Dear Wendy (2005)

Too much of everything

Awesome Movie

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Just another attempt to be shocking in the name of "art" by Lars von Trier. Mr von Trier story has as much relevance to what its like to be a boy trying to navigate the tricky path to manhood in modern America then Kim Wilde did in her 80's pop song kids in America. they both had the same depth. at least Ms. Wilde had a catchy beat. why not stick to what you know. Tell a story about Europe and tons of nudity and the critics will trip over all too many flaccid penis to say how brave and what a genius you are ugh skip this one

Working in English writer Lars von Trier and director Thomas Vinterberg tackle American gun culture in a highly original and deeply disturbing fashion; it's the kind of satire I can't imagine an American film-maker making. It's about a group of young misfits in an American mining town who form a 'pacifist' gun club. The purpose? To love their guns, (Wendy is a pistol), but hate killing. When they allow a young gun-loving criminal into the group you might think things are going to go badly and they do, but not quite in the way you might expect.Young British actor Jamie Bell is excellent as the boy who founds the club and Danso Gordon is outstanding as the young criminal who, at first, challenges his authority but who turns out to be perhaps the most sensible member of this strange gang. Indeed, all the performances are excellent as is Anthony Dod Mantle's cinematography. The film itself came and went with almost no-one seeing it. Do yourself a favor and look this one up.

"Dear Wendy" is a pretentious film about some outcasts who form a secret group that tries to praise gun ownership and pacifism at the same time. While their little club with its pathetic rules and customs seems to improve their lives and empower their characters it is just a matter of time until things start to go wrong. The film probably also tries to pick up the controversial theme of gun ownership in America particularly.I liked the premise of "Dear Wendy". I think it could have made a good serious drama about "losers" who search and find their happiness and satisfaction in an "intimate relationship" with guns and by sharing their obsession with equals and coming over their social disorders. After a while they would lose themselves in their obsession and also lose their track of reality somehow resolving in an dark and sad climax. But ... we sadly don't get that in the movie. It chose to go a different way, a way I did not like or believe.The main characters are Dick Dandelion (played by Jamie Bell), Stevie, Susan, Huey and Freddie. What they have in common is that all of them are outsiders and socially unaccepted though we don't get much information about the 'why?'. After Dick gets his hands on a gun of which he thinks its a toy, he kind of feels more attached to it and more secure when carrying it around. When his workmate Stevie discovers it and figures out that it is a real gun, it is revealed that he himself has a fetish for weapons. Sharing this interest makes them friends and empowers them and strengthens their self consciousness. Soon they start to recruit other members who might need help in the same way. When the local police detective Krugsby (Bill Pullman) shows up the story gets more and more weird. Thinking Dick was a good guy he really wants him to be the parole officer for Sebastian who (accidentally as he says) shot someone and wants to avoid prison that way. This is stupid and from here on stupidity increases. Sebastian brings distortion into the harmony of the group. Everyone seems to like him except Dick who is envious. But the tension is minor and soon forgotten by the group and by us in the audience. When preparing a (ridiculous) plan to do something good for someone else and simultaneously regain the harmony within the group we finally come to the point where something had to go wrong but the way this happens in neither dramatic nor believable.The film has a rather comical approach and stylized look to it. I think too much of entertainment doesn't serve the themes at all here and the film goes way over the top and makes the characters feel hardly authentic but more like comic figures. That makes the whole move feel artificial. Some/most of the dialogue is pathetic and silly. While there were a handful of laughs in there it were all stand-alone jokes surrounded by emptiness. Most of the time though they try to be funny and don't succeed ... and if that is the case, you tend to become preposterous and lose credibility and therefore the film can only be regarded as a commercial popcorn-entertainment flick that is not really entertaining anyway. I was trying hard to accept the tone but when the plots starts to kick silliness to the next level half way through I was out! That includes the events as well as the behaviour of the characters within it.Furthermore we don't get any insight on the effect the weapons really have and how they are empowered by them and how that affects their lives because we never get shown that. We only see them in their hideout. The film simply doesn't show us anything besides the characters of the outcasts. The town seems to be empty. Pullman's character is not really in the movie at all.The way the plot develops is dumb, the way the characters of Sebastian and another one (that I haven't mentioned in the plot summary so I wont do now) are introduced is laughable.The ending doesn't make any sense to me and if the movie tries to say something at all, it is the wrong thing, it hits the wrong tone, its just all wrong. They don't achieve something with their behaviour and they possibly never changed and still are losers. Maybe thats the thing we should learn... that guns don't make you happy or whatever ...Well, I think I have said enough and I think this film is silly.I can't recommend "Dear Wendy" on any basis.

Picture ThisA Nameless, Timeless Town. A Boy Who is Fully Aware of the Lack Of Meaning in His Life, and of Those Around Him. A Twist of Fate Ensures Out Pacafist Protagonist, Dick Dandelion Comes Across A Gun.He Will Later Name It, Wendy. Wendy Will Later Become His Best Friend, His One Love.Pacafists With Guns? What An Idea!After failing to inspire with "It's All About Love" alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Danish Director Thomas Vinterberg took a risk on "Dear Wendy", Co-Written along side Mogens Rukov, but as the old saying goes, "He Who Dares, Wins!", and the Dane certainly triumphed with this movie.This movie contains a strong political message, along side a "what if?" premise, and Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, King Kong) delivers a performance that betters Billy Elliot by a long shot, and he is going from strength to strength to ensue his acting career to the very top with his bags of potential. Along side Jamie Bell, Bill Pullman and Danso Gordon add to the small, yet hugely efficient cast to create a spectacular picture.This is not a movie that I can talk too much about, there's either too much, or to little I cant really decide, however I can direct you towards watching it - it will certainly not disappoint.I am a 16 year old from England and I can really say that not only I, but those who have watched this film all say how much they can relate to the plot, characters and theme.Stop reading Watch it