Dir: Jonathan Levine.
Cast: Amber Heard, Michael Welch.
Review: All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a movie with a checkered past. As legend has it, Mandy Lane was picked up by the Weinsteins and thrown on a shelf to rot. Theories abound as to why, but the presumption was that a shotgun wielding teen killer was a little too Columbine for the Weinsteins to market, schedule and release. Aside from some festival screenings Mandy Lane has never seen the light of day in the US. Thankfully here in Australia, and in the UK, Mandy suddenly arrived out of nowhere on DVD to little fanfare. Shame, Shame. This film is a rare antidote to almost every teen horror, by essentially not being a horror film at all. Maybe its an overstatement to call Mandy a drama, but she's definitely a thriller and a genuine critique of the modern teen, prone to ugliness and violence wrapped in smooth skin, blonde hair and a tan. Often these teen horrors, of which there are SO many, purport to be 'saying something' about the teen culture exhibited but actually don't and instead use the hot bods to lure in a teen audience negating the chance to make them look at themselves and possibly even consider, hey maybe I deserve to be hatched up by a slasher. Again, this is what may have made the Weinsteins cautious of Mandy, teen retribution at the end of a shotgun - it is a terrifyingly REAL scenario. And here in lays a contradiction about Mandy Lane you can see the ending coming a mile off, however, instead of being disappointed, you so hope you are right. Amber Heard as Mandy does a good job with a difficult role, Mandy is not a cut and dry kinda gal. The supporting players also keep it real, no over acting in the stoner scenes. You get a sense that these actors know what it's like, no 'Whoa man' moments. It's to the credit of director Jonathan Levine for keeping it real, he's not a horror director, going on to make The Wackness (2008) and it shows, all for the good of his film. One last positive is the film's use of music. No metal here, 60's teen idols instead, more evidence that Levine is blissfully unaware of teen horror trappings.
Rating: 4/5.
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