ThiefHott Too much of everything

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

moonspinner55 Susan Berman plays young woman named Wren who hangs out in New York City's punk underground, but who is unable to translate her interest in the burgeoning music scene into a lucrative form of work. Director Susan Seidelman, who also conceived the original story with co-screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, understands this gritty milieu exceptionally well, and the film's low-end budget works for her scenario. Still, "Smithereens" isn't an edgy film, nor a particularly dangerous one. It gives us a rather inept heroine who's locked in a hopeless situation, with no avenues available for a personal or professional redemption. As a result, the finale represents a dead-end rather than the thoughtful or provoking portrait Seidelman clearly intended this to be. ** from ****

Woodyanders Ambitious, but aimless, amoral, abrasive and opportunistic Jersey girl hustler Wren (winningly played with considerable spunky panache by Susan Berman) tries desperately to break into the lower Manhattan music scene as a punk rock band manager, but since she has neither talent nor connections this proves to be a most difficult task to accomplish. While crashing around the city Wren makes the acquaintance of both Paul (a likable turn by Brad Rinn, who later starred in "Perfect Strangers" and "Special Effects" for Larry Cohen), a nice guy struggling artist who lives in his rundown jalopy of a van and Eric (a commendably fearless performance by punk icon Richard Hell of the Voidoids), a cocky, stuck-up narcissistic leech of a musician who ruthlessly uses other people to keep himself afloat.Directed with tremendously exciting style, verve and assurance by Susan Seidelman (who went on to helm "Desperately Seeking Susan" and several episodes of "Sex and the City"), this compellingly raw, gritty and funky little indie drama gem offers a very harsh, nightmarish and unflattering depiction of the East Village, pungently capturing the tart'n'tangy stench of urban squalor and despair in an unflinchingly stark and unsentimental manner (Seidelman's admirably obdurate refusal to either whitewash or romanticize the nastier aspects of the East Village punk culture is one of the movie's most substantial assets). The barbed, incisive script by Ron Nyswaner and Peter Askin relates the grim story in an engrossingly sharp, direct and brutally honest way, pulling no punches throughout and concluding things on a hauntingly downbeat note. Chirine El Khadem's rough, grainy, but dynamic and evocative cinematography, a first-rate thrashy'n'throbbing rock score by the Feelies, the often witty dialogue (favorite line: "Everyone's a little weird these days -- it's normal"), and the snappy editing further galvanize this thrillingly energetic film. An authentically scrappy and vibrant time capsule of the early 80's East Village bohemian punk alternative artistic fringe, "Smithereens" gets my highest possible recommendation.

George Parker "Smithereens" is the kind of worthless flick which just hangs out among the cable channels taking up space like a cheesy dime novel in the public library. A worthless bit of tripe and first effort for mediocre director Seidelman, the film is fraught with bad acting, bad sound, bad camera work, and poor quality in all aspects of the film. Many better films never make it to market and why junk flicks like this one do and never seem to go away is one of life's great mysteries. (D-)

ltryforo We know people like this: rootless, aimless, self-absorbed, and using. This is a realistic portrait of such a young woman who, when everything smashes to "smithereens," may or may not have an epiphany, in an ending reminiscent of the last frame in 400 Blows. Great directorial debut.