A modern remake of "Rebel Without a Cause," "Pups" strengths lie in its demonstration that adults -do- care, but if the kids try to believe in them (too much?), like all of real life, they have the potential to fail us.
Stevie's magnificent use of modern resources--the Internet, guns, girlfriend, too much t.v.--has resulted in the twisted plot of his robbing a bank "to get on t.v. and be famous." Enter the F.B.I. and Burt Reynolds, Kurt Loder and MTV, undercover agents trying to infiltrate the bank (complex), and accusations against parents of incest for full dramatic effect. The kids know what they're doing. Or do they?
The crevasse between adults and youths today seem almost insurmountable--teen cynicism, failed role-models, absent parents, multimedia distractions as substitute for personal interaction--all contribute to the problems, but when the pot boils over, what's left is a frightful situation, like a kid with a gun and no faith or vision of a future beyond right now.
"Pups," sadly, will never be shown in a P.C. overridden world like this because it takes on, directly, the possibility of teen violence. It was scheduled for release, but as the date approached, the Columbine event occurred in Colorado, and the distributors dropped it. Buy it for yourself, watch it with your kids, trust them to interpret the message and the differences between t.v. and real life, and learn to love Stevie for all his faults and mistakes.
Stevie's magnificent use of modern resources--the Internet, guns, girlfriend, too much t.v.--has resulted in the twisted plot of his robbing a bank "to get on t.v. and be famous." Enter the F.B.I. and Burt Reynolds, Kurt Loder and MTV, undercover agents trying to infiltrate the bank (complex), and accusations against parents of incest for full dramatic effect. The kids know what they're doing. Or do they?
The crevasse between adults and youths today seem almost insurmountable--teen cynicism, failed role-models, absent parents, multimedia distractions as substitute for personal interaction--all contribute to the problems, but when the pot boils over, what's left is a frightful situation, like a kid with a gun and no faith or vision of a future beyond right now.
"Pups," sadly, will never be shown in a P.C. overridden world like this because it takes on, directly, the possibility of teen violence. It was scheduled for release, but as the date approached, the Columbine event occurred in Colorado, and the distributors dropped it. Buy it for yourself, watch it with your kids, trust them to interpret the message and the differences between t.v. and real life, and learn to love Stevie for all his faults and mistakes.