As "Wassup Rockers" opens, Larry Clark has a tribe of Latino street kids centered neatly in his feels-like-a-documentary lens. They skate, swill 40s and share rambling confessionals about losing their virginity. And led by their magnetic chief Jonathan, they take the bus to Beverly Hills for a day.
If cinema-verite, as practiced by Larry Clark, has an enemy it is the 90210 zip code. It is here that "Rockers" suffers a kind of indecision: whether to stay gritty or become a feel-good buddy movie. The boys hop fences and hop into bed with rich girls, and surprising tragedies follow, but the real conflict is about which movie "Rockers" will be. The answer is both, and the result is a funny-tasting cocktail, with a dash of bitters and sugar syrup. Many viewers may go in expecting "Kids" but I suspect "Wassup Rockers" is not so different from "The Goonies."
That said, bits of dialogue shine in the mouths of the reluctant Rockers. And their attempts, and failures, to articulate friendship and despair are certainly the movie's highlights.
If cinema-verite, as practiced by Larry Clark, has an enemy it is the 90210 zip code. It is here that "Rockers" suffers a kind of indecision: whether to stay gritty or become a feel-good buddy movie. The boys hop fences and hop into bed with rich girls, and surprising tragedies follow, but the real conflict is about which movie "Rockers" will be. The answer is both, and the result is a funny-tasting cocktail, with a dash of bitters and sugar syrup. Many viewers may go in expecting "Kids" but I suspect "Wassup Rockers" is not so different from "The Goonies."
That said, bits of dialogue shine in the mouths of the reluctant Rockers. And their attempts, and failures, to articulate friendship and despair are certainly the movie's highlights.