New on DVD - Fierce People

Nov 2007, Griffin Dunne, 107 mins

At the completion of Griffen Dunne's Fierce People, I found myself alone in my bathroom, curled up in the corner, banging my head up against the wall. Why you ask? ...because what had begun as one of the most profound and cinematically perfect coming-of-age tales, took one of the most deliberate and terrible turns down shit creek.

The best way to explain 'F.P.'s tragic demise is like a great thriller that has you on the edge of your seat for the first half of the film, then the second act kind of slips off, and by the end its become a slasher movie with fake blood and entrails splattered all over the place.

If I have confused anyone, I apologize. Fierce is not a thriller, its a classic tale of a poor boy meets rich girl over summer break.

Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland both give fine performances but every last delight the film offers in the first 100 minutes is crushed and smoothered by the cinematic equivalent of assisted suicide.

This is the breakdown
1st quarter: 3 1/2 stars
2nd quarter: 2 1/2 stars
3rd quarter: 2 stars
4th quarter: -1 star ...for a grand average of = 1.75 stars

This ain't 3rd grade math class so, we rounded down.