What We Found (2020) User Reviews

Good cast but an overambitious script

[lf780 · 6/10 · 6 September 2020]

The main reason I heard about this movie is because Elizabeth Mitchell is in it. Though I knew she would only play a small supporting role, I gave it a try anyway, hoping the movie wouldn't suffer too much from typical budget-related indie-film problems. And at least to a certain extent, it did not.

The overall style and camera work is quite decent. Sure, with a smaller budget, there aren't any fancy locations or large crowd scenes or similar, and that's to be expected, but the team did the best with what they had. I definitely didn't expect the kind of action sequence at the river toward the end of the movie. And they also tried to add some visual variety using (I assume) a camera drone for some of the establishing shots.

Another thumbs up goes to the cast. I wasn't familiar with any of the kids before watching this movie but I think we'll see more of them in the future. They played well together and made the most of the lines they were given.

But this brings me to the main shortcoming of this movie: the script. Or, maybe it wasn't so much the script itself but things had to be cut or were edited poorly -- I can't tell. I just know that the story tried to do too much and ended up saying too little. Too many issues were crammed into one movie: drug trafficking, gun violence, corrupt cops, bullying, abusive parents, the stereotypical missing black father (let's retire this cliché for a while, shall we?), the usual high-school drama, and above all, a murder mystery.

It's just too much, and none of these issues get enough room to breathe and to develop their full potential. It also affects the characters, who often remain underdeveloped and leave the audience waiting for something to really connect with. And in the end, everything gets wrapped up too neatly, and it feels like the creators tried to tick off as many "drama, baby!" boxes as possible without really dealing with all the repercussions.

At the end of the day, it's a decent indie movie. Not one of the best, but certainly not one of the worst I've seen either. If you have an afternoon or evening to spare, give it a try. Indie movies can always use our support, and this cast deserves some more attention. Just keep your expectations low with regard to the story / twists.

Looking forward to the next projects of everybody involved in "What We Found".

A Fun, Character-Driven Suspense Drama

[onekingprods-54469 · 7/10 · 18 July 2022]

Every once in a while, I feel a movie deserves a bit of love and support and this is one of them. Whoever cast this film knew what they were doing with the 3 young leads. You believe in their friendship and you care about them all. Further, the way the script interweaves their backstories with the lives of the adults around them, is admirable. It's a story you enjoy watching play out. Mind you, it's not a big budget film, but rather appears to be made for Amazon Prime or something along those lines. But you will be drawn into this and when it's over you will have enjoyed the unique ride it takes you on. Hard to believe it's from 2020, as it simply sticks to entertainment and avoids virtue signaling completely. That alone makes it worth some support.. Enjoy!

Well, it isn't great..it isn't horrible. It's all about Elizabeth Mitchell

[ignaciosarsfield-755-287553 · 7/10 · 31 August 2020]

It has good moments...it takes a while before it gets interesting. I didn't like the way they handle the characters at the end. Most of the good comes beacause Elizabeth Mitchell is in it.

If you're into hallmark acting, you might like it.

[aaronkirby-56669 · 4/10 · 10 August 2020]

I have never wrote a review on any movie, nor restaurant or anything I ever do. I look at the reviews like a normal person and deduce whether I want to watch or go to something. That being a matter of fact, the reviews for this movie are completely misleading. Multiple say "superb acting, acting is great" and don't get me wrong I am no movie critic, I've read my fair share of reviews and I know what a good movie is, this did not hit the mark. The story was not completely atrocious but like I said the user reviews are very misleading on the acting, this is the equivalent of a hallmark movie you would see on day time television, not a single part is exceptional or outstanding. That being said, the story line is not horrible and something some people may enjoy but do not go into this looking for high quality acting or a high quality film.

The thrill of it all!

[jessnise · 7/10 · 8 August 2020]

I appreciated the suspense and the story line of the film. The kids did a great job!

I wanted this to be good, but it just fell so short!

[Aliceviolet-77297 · 2/10 · 5 August 2020]

To start this review, I forgot half of the characters' names by the end of this film due to a lack of attachment to any of them, but I digress about that. I would say the main problem with this film is the lack of personality from any of the characters. Marcus is the typical geeky, nerd kid with some 13 year old tumblr girl platitudes (which let me just say, he's no "tech geek". He couldn't even decrypt an IPhone, but is considered as such. But now I'm just being petty, so I won't remain on that topic). He has this dialogue that makes him seem younger than he actually is. Holly has an abusive father, which definitely is a cop out because it is only briefly mentioned and instead of going to the police when she had the chance, she remains silent but vocally defiant against her father. This storyline is not delved into any deeper than face value providing as a tension starter in some scenes. Grant, who I could have sworn was named Garret, is completely irrelevant to this friend group. He goes to a fancy high school and has a crush on Holly. His only personality trait is as Holly calls him "selfish". Personally though, I think his only trait is being the rich friend who never quite knows what's happening. Together, the three friends' storyline is beyond boring, and I had to fight the urge to skip through their dialogue scenes, which are very shallow and do not work to provide insight to their characters. I don't have a problem with filler, fun dialogue, but when that is the only thing being written, it slowly becomes less amusing. Also, Grant is the only one to look and act like a high school freshman. Holly and Marcus act and speak how I would have in 6th grade. Then we have this corrupt cop, Steven who had this "mysterious" past, which, if you've seen any cop shows, you can probably guess what it is (hint: Elliot Stabler has probably done this on several occasions). I was sure he was going to be caught up in the drug cartel of this town, which would have made him a bit more interesting. It would have also explained why he didn't tell the Captain that he took that tip from Marcus. Moving on to Clay, the typical bully. Not much to say about him. He just pops in to stir up trouble. I would like to make a point in saying throughout the entire film, he does nothing but bully the friends and blackmail a cop, yet suddenly, at the end of the film, his character does this complete 180, which I did not find redeeming, but rather awkward and out of place. Finally, we are given a character who at least has a little personality, Katherine, but in this film, that doesn't mean much. Katherine reveals something about her past, which can only be described as the most interesting thing in this movie though again, it seems to be placed at a rather odd time in the film. Lastly, we have Cassie, who is the missing girl. The movie had focused so much on the three friends that they barely had anytime to create a personality for this girl. Now the problem becomes, I don't care about this girl at all possibly due to the fact that she is portrayed as being this perfect person. I would have liked to have seen a flaw or at least some kind of secret revealed about her at the end, just to humanize her. This leads to my nonchalantness when we do discover she was dead, which let me point out, was very rushed. She was missing for maybe 15 minutes out of the movie, she turns up dead, they interrogated one suspect, and no other players/suspects are introduced. A joke of a "thriller". I guessed who it was as soon as they were introduced. In fact, I figured out who it was 30 minutes into the movie and why, but I was really hoping there would be a twist. Nope. How can you write a "murder mystery" type of storyline, but not introduce any serious suspects or provoke the audience to think "Could it be them?" ? On top of all of this, the ending was so unbelievable + rushed, that I cannot accurately describe what happened. The final interaction between Katherine and Steven (almost called him Kurt) makes little sense as we have already discovered that the court documents are sealed, and the PD covered it up. If she really wanted him to transfer, she would have put in a request when the incident first happened. Finally, the final interaction between the friends as they look up into space proved just how much Cassie's death didn't matter, but rather the show down with the drug dealers was the main "moment" though again, this really wasn't character development. Nothing seemed to have changed by the end of the movie except the main character's relationship status. The ending sealed this movie as one of the worst I've seen. Between the shallow dialogue, shallow characterization, shallow "mysteries", unrelatable characters, lack of a solid storyline, a hundred mini storylines, and the straightforwardness, this movie disappointed and infuriated me beyond belief. I actually forgot someone had been murdered or what the "storyline" of this movie even was! Another problem I had with this movie was when Katherine said how "Bad things keep happening in this town," but nothing is really shown or talked about besides her past, the kid killed in the beginning, or Cassie's murder. And to further that point, how was this drug cartel not on the police's radar? I mean, the guys weren't exactly James Bond. They were still hanging around town with no protective measures. And if you are going to introduce a drug cartel storyline, I better see more of the drug dealers, so I know what the stakes are that Clay along with the three friends are put at. The drug dealers much like Cassie's death were laughable. I really wanted this to be good, so it would show that independent writers/directors can make just as good of movies as the big shots, but this was not it.

Sidenote: The acting was good though. No fault to anyone there. It would have been a powerful cast if the writing would have been more powerful and more thought out.

The real Craig of the Creek.

[umfog-34083 · 6/10 · 16 December 2022]

Sad view of crime and corruption in our inner cities. Corrupt police, drug related crime. Societal decay at all levels. A poor life story and a get out of dodge warning. Forboding of an apocalyptic future of America. Undeloped characters lead to plot with predictable story line. Disconnected adult figures play little role in the life of young characters. Indicative of mainstream drug use fostered by outside meddling from foreign powers. A dispotian view into the future real life in America in the near and not so near future. The very real and terrifying "Craig of the Creek" Baltimor, Maryland.

A Hot Mess

[l_boester · 1/10 · 13 August 2020]

I gave this movie one star because the child actors were very good. The plot on the other hand was confusing and slow moving. I totally lost interest during the middle of the movie but my attention was brought back when the boys were burying a body. After which the story became a really hot mess.

Interesting but not boring

[nuevasjerry-09875 · 7/10 · 8 August 2020]

At first, you will not able to get what is the main reason the character portray of main character is easily to change, but you will realize when they saw together with there friend what they will be found and the the rest you will know at the end of the movies.

Low budget, but you will think very much every time and scenario happened.

Doesn't quite know what it is

[sonja-orschulik-201-692056 · 5/10 · 7 April 2021]

The movie is alright, not great but not bad either. The acting is good as well... again, not amazing but solid performance overall. The kids are well cast and have a good chemistry.

Overall, it had me too often scratching my head because the tone switched so often. It is marked as a thriller but in parts it was almost like one of those 80ies kids' adventure movies. Apart form that in parts it was suddenly very dramatic and touching a variety of subjects and then it was back to action. I liked the story overall but they seemed to try to cram to much into the 110 minutes. Many (often quite serious subjects) were touched upon but didn't go anywhere, backstories of characters were told but did not really impact the story in any way. This made the movie feel stuffed but empty.. like white bread without any toppings. Some aspects of police work seemed exceptionally realistic and others like how a kid imagines police work. The score seemed a bit over the top and very disconnected which enforced the different impressions between scenes (lighthearted, comedic piece for the mobile scene, dramatic orchestra for the police captain's backstory). The camera work was good (to my untrained eye) and the editing seemed fine (apart from a few strange cuts here and there).

Basically, the movie was okay but it pulled me out of my willing suspension of disbelief way too often. I can't recommend or not recommend because judging from other reviews, some people clearly enjoyed it enough. You should watch it and.form your own opinion. Just be aware that it's not a masterpiece. All in all it did make me watch, even though it was a carousel of being.tense/thrilled, amused and slighty perplexed.

Great Thriller.

[jhmoondance · 9/10 · 27 December 2021]

Well......this was a great little murder mystery thriller with three brilliant kids as the main lead. There was some tension n suspense throughout n a bit of action towards the end .

The acting was superb n the characters were amazing especially the kids.

The ending was predictable but good nonetheless.

I recommend this movie especially if you like thrillers n murder mysteries.

Murder mystery

[Stanlee107 · 6/10 · 8 August 2020]

What do you get off you get it you combine the v adult version of Scooby do, Goonies & a murder mystery... This film! The central theme of this film is the coming of age among a group of teenagers & the hardship of their struggle being the outcast... A female student disappears & they go in search of finding out the truth... It is better than I thought it worked be...

Gun is the root cause

[ks-60500 · 4/10 · 29 August 2020]

Heard from news about the gun shot in American school field. This movie have a side message the seriousness of the gun problem in US. For the storyline, I feel it's just mediocre. At least it didn't touch my heart and echo on the story.

Glad I didn't pay for this one !

[itstheheart · 2/10 · 21 December 2022]

I almost rented this during the pandemic because I like Elizabeth Mitchell . So glad I waited & didn't pay for it. Couldn't figure out weather this movie was supposed to be a kids movie or not. The kid actors were great . Unfortunately ,the plot and dialogue were lacking . They really should have cleaned up the language, lessened the drug use and made it a kids movie .

I hated that there was no accountability for the dirty cop ,other than him getting transferred to another precinct. Though that is probably more true to life than him getting held accountable. Also hated the black drug dealers were made to look scary with no redemption and death at the end. While the white drug dealers were painted to look like "good " kids with redemptive qualities who were just "doing the wrong thing". Yuck. I feel like this film was a waste of the talent of Elizabeth Mitchells talent as well as the talents of most of the kids in the cast.

Baltimore?!?

[mjdxr · 1/10 · 18 October 2020]

If you've ever been to West Baltimore you know that this movie is ridiculous. Why not just place it in a fictional town if you were going to completely recreate the setting to fit the movie? It's like claiming a movie takes place in Philly but only German people are casted in the movie and the streets are pristine white, paved in gold. It was the clickbait of moving settings. Because if that alone, I'm done with this movie.

Gripping

[holliebentley-56336 · 9/10 · 29 October 2020]

I thought this was a very good film. Great acting from all involved, a great storyline and decent suspense. A must watch film

Great characters and superb acting

[mickikrimmel-51669 · 9/10 · 6 August 2020]

This movie was the perfect escape for an evening. The characters are engaging, the kids have great chemistry, and some of the performances are really phenomenal. It's important to support indie film and this one didn't disappoint!

Great Acting

[commoncored · 8/10 · 16 April 2023]

Jordan Hall was great in this movie. The acting was great all around. Hate that they had this whole redemption story with the bad cop. He should've been put under jail. The captain suspected he was trash but kept him on the case. Ugh! Maybe this is just how it is in real life. I actually kept thinking this story was based on a real life story. Like they made a film about something that happened in a smal town. I envisioned the town gathering to honor the memory of the girl and the heroic actions of the teen.

But yeah, I dunno how much these actors were paid but they should be money makers--specifically Marcus, his mom, his BFF, the dead girl and her drug dealing boyfriend. They made the budget of this film a non-issue.

Awesome coming of age story

[meg_mohler · 10/10 · 5 August 2020]

I absolutely loved watching this movie-the actors who played the kids were amazing, as were the scenes in the woods. Highly recommend this movie for people who live in/near Baltimore!

A FUN RIDE, SO GLAD I STUMBLED ON THIS GEM!

[lucybennett-1 · 9/10 · 12 August 2020]

Loved this film! One of my fav movies all time is Stand By Me... and this movie brought up all the good feels. The acting was strong, which is always hard with a younger cast. I strongly recommend watching this movie, great movie for the 13+ crowd.... I'm in my 30's and was drawn into the ride that it took me on immediately!

Don't miss this one... it's a fun one!

If you love Stranger Things, you will love this movie!

[audreymaudecote · 10/10 · 5 August 2020]

Wasn't expecting this fun of a thriller ride. What a surprise!

Amazing

[joesernio · 10/10 · 5 August 2020]

Heard a lot about this so decided to give it a shot this evening. Loved it. Great storyline, great acting and all around amazing cast. Job well done to all!

Amazing movie

[kakuskari · 10/10 · 26 December 2020]

Did not expect film to be to good! But I was very surprised & odd moments of iffiness for me in regards to acting/lines! But I really enjoyed this film. Also has you in suspense till the end & beyond! Also when I thought it was over it was not at all! Really good film I actually hope there is a 2nd! But the Quote of there are serial killers everywhere is so factual sadly. I am a big true crime fan & this tells the story of what has often sadly at times been a reality! Great film. Deffo worth the watch.

Good Movie

[awaiskazi · 8/10 · 5 August 2020]

Story is good acting is gr8. Good movie excellent. infect highly recommended

Hidden gem of a movie

[chrissievalentine · 10/10 · 30 October 2021]

No need to say anymore...I never put reviews up on bad films, but when a film is this good, all I'll say is watch it xx

Seriously don't understand why I haven't heard about this before... probably because people prefer to moan...and obviously not enough people did about this one...rightly so x.