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The Rage in Placid Lake

The Rage in Placid Lake (2003)

May. 17,2003
|
6.9
|
NR
| Comedy

Placid Lake has always been different. As an odd fish in a sea of mediocrity, his brilliant ideas are bound to get him into more trouble than success. So when he finds himself flying off the school roof and breaking every bone in his body on graduation night, Placid decides to make a bid for the elusive normal life. To his parents' horror, he gets a normal job.

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Alicia
2003/05/17

I love this movie so much

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Noutions
2003/05/18

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

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Odelecol
2003/05/19

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

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Billy Ollie
2003/05/20

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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Chad Shiira
2003/05/21

Aussie singer-songwriter Ben Lee makes an auspicious acting debut in Tony McNamara's "The Rage in Placid Lake", a satirical comedy-drama that could easily be construed as Australia's answer to "Ferris Bueller's Day-Off", or "Say Anything". Placid(Lee) has a benevolent anti-authoritarian streak that's akin to Bueller's, and his partner-in-crime, Gemma(Rose Byrne), is beautiful and brainy like Diana Court in the Cameron Crowe-directed classic(incidentally, Lee is engaged to Ione Skye), who hides her obvious feminine wiles behind a pair of unflattering black, horn-rimmed glasses.In the opening scene, "The Rage in Placid Lake" establishes the pair as outsiders, people who won't join the party; quite literally, since both Placid and Gemma would rather watch television in an adjoining room than drink and be merry like the other high school graduate revelers. Their friendship is put to the test when Placid undergoes a metamorphosis while immobilized in a full-body cast. His newfound conformity with social norms(get a job) compels Gemma to make a life-affirming decision(have sex) as a way of keeping pace with her best, and perhaps, only friend. By the film's end, the pair of fringe-dwellers are happily headed towards a different sort of symbiotic relationship."The Rage in Placid Lake" has a lot to say about being raised by hippies. It sucks. Unlike Tim Hunter's "River's Edge", in which a sour former-flower child asks her son(Keanu Reeves) if he stole her weed, Placid's parents are lovable potheads; just a pair of eccentric free-spirits who'd encourage their only child to wear a dress to school. This grave parental miscalculation of judgment undoubtedly is the genesis of Placid's rage. Nobody cries in "The Rage in Placid Lake"; it's not that kind of movie, instead the filmmaker utilizes quirkiness instead of overripe melodrama. Placid is a very unhappy, young man. In an earlier scene, rather than shoot a gun, he shoots film, as a weapon against his parents Doug(Garry MacDonald) and Sylvia(Miranda Richardson), and the students and faculty at his prep school."The Rage in Placid Lake" should have received a wider release in the States because this Australian import is a deceptively slack, but effective(albeit roundabout)satire about school shootings and their alienated trigger-men. It has none of the sanctimony that plagued the well-meaning, but ultimately didactic domestic indie "American Gun". "The Rage in Placid Lake gives its audience room to breathe; the movie's oblique treatment of this international epidemic never overstates itself with pontificating speeches, or authorial gestures. This somewhat meandering, low-wattage dramedy is a "what if?" movie. What if the shooter survived and turned his life around?

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kcdl
2003/05/22

I really enjoyed this movie. I won't lie to you though it isn't uber-brilliant, deep or ultra-funny. It is the sort movie you watch late at night when your expectations are low. If you're looking for a movie that doesn't make you think too much this is it.That being said I did find it funny, if somewhat puerile at times. I could relate to the main protagonist. The story moved along at a good pace and didn't get bogged down. I really wanted to see how it would end up.I like that it didn't suffer from the usually Australian movie problem of "lets show you how uniquely Australian we can make this film" it just let itself be. It showed a side of Australia that wasn't purely rural or suburban.Also Rose Byrne is absolutely gorgeous. I think I want to marry her!

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haylz
2003/05/23

before i start, i'm just for warning you all that i am one of Ben lee's biggest fans, and so in a way, am pretty biased. but by the same token, this movie is amazing. it had everything that doomed it to fail - a first time director, a first time leading actor AND a low budget. but if you didn't know better, you wouldn't have even guessed that after watching it. placid lake is a gem, there's no question there. and a laugh out loud comedy too, with lines like "she must have got hit by a car...women, huh?" when his best friend didn't turn up for a golf match when he was trying to impress his boss. but it isn't the jokes that make it so good, but the thought provoking questions it raises. i won't go into it, because in the end those questions being raised and thought about are individualist.placid lake (played by singer/songwriter Ben lee) is the only child of hippie parents, who make him wear a dress for his first day of school and who let the bullies hurt him for it. yes, they are unconventional parents, but by the end of it, you won't be sitting there thinking "they are horrible people", surprisingly enough. and you also won't be thinking placid lake is the coolest guy ever, either, because put blankly, he isn't. but you get drawn to him and his struggle for normality all the same, and want him to find it, even though it seems hopeless. and while he is struggling to fit in with life after school, you see his science-nut best friend Gemma Taylor (played by Rose Bryne) trying to cope with a life that has been planned out for her since she was tiny.and if these things don't grab you, seeing Placid in a full body cast will.Overall, a great movie, and well recommended for everyone (well, just so long as they are old enough to cope with the strong sexual content).10 stars!

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data3
2003/05/24

I went into this film knowing very little apart from that the main character had an unusual name, and it had Ben Lee and Rose Byrne in it. I came out the other end knowing quite a bit more, and feeling very positive about the whole experience!This is not your typical Australian film, for example, it doesn't resort to having characters with really strong 'Ocker' accents, and not everyone is wearing stubbies and a singlet. It represents, i think, the more real Australia than is normally shown, and it does it so with quirky, original characters. Placid's (Ben Lee) journey in this film is interesting and funny to watch, as we see a young man searching for more stability to his life, while Gemma (Rose Byrne) tries to show him that stability isn't what he needs.All in all, I enjoyed this film immensely and I know that certain scenes will be sticking in my head for a long time yet. Excellent work by newcomer Ben Lee, and the expected great work by Rose Byrne and Garry Mcdonald help this film to stand head and shoulders above a lot of the fare coming out of Australia these days. Top Effort.(Note to those who like useless trivia/details - watch out for Ben's girlfriend Claire Danes' cameo around half way through the film. Blink, and you'll nearly miss it!)

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