Hick 2011: Movie Review

Hick.

Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Blake Lively, Eddie Redmayne
Writer: Andrea Portes (Based on her book)
Director: Derick Martini

*and a 1/2 *'s out of four.


We all know that trailers are sometimes misleading.  In some cases the best moments in those ads do not show up in the actual movie.  Still those trailers keep you connected with the film because they help set the tone of the story. When you watch a trailer for a "Fast & Furious" movie. You know that you are going to get a feature with a lot of cool cars and hot women.  When you watch an ad about a movie based on a Nicholas Sparks Novel. I'm betting you will see two people who don't get along at first but will end up together at the end.  When I watched the trailer for "Hick" it looked like was about a young girl who goes cross country and scams people to get where she wants.  I was expecting something trashy and somewhat disturbing based on the age of the main character.  However that's not really what the end result was, but lets take a quick look at the trailer below.





Now as you can see, it kind of looks like this character is using her jail bait like stature to lead on perverts and then scam them.  Hell it even looks like she's scamming on women too.  Instead the story follows Luli(Chloe Grace Moretz) who decides one day that she's had enough with her drunk parents and decides to runaway. Not leaving with much except for the gun she got on her birthday.  Luli sets forth on a quest for a better life.  She meets a few people on the way like Eddie(Eddie Redmayne).  A cowboy with a limp and a bad mean streak. They get into a fight and she meets up with Glenda (Blake Lively) who is a cocaine addicted hustler.  It was at this moment I thought the story would just be about them scamming people or at least.  Luli tagging along until something better came along then having her back stab Glenda.   None of that happens, in fact the only person she scams is an old guy at a store when she pretends to have a seizure.  The one person she should be scamming is Eddie but instead she becomes friends with him.  Either that or she's scared of him.  I really couldn't say for sure, maybe it was both.  You would think that after she's seen his violent outbursts against inanimate objects and people.  She would be looking for a way out from the very start, but she doesn't and things just gets worse for her.


This was the first leading role I saw Miss Moretz in and she shows some potential.  She was quite believable and while I may have issues with the character herself.  I thought that she was still good in it.  Blake Lively sort of surprised me with her role as Glenda.  I actually liked this character the most and wished she was in this more.  Seeing Eddie Redmayne as a violent sadistic thug was different but it wasn't fascinating.

I don't mind when movies that surprise me after I watch the trailer but this one did not stay consistent with it's tone.  I don't blame that on the filmmakers but on the marketing team itself. Although that one section about Luli's kid brother could have been removed from the script.  Just because something works good in a book doesn't mean it will work well in a movie.Also If narration is going to be used it should stay pretty consistent throughout and not just when it's convenient.  If those ad people would have actually watched the film.  They would have seen that what they are advertising up on the screen has nothing to do with the actual project. I wouldn't  mind them selling this as a con like movie if that actually happened, but it doesn't. I would have loved to see this be more about a girl who has a horrible life with two drunk parents.  She decides one day to runaway towards something better.  Along her journey she meets up with two people she thinks are better role models but she finds out that's not the case.  Something like that.  Oh and don't use quotes from critics that are even more misleading then the actual trailer itself.  I laughed out loud when I saw the one that said this was "Kill Bill meets Kick Ass meets Lolita".