The Giving Tree (2000) User Reviews

The Perils of Emily

[sol1218 · 4/10 · 23 July 2009]

**SPOILERS** Not much of a plot here but lots of talking and emoting especially from Molly Ringwald as the cheated on wife Penelope in this utterly confusing soap opera about some dozen, give or take a few, former high-school classmates taking part in a reunion as well as chilling out in a cabin in the country.

Even though this is all supposed to take place ten years, as shown in a number of flashbacks, after the event that brought them all together happened the people don't look as if they aged a day. As things soon turn out the guest of honor Emily, Christina Applegate, who organized this reunion is not only the last person to show up but commits suicide, by hanging herself, before the night is over! Things get even worse when the people at the party try to get Emily's body to the local hospital morgue when a sudden earthquake hits the area. This has poor Emily left covered up in a barn decomposing in the summer heat as the damaged roads leading to the local hospital are being repaired!

While all this is going on all the young people at the party are either getting drunk high on pot or just reminiscing about the past and how it effected them in regards to their association with the late Emily. As we soon learn Emily was the glue-or giving tree-that kept the group together all these years even though she had almost nothing to do with them during all that time!

We even had a ridicules sub-plot when a number of the drunken party goers kid, or dog, napped a seeing eye dog and held the pouch hostage for pot money. This brainless act on their part had the poor and confused mutt, by being left out in the heat all day, die on them! As things luckily turned out the owner of the dog, a golden retriever, Mr. Forrester,Paul Gleason,later came to the rescue of one of the party-goers when she Sara, Leslie Horan, was about to give birth. We never get to know who's Sara's baby's father is but then this guy James, Johnathon Scheach, who's supposed to work at the local hardware store pops up out of nowhere who then chivalrously takes responsibility for Sara and her new born child even though he's a total stranger to both of them!

Even though get get a number of glimpse's, in some dozen flashbacks, of what happened to Emily that made her take her own life your not really that surprised when you finally get to see the whole picture. It was that anticipation of Emily's dark and troubled past pulse the annoying and almost non-stop music soundtrack in the movie that kept me both awake, how could I doze off with that music pounding into my head, and interested in taking in the entire film even though I should have known better.

THE LITTLE CHILL

[nogodnomasters · 3/10 · 1 June 2019]

The film is divided into two parts. In the first part Emily has a great relationship with a swing. A group of friends have a reunion at a country home which Emily invites them to. Then Emily has a bad relationship with a swing and the group becomes isolated due to the earthquake that happened at the same time. They examine their lives and ignore the gorilla in the living room, i.e. the reason why Emily had a bad relationship with the rope of the swing.

The dialogue bored me as did the soundtrack and the lame narration at the beginning of the film. If anything, it was funny to watch good actors struggle with a lousy role and lines. Worthy of a pass. The flashback scene was stupid. They could have done a far better job.

Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, brief nudity (Jennifer Daly?), off screen rape.

Not as bad as all that

[smatysia · 5/10 · 1 June 2014]

Not nearly as bad as some people are saying. Some of the dialog was cheesy, but most of the cast did as well as could be expected with it. Molly Ringwald's part seemed the most unlikely, but I didn't think that she was terrible. Christina Applegate had fine acting chops doing terror and depression, even though she is more well-known as a comedic actress. Tiffany Salerno did a nice job, too. She did not give herself the juiciest part, even though she wrote and co-produced the film. Moon Zappa was terrific in a fairly wrenching role. However, the plot is quite depressing and none of the characters are very likable, and some of them despicable.

lifetime or abc family fare - not a horror movie!

[jeffa123 · 1/10 · 21 April 2015]

if you're like me and come to IMDb to check ratings for movies found in the $5 dollar bin 10 movie horror collections, then i can stop you right here. despite it's inclusion in "10-Film Horror Pack V.3", this is *not* a horror movie. it's more like lifetime or abc family movie of the week. also note that it has at least 3 titles: "giving tree", "brutal truth" and "shaded places"

as for the film itself, regardless whether it's mislabled as a horror, it's a really bad film. i can't recall anything i've seen in any genre that was less compelling than this. my two word review is "who cares!?"

there are too many characters with too many back stories to get into any level of development. you get a few lines here and few lines there that are supposed to make you care about these people

the premise is too contrived. **spolier** a bunch of high school friends are invited to one of the girl's mountain house (years later) for a reunion. they all show up and then she hangs herself in the front yard. they put her body in the barn and then spend the next several days talking about her and each of their relationships with her. zzzzzzzzz. 90 minutes or whatever it was felt like about 5 hours.

it has an annoying hipster soundtrack cut in between and/or over every scene.

then there's the peculiar subplot of them kidnapping the blind neighbor's dog, only to have it accidentally die. blind neighbor is the principal from breakfast club.

at the end you finally see what you knew was coming all along... the story line that ties it all together. someone else on here said: watch the first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes and that's all you really need. i agree

all in all for me a complete waste of time. i didn't like anything about this film

Brutally bad

[JohnSeal · 1/10 · 13 March 2001]

This exercise in Gen X angst is unbelieveable, overwrought, poorly written, badly acted, and has one of the most annoying soundtracks you'll ever hear. Every time there's a lull in the inane patter (which is frequently) another overamplified and undernourished alternative folk song saturates the soundtrack. One of the worst films I have ever had the displeasure of sitting through.

This movie was like an old, sour, carton of milk in your fridge. You know it's bad,

[filmwxr · 1/10 · 22 May 2007]

but you smell it anyway. This movie stinks! The characters were shallow, the acting terrible. I got sucked into this movie to see how long, and how many scenes, Christina Applegate, would last.

In only 15 minutes, I had the Hollywood formulated characters and the end of this movie figured out. The writing was bad, bad, bad. The actors knew it. They read their lines reluctantly and like they were on a cue card. I got the feeling that every scene was a wrap. The story was weak and has been done to death. No pun intended. Very stiff acting, from some well known actors. I'd have to say, Moon Zappa was the most believable, and the neighbor's dog wasn't bad either. Molly Ringwold, as a seasoned actress, was at her worst.

awful Movie total waste of your time

[corebrad1701 · 1/10 · 22 August 2015]

by every conceivable notion this was a bad movie.I also bought it in a four pack of Horror DVD and it is not a horror movie it is a badly written badly acted drama . I lost complete interest in the movie 20 minutes in I started laughing because of how bad it was it's a horrible movie but is not a horror movie.please do yourself a favor and steer clear of it.on the soundtrack is downright annoying.it was a painful ordeal for me to try to get through all this movie.I must say I was surprised to see any positive reviews of this movie on this page.maybe they saw a different movie than I did.if I could give it negative Stars I would.

One of the worst movies I've ever seen.

[tthompson65 · 1/10 · 6 July 2001]

The Giving Tree was, in my opinion, a horrible rip-off of The Big Chill, with way too many characters to get to know. There were nine "best friends" from high school, but we are told none of their history together, except those of whom were involved in the twist that this film supposedly turns upon. I spent the entire movie rolling my eyes, groaning, and occasionally wincing, as when two of the characters commit a ridiculous theft for drug money. Christina Applegate, Moon Zappa, and Molly Ringwald were the only actors I recognized in the film, and I feel sorry for them to have been connected with such a piece of crap.

Good idea, bad foundation

[tzvish · 6/10 · 10 November 2002]

The film is good, nothing more. acting is pretty good, the only bad thing about this movie is that it has too much of a plot combined all together which makes the movie hard to just stare at and understand, each character has its own story which all stories are combined at the end. just another drama, watch this if its on TV and you are bored, thats what happened to me. watch the 5 five minutes and the closing 5 minutes, that'll sum up the movie for you

Horrible

[threelegdcat · 2/10 · 30 December 2001]

This movie was torture... it was one of those things I watched at 2am trying to fall asleep (on Cinemax I think) and my husband snored peacefully. How terribly depressing and it took way too long for the story to unfold. Pretty bad acting all around too... sad to say SOMEBODY paid to make this movie.

An unusual mix of comedy and dark reality

[krkemp · 8/10 · 16 February 2002]

I thought this was a good movie. I thought the acting was good for the most part and I really liked the soundtrack. I found the movie to be an unusual mix of light comedy about a group of old friends getting together with their various personality clashes contrasted against a look at the dark realities of the existence of pure evil in this world. But the movie also had a dramatic side as well. The violence in this movie was very hard to watch but needed to be shown to help viewers understand what happens to Emily. I think the main message of the movie is that some good can come out of even the most horrible things. The movie was also trying to show that although you can never be completely protected from the existence of evil in the world, you have to continue on and search for the goodness in the world. I gave this movie an 8 out of 10.

Did some of you even watch it?? (spoilers)

[catscratch2000 · 7/10 · 10 October 2009]

After reading some of these negative reviews, I wonder how much of the movie these reviewers actually watched, considering how many basic facts they got completely wrong.

First of all, the reunion didn't take place ten years after the event, it took place 8 months after. The pregnant girl, Sara, was 8 months pregnant. So...that tells us who the father is, right? They didn't call 911 or use a car to get help when she went into labour because there had been an earthquake which blocked off the road and trapped them there. Fairly significant point to miss I'd say. And the guy told the blind man he was taking full responsibility for the DOG's death, not Emily's.

I agree with other reviewers that this is Christina Applegate's finest hour. She has two lines of dialogue yet dominates the whole movie. I thought the title song that plays over her cabin scene was perfect.

It did have some flaws but overall, taken for what it was, I thought it was a good story that makes the viewer think. But only if the viewer pays attention to detail apparently.

A beautiful car wreck

[OldJuicer · 1/10 · 1 January 2012]

This was my "retirement" film when I left the industry. It was horrifically written (we used to sit in the hotel and do dramatic readings of the initial script which I still have in a box somewhere for party entertainment), the acting was atrocious (with the exception of a few scenes with Molly and Moon), the sex scene was beyond absurd (while shooting it, the two "actors" rolled around in the bed together for so long we had to change crew during lock out because our on set electrician and grip were failing holding back the constant laughter). The only redeeming qualities were behind the scenes. The crew was one of the most entertaining collections of people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Moon was amazingly cool and detested most of the people she had to work with on the cast. Molly smoked like a chimney and walked around with a rat sized dog in her arms, time has not been kind to Molly and the smokes and mutt made her look that much more ridiculous. I wanted to quit this show so badly and very happily handed over the title of Best Boy electric to a much more qualified LA local juicer and operated lamps for the rest of the show. Thanks to Two Sticks productions for giving me 6 weeks of fun memories! You never should have released this film!!!!

Not Awful... God Awful!

[craiger-6 · 1/10 · 23 May 2007]

This is an unbelievably bad film. It was so utterly forgettable that I spent 5 minutes on here trying to remember the title. It is one of Lifetime's Rape-of-the-Week flicks, apparently done by a director with a John Hughes complex, as it stars Molly Ringwald and the principal from "Breakfast Club" as a blind doctor(?) I am so filled with contempt right now, I don't even know where to start.

Christina Applegate's character (Emily) is forced to witness her two friends be raped after things at a house party get flirtatious to the point of hostile. Thing is though, there are two women in the back of the house that have just been there(?), looking like they're ready to go. Not to mention, in the time it takes Emily to find the bathroom, the two friends have been roughed up, tied up and gagged in a back bedroom. That house certainly seems to have a lot of adjoining doors. Implausibly, one guy would rather rape these two skanks while the other forces Emily to watch. Instead of Applegate! Are you serious? Christina dodging the old nudity bugaboo again.

Anyway, eventually the truth comes out to the assembled friends after the preggers one spills the beans. She then begins to spontaneously deliver and the entire house hoists her onto the dining room table. I guess nobody's ever heard of 911, much less a car. The slow one comes back and notifies everybody that there's a doctor living next door. The guy is blind but manages to deliver the baby. He actually turns out to be Emily's father. In turn, the father of the newborn "takes full responsibility for Emily's death... I am sure there are questions you want to ask me." To which the doctor basically responds "No, I'm good." Moon Zappa looks more like the smarmy guy that knocked-up Jennifer Jason-Leigh's character in "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" every year. Molly Ringwald is "pushing maximum density," as Judd Nelson told her she would in "Breakfast Club," and the guys in the movie look like Maroon 5 or Third Eye Blind rejects.

Oh yeah, and the soundtrack sounds like it was done back in the early '70s. Excuse me now, I am going to rinse my eyes out with chlorine.

90 Minute Root Canal

[chow913 · 1/10 · 22 December 2015]

This is one of the worst films I've ever seen! No, it isn't Chester Novell Turner movie bad, it's just the most boring and pointless movie ever made right next to Gus Van Sant's 'Jerry!'

The VHS box cover states it's about a 20 something group of friends reuniting for a weekend at a cabin in the woods, "if anyone survives." Alright, so it's a slasher or 'Ten Little Indians' murder who done it? WRONG!

The friends drive up to the cabin in the woods and spend the next HOUR saying the same thing as the audience!!! "I can't wait until Christina Applegate gets here. Things will be so great when she arrives." Seriously! That's all they talk about for an HOUR!!!

When Christina Applegate does finally show up she's hanging from a tree! Yup, that's her big scene, hanging dead from a tree. Did she commit suicide? Was she murdered? By whom? While we the audience are now starving for anything of interest, Applegate's friends are totally uninterested. Apparently so are the police. We never even see the police arrive or the coroner take away her body. Did friends just bury her in the backyard? No one seems to care!

We do get some kind of flashback to Applegate and some of the other female friends being raped at a party. At least that's what appears to be going on, it's too hard to tell. Who were the rapists? Were they in the group of friends? Did they murder Applegate so she wouldn't talk? More questions never answered or even explored.

An even bigger question is who is having this flashback? It's told from Applegate's point of view but she's dead!

So the 90 minutes is up and the weekend's over. Another weekend reunion ruined by someone's death. Although they don't really seem to care too much about her dead. In fact they don't even talk about her death. The weekend just continued the same as it did before Applegate's death!

I truly have no idea what the point of this film is. There's nothing of value. Even if you're some kind of sicko and you want to see Applegate getting raped you're in for a major let down. The flashback is only 10 seconds and it's unclear what's happening other than women being tied up and men laughing. So maybe they didn't even get harmed and it was some kind of practical joke? More questions never answered or explored.

The mere fact that any reviewer here gives it more than one star just proves they didn't watch the movie!

The Brutal Truth is...

[esttwo · 25 September 2002]

That this picture was awful. I can't believe that I wasted my time watching this drivel. Gee, sub-par acting, retread actors, super-corny plot. Man, the person who wrote this screenplay must of had a tortured childhood. How do you get paid for crappy acting and lousy screenplay, cause I need the work!

BTW - Why does Lifetime show the worst films?

The Boring Truth

[smilingdirtman · 1/10 · 7 May 2022]

There was little depth in the characters. The plot seemed to jump around like checkers on a board. It is hard to believe that this many people with so little in common would have even hung out 10 years ago in high school, let alone for a weekend in a remote setting with no phone. There were too may visitors when you consider THEY couldn't get out. It was senseless, hard to follow and was as boring as a Sunday sermon.

To be perfectly honest I think this movie sucks!

[neglas · 2/10 · 17 March 2000]

I dont know what it is about the movie, but I just totally didn´t get it. The plot seems rather lame, and even though the film has a very serious subject it seems I can´t really take it seriously. I´m not that good at english so that I can describe to you properly what went wrong with this movie, sorry.

High quality nonsense

[duckman_079 · 4/10 · 2 October 2020]

They took a few really good actors/actresses, handed them overly dramatic parts, added some decent music, and then bored the crap out of me by have them sitting around smoking cigarettes and getting irritated with one another. Most of this movie is small talk and the pouring out of emotions. There is rape and some things in the story, but I think that was to keep the audience awake. To me, a rating of 5 means it was worth watching, but only once. This movie wasn't worth seeing, so I gave it a 4.

Okay

[HumbleMensa · 6/10 · 8 September 2023]

A nearly 25 year old, budget movie, made for tv. I think other reviewers were expecting all that glitters is gold big screen. It's a fairly decent flick, music matches the timeframe (because I lived it and would have been about the same age as the characters are supposed to be), the idea of gatherings such as this ...certainly a thing back then (except for the tragedy) and today. A mix of characters, also a truth, there are always a few particular types in groups like this. The plot moves along okay, it's definitely not fast paced, but I don't think it is as slow as others suggest...more like people today don't have attention span long enough to listen and the dialogue is calm. Will I watch it again? Not likely. Am I glad I watched it? Sure. Did it make sense, yes.

The Giving Tree (2000)

[ComedyFan2010 · 3/10 · 10 November 2013]

Several estranged friends are invited to spend a time out of town by their friend Emily. Only she kills herself. Not being able to leave the place for a few days they try to understand what happened and clear up things among each other.4 The idea isn't all that bad, but the way it was done and turned out does make this movie below average.

One major problem was the writing. Some dialogues were just corny and unrealistic. The ending was a fail because it didn't unite all characters but only concerned a few of them. It was also a bit pathetic how the movie was making Emily to be such a saint. References to her, the reason she committed suicide was all just too much.

A problem is a bit of a genre inconsistency. While it is common to have some humor in a drama, I felt that some (not many, but still) scenes were way too comedic for this kind of a story.

Other things are absolutely off and pointless. I don't want to use any spoilers, so I will just say that the dog story was horrible. There was no reason for it, it just took away my ability to sympathize with characters, the way it turned out was unrealistic and in a way insulting.

Another problem is some of the acting. Mainly the problem was the girl that played Vanilla. I don't see her listed in the cast and I can see why, because it was such an embarrassing performance. The character is significant, but her portrayal of Vanilla ruins it. She plays her way too stupid, doesn't seem like a 23year old, more like someone who is 5. The voice she makes is horrific.

But most actors did a good job. Some seemed to be bad simply because they had bad lines to work with. An example for this would be Molly Ringwald who still managed to make the interaction with her on screen husband impressive. Moon Zappa was very good as well. I looked through the character list and noticed that the movie as the end of most of the careers, which is sad in a way because many had great talent.

A memorable one-line starring role.

[Arnold Harris · 9/10 · 22 April 2000]

Back in 1952, Ray Milland, Martin Gabel and Rita Gam starred in THE THIEF, an exquisite film-noir (it was black & white as well as moody) about a nuclear scientist giving away secrets to a foreign power, whose conscience got to him. The film was notable in that there was not a single line of dialogue, yet the filmplay was totally understandable.

This week, I saw Christina Applegate accomplish more or less the same effect in the lead role in BRUTAL TRUTH (written up earlier in IMDB as THE GIVING TREE). I believe her sole line of dialogue was "I'm Emily", quietly delivered as an offhand reply to "Who are you?" after she arrives late to the high school reunion party she is hosting for eight other former gen-X late 20s folks. She then walks out into the yard of her family's expansive mountaintop home and hangs herself from the left-hand rope of her childhood swing.

This early and totally unexpected demise notwithstanding, her offscreen and now-dead presence -- as well various silent on-screen flashbacks of her as a compelled and terrified witness at a gang rape at an earlier party -- eerily dominates this film as few other performances that I have ever seen on screen. I have read somewhere that Christina Applegate is noted for utterly lacking the usual aura of artificiality and affectation that surrounds so many stars in television and films. I have seen most of her films, including Corman's well-made STREETS, and I think she does equally well in serious drama as well as the comedy that she mastered through 13 years of MARRIED WITH CHILDREN. Only an actor with a truly serene and satisfied ego would take on a one-line leading role, but use it to dominate an entire film. Bravo.

And if my memory of film images serves me, her profile resembles that of young Grace Kelly before that lady become Princess Grace, more so than any other contemporary actress.

All the fault of the Music

[faganofbill · 25 April 2001]

This film needs to be re-cut (and perhaps retitled yet again) with a completely new soundtrack. I could have made a better soundtrack to this film with some dental floss and a fork. The non-musical elements of this movie are not without merit, yet the soundtrack biases the entire film for the viewer. Its syrupy sentimentality makes the viewer feel forced into emotions that would easily be achieved otherwise.

The dialogue isn't terrible, the acting is a little better, and the pretty cinematography on top of a sunny mountain in California is actually pretty good. The plot is a kind of hybrid of several tired Hollywood stories, but there are enough quirky (some might say needlessly random) elements to hold interest.

In the end though, it's Christina Applegate's mesmerizing one-scene (and a flashback) performance truly makes the whole movie worth watching.

The Big Chill for the next generation.

[pugdog#1 · 8/10 · 3 November 2000]

I didn't know what to expect when watching this. The summary on the box was somewhat misleading, and I don't like that. I like to have an idea of whether the movie is a drama, action flick, or horror/thriller before hand. This was a drama. About 20 minutes into it I had the distinct feeling of watching The Big Chill, but without the major soundtrack. I had the uncomfortable feeling of being more lost than any of the characters.

9 high school friends are invited up for a weekend, and we are given small cuts into their current lives. The movie gets going once Emily, the planned hostess, kills herself. There are no answers, and not even any questions. But there are lots of split-second vignettes into some "horrible" past event. Unfortunately, the movie sets you up to believe that one, or more, of the people invited were guilty of some major sin against her, or each other. The teaser leads you to believe that perhaps it's a horror film, rather than a very shallow emotional and psychological drama about stunted growth, emotional immaturity, and coming of age -- albeit a little late.

The end does tie it all up, but unfortunately, there was much more potential in this movie than was presented to the audience.

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!

[danis_girl2 · 10/10 · 14 February 2002]

I absolutely think this is the best movie I have seen in quite a while. I love a mystery that's not. It's a story that could easily be true. People commit suicide and their friends and family have to pick up the pieces and figure out why a person of character that they love would do something like that. It is not often that someone recreate their acting career, and though this is quite a small acting part, Christina Applegate is absolutely wonderful as this dark character. Not only is the part someone who is immensely loved by her friends, but she takes them into her heart so much that she feels she has to take care of them. I would think that anyone would want a friend like that. That is why I think this could be yet another career break for the former Bundy. I had not seen her in anything since "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter is Dead" and truly wonder why this movie wasn't marketed a little better. It is rare to find a diamond in the rough but "The Giving Tree" is that and more.