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The Young Unknowns

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The Young Unknowns (2003)

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Reviews Counted:29

Fresh:4

Rotten:25

Average Rating:4.1/10

Consensus: A movie about uninteresting people doing uninteresting things.

Runtime: 87 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: At his father's expensive home in the Los Angeles hills, aspiring filmmaker Charlie (Devon Gummersall) and his browbeaten girlfriend, Paloma (Arly Jover) bicker and drink until Charlie's best... At his father's expensive home in the Los Angeles hills, aspiring filmmaker Charlie (Devon Gummersall) and his browbeaten girlfriend, Paloma (Arly Jover) bicker and drink until Charlie's best friend Joe (Eion Bailey) arrives, who is another privileged, indulgent Hollywood type. Joe brings both drugs and Cassandra (Leslie Bibb), an aspiring model he has recently met. Over the course of the day, Charlie and Joe get wasted, abuse Cassandra, and alienate Paloma. But when Charlie gets news of a family tragedy, he deals with it by indulging even further, and a night on the town takes the events of the day for an even more tragic turn. Loosely based on a 1969 play by Wolfgang Bauer, THE YOUNG UNKNOWNS taps into the familiar territory of jaded, emotionally hollow twentysomethings, deriving its strength from its astute performances and sharp dialogue. Writer-director Catherine Jelski's film was finished in 2000, but not properly released until 2003--creating a buzz on the festival circuit in the interim, largely due to Gummersall's performance. Charlie is a repugnant character--spoiled, hateful, and arrogant--but in Gummersall's (best known as mild-mannered Brian Krackow or TV's MY SO_CALLED LIFE) hands, he also becomes sympathetic and vulnerable. [More]

Starring: Devon Gummersall, Eion Bailey, Leslie Bibb, Arly Jover

Starring: Devon Gummersall, Eion Bailey, Leslie Bibb, Arly Jover, S.A. Templeman

Director: Catherine Jelski

Director: Catherine Jelski
Screenwriter: Catherine Jelski
Producer: Kimberly Shane O'Hara, Eric M. Klein, Catherine Jelski
Studio: Indican Pictures

[See More Credits]

Reviews for The Young Unknowns

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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This bleak little drama started as a play, and I'd bet that even onstage it felt contrived.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
07/20/09
Hank Sartin
Hank Sartin
Chicago Reader

Destined for well-deserved obscurity.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/03/08
Joe Leydon
Joe Leydon
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film wants to be a revealing character study of aimless Hollywood wannabes, but the story is just not compelling enough to make the viewer care.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Chris Parcellin
Chris Parcellin
Film Threat

Feels like a pity-party for a few spoiled jerks who, all things considered, don't really merit 90 minutes of my undivided attention.

Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
08/14/05
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
DVDTalk.com

No review available.

comment Comment
08/08/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

[an] eloquent, damning case against American culture and family

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Alternative | comment Comment
09/30/04
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Los Angeles Alternative

Within this haze of drug abuse, cockiness and hollowness, we're supposed to feel for our young, spoiled protagonist. Sadly, what we mostly feel is the pain of our eyes constantly rolling in our heads.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
05/16/03
Kim Morgan
Kim Morgan
Oregonian

First-time director Catherine Jelski dredges up every cliche about druggy, obnoxious dreamers on the fringes of Hollywood and assumes that said cliches have the power to shock and surprise.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
04/25/03
Edward Guthmann
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle

You're not going to feel enlightened by The Young Unknowns and, frankly, you'll probably benefit by keeping them unknown from your film-going pocketbook.

Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
04/25/03
Elias Savada
Elias Savada
Nitrate Online

Jelski's casting is daring, in its way, and I wish more American filmmakers would follow her example.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
04/23/03
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com

The film wants to be a revealing character study of aimless Hollywood wannabes, but the story is just not compelling enough to make the viewer care.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
04/22/03
Chris Parcellin
Chris Parcellin
Film Threat

The writing and the lead performance of Devon Gummersall in Catherine Jelski's The Young Unknowns makes this spoiled rich kid movie almost tolerable.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
04/22/03
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

A film of probative quietude with fiercely invested in performances; in small ways perceptive and intelligent but overall too lackadaisical in its intellectual application to leave upon viewers more than a faint, passing memory.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
04/21/03
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today

They're not just Young Unknowns, they're also unintelligent, uninspired and unfailingly irritating, too.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
04/18/03
E! Online

There is nothing to redeem this movie, and no real reason to see it.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
04/17/03
Kevin M. Williams
Kevin M. Williams
Chicago Tribune

It is a harrowing experience, anchored by the solid portrayal by young Devon Gummersall.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
04/17/03
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Yet another sordid tale of single white Hollywood kids who get drugged, drunk and disorderly by their swimming pools.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
04/17/03
Gene Seymour
Gene Seymour
Newsday

The film is tough going for all the wrong reasons.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
04/17/03
Mark Olsen
Mark Olsen
L.A. Weekly

A curious exercise in the vein of David Rabe's Hurlyburly that needed greater dramatic heft than is exhibited by the industry lightweights it depicts.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
04/15/03
Luke Sader
Luke Sader
Hollywood Reporter

Repetitive and stagy.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
04/11/03
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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