Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

CarrieSpicoli If you're like me, a lover of the cast and/or indie films themselves, you might be able to sit through this film. But if you aren't a fan of either, and take an interest in this movie based on the cover and description, you'll most likely be disappointed. Even I wasn't exactly blown away, which is one of the first time's I can say that after viewing a film with Brad Renfro in it.Tart tries to add some interesting sub-plots to the otherwise overused plot (awkward, unpopular teenager wants to change her life, joins new crowd, falls in love, new crowd and new boyfriend turn out to be bad people etc.) with things like Cat, the main characters (played by Dominique Swain), younger brother being a 9 year-old hypochondriac, Cat's father being Jewish (one of Cat's "new friends" is anti-semantic, another thing that just pops up out of nowhere then goes away) and all these other new girls among the popular crowd just kind of come on to the scene without a really good introduction (with the possible exception of Eloise, played by Lacey Chabert). Another problem is the lack of character development. One minute Cat is shy and set against doing any of the "bad stuff" the popular kids do, another she is at a ball with her love interest, William (Brad Renfro) suddenly getting, high, drunk, and losing her virginity. Everything after that film is sped up and not very thoroughly explained, like William suddenly starts rumors about her and leaves her, all the girls (who are basically all clones of each other, plus Mischa Barton with a British accent) stop talking to her, and suddenly there's about twenty minutes left of this film. How is everything going to be explained by then, you may wonder. well, it's not.Instead, it just ends with Cat rekindling her friendship with Delilah (Bijou Phillips) her jagged, but one true friend who she ditched at the beginning of the film for the popular crowd, then it follows Delilah catching William in a compromising position with a man in the woods, and is soon after murdered for her remarks. I guess this was the director, Christina Wayne's attempt at a big "twist" ending, but instead it's just frustrating that the entire movie is wrapped up on that note, and the ending is just Cat having a loving moment with her mom, who she had spent the entire movie arguing with.That being said, I could still bear to sit through this film again, but if you've seen just about any other works of Renfro, Phillips, or Swain, this doesn't compare.

aimless-46 "Tart" is a good illustration of old the Yogi Berra saying: "If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up someplace else". Writer/Director Christina Waye (in her first feature) has managed to make a $3 Million movie that ends up someplace else. "Tart" is either a coming of age story devoid of characters that a rational person can connect with, a black comedy without any humor, or a sexploitation movie without anything that is particularly sexy.Unlike the standard Swain film, "Tart" actually employed a competent and experienced production designer. Good enough to provide two extremely nice shots: the scene of Swain and Barton taking a bubble bath together and the scene of Swain in the park-featuring a nice montage of the "Alice in Wonderland" sculpture. The symbolism incorporated into these elements supports the possibility that Waye (despite the absence of a linear logic or unity of tone) actually has some visionary talent and aspirations for making a quality film. It is even possible that Waye was trying for a fusion of the somewhat expressionistic "Metropolitan" and the camp classic "Cruel Intentions" which also deal with the Manhattan upper class. There are many camera shots framed by windows and doors yet few tight shots of faces and eyes. The former technique hinting at symbolism and the latter at intentional distancing from the characters and their motivations. "Tart" seemed on the verge of veering into camp territory at least twice and would have been well advised to keep going in that direction. First there was the scene where they try to dump the seemingly deceased Swain into the garbage chute. Then there is the whole bit about her father being Jewish (played to the same extreme as Joel Grey dancing with the Jewish guerrilla in "Cabaret"). In her other films Swain's acting technique is to overwhelm each scene in which she appears (insert scenery chewing here) but in "Tart" she actually shows an ability to restrain herself. This is the best performance of her career. It also provides some clues about her physical deterioration from willowy super cute in "Girl" to hulking lumpy-faced in "Pumpkin". This transformation was about half-complete by the time she made "Tart"; so go the ravages of time. Mischa Barton ("Sixth Sense's" I feel better girl) and Lacey Chabet are excellent in supporting roles. The rest of the cast is simply horrible, although some of the blame for this should go to Waye's script and direction.

Freedomisanillusion Basic structure of a story: Beginning, Middle, End.Sometimes this structure is played with, and we get Memento or Irreversible and the story plays backwards. Sometimes it's just not linear, a la Pulp Fiction. Regardless, they all have a beginning, middle and end.This is the first film I have ever seen that doesn't have an end.Beginning: Girl's best friend is expelled.Middle: Girl needs to cope without best friend.End: Non existent.Not that having an end would've saved this film, but at least it would have been complete.It's an exercise in apathy; we get a party-mix of characters, and they all turn out to be duds. Boring, vain, vapid and pallid imitations of people.And here's the action within this film: NOTHING HAPPENS. Nothing at all happens. Mischa Barton tries to talk with a plummy English accent, Dominique Swain whines a lot and Brad Renfro receives a blow job from some old guy. End of movie.By the time the credits rolled, I had a horrible feeling that many prisoners must feel: periods of time, those precious minutes of our life, have just been wasted.The only passable point (and that is a very emphatic ONLY) is Brad Renfro. He acts well. Lacey Chabert I tend to like, but no luck here. Due to good work in other films, I will forgive Mischa Barton this travesty, but I hope all cast members were slapped in the face for their involvement.Please, I implore you. Avoid. Don't fool yourself into thinking "I'll make up my own mind". My sister told me to never see this, and I ignored her, wanting to make up my own mind. That was a bad decision.I have never hated a film. There are many I don't like, but I have never hated a film. Until I saw this.

frostedpinkcupcake *SPOILERS (I guess)*Cat Storm (Dominique Swain) is a teenager attending Manhattan's most exclusive prep school in the 1980s. Her best friend, Delilah (Bijou Phillips) is always getting into trouble, and she has a crush on William (Brad Renfro), who is in the school's elite social group, the BPs ("Beautiful People"). When she is finally able to penetrate the BPs and finds herself escorted to a dance by William, Cat will ultimately find herself entangled in a web of clubs, drugs, and deception which will leave her longing for the quiet, unpopular status she once had. Frankly, when I started watching this movie, I was expecting a hell of a lot more drug-taking, sexual things, drinking etc. But no. There is some, just not a lot. This movie reminded me of everything from New Best Friend to Risky Business to American Beauty to Cruel Intentions. At times it wants to be a tearjerker, like the part when Cat and her mom were talking about their feelings to each other. They also had some pretty cool characters, I especially liked how feisty and rebellious Delilah was. I was up really late one night and happened to catch the movie from the beginning. I couldn't believe how Cat was being treated throughout the entire movie. I thought maybe the focus was that she was one of the BP's. I thought she would even go out with that guy for longer than that, after they spent all there time together. But it was kinda obvious after the movie progressed that he was using her, since no one else at school really liked her, because kids judged her on her looks and clumsiness. Tart is a funny movie when you overlook the cruelty that she endeavors. Just her name alone would target kids in the school. I hoped that the sequel would come out and prove that she out grew her old look and is able to be a normal kid, but that isn't in the works yet, is it? Bijou Phillips added the much needed pep to this movie. With the hot Brad Renfro only being there for maybe 15-20 minutes also helps, but the other BP's were dull and plain and boring. It seems that Cat was the leader of the pack, with the fashions and the hair and even the music that they were allowed to listen to. ALL of the BP's had blank slates on their face and Cat drew their emotions! If she wasn't the girl popular with the boys and leader of the BP's, I don't think the movie would have made it. I find it hard to believe that after having strict parents, that you go out and be the "girl that was with all the guys" on the roof!! With no one hearing you!! Unbelievable to me. I didn't see the need of having them all be wild drug-takers and hardcore party goers, if they wanted to see the world and be away from those strict and enforcers of parents, why didn't they just take the car and drive away to where they aren't know and start all over, with no attachments and worries. But the movie has some interesting points that should be discovered on your own. Add a cute supermodel Lacey Chabert (Not Another Teen Movie, Party of Five) who by the way was one of the only characters I liked a little. I also liked Delilah and William and Grace but that's about it. I have nothing really positive to say about the film except that Lacey Chabert looked attractive in the film. I guess I'm the *only* one who *kinda* liked this movie, mainly because the cast had good talent though it was quite short on script and story *sighs*. Mischa Barton, Lacey Chabert, Brad Renfro, Bijou Phillips, Melanie Griffiths and Dominique Swain are practically the only *good* things about this. I'm giving Tart a 6/10 because it's entertaining, has a great cast and performances. And for *real* quality, a 4/10.