensical narrative. Its characters are all vile and obnoxious and the writing spends much of its time trying to circle around and provide rationale for the way they act, and why they\u2019re such loathsome individuals. Whether it\u2019s Erica and her irritating daddy issues and insufferable selfishness, and brother Luke\u2019s inability to tell the truth at any point, the way \u201cFlower\u201d comes around to the finale is just horrible. So much of \u201cFlower\u201d is inexplicable, from Erica seducing Adam Scott\u2019s character, suddenly falling in love with him, the disastrous set up involving roofies in beer, and the way both characters suddenly seem to get over viciously murdering someone all because, gee golly, they\u2019re both broken and bonded, doncha know?<\/p>\n

\u201cFlower\u201d wants to be this hippy dippy coming of age drama, a dark comedy, a murder mystery, and this fractured romance, and fails at every turn. It tacks on so much garbage to the paper thin screenplay and spends too much time on its mean spirited plot twists, rather than trying at any point to turn these characters in to empathetic consequences of bad parenting. In fact in the final half when Erica gets news on her father, the big reveal feels more like a Nelson Muntz \u201cHaw haw!\u201d moment rather than a tragic realization. Which makes the climax even more heinous as Luke might just be a sociopathic liar, while Erica a perpetual victim who has convinced herself she\u2019s in some ideal romance. And well, they murdered a man. But that\u2019s okay! They\u2019re in love. I\u2019d love to read the original screenplay, as the overhauled reworking is a mess from head to toe. As for Deutch, she\u2019s a great actress stuck in a bad film.<\/p>\n