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Movies / Upcoming / Dear Wendy
Dear Wendy

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Dear Wendy (2005)

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37 %
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Reviews Counted:59

Fresh:22

Rotten:37

Average Rating:5.1/10

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: Dogme '95 cofounders Thomas Vinterberg (CELEBRATION) and Lars Von Trier (DANCER IN THE DARK, DOGVILLE) team up in DEAR WENDY, an unusual but entertaining drama set in an unnamed American small... Dogme '95 cofounders Thomas Vinterberg (CELEBRATION) and Lars Von Trier (DANCER IN THE DARK, DOGVILLE) team up in DEAR WENDY, an unusual but entertaining drama set in an unnamed American small town. Jamie Bell, the award-winning actor who played the title role in BILLY ELLIOT, stars as Dick, a teenager loner whose father (Trevor Cooper) is disappointed that the boy has chosen not to work with him in the mines. Shortly following his father's death, Dick develops a fetish for a gun he bought in a toystore, and he soon forms a special club with fellow outcasts Freddie (Michael Angarano), Huey (Chris Owen), Susan (Alison Pill), and Stevie (Mark Webber). The teens meet regularly in an abandoned section of the mine, where they refer to their guns as their "partners," experiment with unique shooting styles, and live by their own code of bizarre rules--which include never firing aboveground at people. But when Sheriff Krugsby (Bill Pullman) asks Dick to help take care of troubled teen Sebastian (Danso Gordon), things don't go quite as planned, leading to an unforgettable ending. The quirky, compelling film, written by Von Trier and directed by Vinterberg, features cool costumes, expert pacing, and familiar songs by the 1960s group the Zombies. [More]

Starring: Jamie Bell, Bill Pullman, Michael Angarano, Novella Nelson

Starring: Jamie Bell, Bill Pullman, Michael Angarano, Novella Nelson, Chris Owen, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, William Hootkins, Thomas Bo Larsen, Trevor Cooper, Matthew Géczy, Teddy Kempner

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Screenwriter: Lars von Trier
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Composer: Benjamin Wallfisch
Studio: Wellspring

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for Dear Wendy

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Entre la sátira, la fábula y el comentario crítico (...) el interés se pierde y no convencen.

Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | comment Comment
05/21/07
Enrique Buchichio
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total

The highlight is when a female member of the Dandies bares her breasts, which is about as pointless as the rest of the film.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/23/07
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | comment Comment
09/28/06
Sight and Sound

Naive, corruptible, lonely young man meets femme fatale, and it all leads, inevitably, absurdly, to destruction.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
08/25/06
Ron Reed
Ron Reed
Christianity Today
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
06/03/06
Jam! Movies

The result is mixed.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
03/23/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

a private joke for two guys who should know better.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
03/21/06
Chris Cabin
Chris Cabin
Filmcritic.com

We get it, Lars. Actually, we got it some time ago. Guns are bad things. They kill people and Americans are obsessed with them. Can we move on now?

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
02/24/06
Michael Posner
Michael Posner
Globe and Mail

The film has the unmistakable imprint of [Lars] von Trier, with its heavy-handed tirade, masquerading as satire, assailing what he perceives to be America's obsessions with guns and violence.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
02/24/06
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Von Trier's caricature of teen angst and Vinterberg's junkyard-chic stylistic flourishes aren't about anything but their loathing of American culture.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
02/24/06
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

you won't know whether to laugh, cry, or moon the screen. Von Trier shoots, von Trier scores.

Full Review Source: The Stranger (Seattle, WA) | comment Comment
01/06/06
Andrew Wright
Andrew Wright
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

If Jamie Bell can't rescue a movie, it's probably not salvageable.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
01/06/06
John Hartl
John Hartl
Seattle Times

The message doesn't come through with any particular wit or metaphoric punch, and it makes such a strong case for the joys of gun ownership that it could serve as a recruiting film for the National Rifle Association.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
01/05/06
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

When you have to ask yourself whether this parable is intended as comedic satire or stone-cold-serious moralizing, that's a big sign that you're watching a misfire.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
12/09/05
Marc Mohan
Marc Mohan
Oregonian

A dumb movie that thinks it's smart is the worst kind of awful.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
10/20/05
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Wendy might have a bizarre sense of locale and idolatry, but the imagination of the filmmakers is just enough to help swallow their incredibly condescending posturing.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
10/20/05
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

the story makes no sense and depends upon people acting based on some crazed Dane's mental stereotype of Americans rather than actual human beings.

Full Review Source: New Times | comment Comment
10/08/05
Luke Y. Thompson
Luke Y. Thompson
New Times

The scenario's practically straitjacketed in commentary. Von Trier's weak story doesn't help.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/06/05
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Unable to determine its goal, Dear Wendy is a tweener, ideologically doctrinaire on the one hand and a wannabe hot youth movie on the other.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
09/29/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Baroque gun-toting fantasy and an uneasy sound track by the 1960s Zombies make this the heavy teen self-destruct flick of the year.

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
09/28/05
Ron Wilkinson
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Dear Wendy

August 27, 2007: Video Exclusive: Jamie Bell talks Hallam Foe, accents and Equus with RT
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