State's Evidence (2004)

Boring

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

State's Evidence is a twisted, independent film, with a weird story, and an unbelievable ending. This film moves from one extreme to the other and really threw me for a curve, but the ending is so spectacular that it truly makes the whole movie worth while. Scott Byers (Douglas Smith) plays a young man who has decided to kill himself and if that wasn't bad enough he wants to do it on video for the world to see. Byers tells his friends of his plan and claims that once you know your fate, you are truly free to be yourself and do whatever your heart really desires. Not only does his group of introverted friends buy it hook, line, and sinker, but they ultimately decide to join him. The story eventually takes an ominous turn, when one of his friends darkest desires emerge, putting the whole group at serious risk. This film had a very low budget, so low in fact, that half of the film is shot by the actors themselves, on camcorder. It was a little stranger, but made for some interesting scenes. The cast is made up mostly of young actors who have little to no big screen experience, but you would never know it, because they were terrific. Movies like this can sometimes be a bit unpredictable and the solid performances given by the cast will really have you buying into ever emotion and situation their characters are feeling. Unfortunately, it's not all good news for State's Evidence, because while the beginning was intriguing and the ending was fantastic, the middle of the movie is very slow and seems to drag on, making it a challenge to even make it to the terrific ending. Most of this film chronicles a day in the life of a group of High School rejects and it most definitely has it moments. State's Evidence features a great young cast and an ending that will blow your mind, but parts of it drag on and the film felt a lot longer than it actually was and that's never a good sign.

This is the most irritating movie that I have seen in some time. The thing that makes it such an unremitting piece of crap is its infuriating pseudo-intellectualism. The characters are unbearably pretentious, and the writing is absolutely terrible. The so called intellectuals in this movie apparently know something of philosophy but don't know that they sound like complete dicks, a few Kant references do not make you an intellectual. I have never written a review before but after seeing this movie I had to write something to register my disgust. This is terrible and pretentious with nothing to be pretentious about. It sucks.

Reading some of these comments actually makes me wonder whether I watched the same film. Truly, mind numbingly dreadful to the point of being unwatchable. There were no characters, just the same dull, pretentious monologue spouted by different actors. I actually found my self wondering if the writer had just used cut and past with each of his 'characters'. The film gets off to a bad start with the smug, self serving, badly actored lead wandering round his own house with a camera that immediately makes you wish he would just die in some horrible gruesome fashion, without being forced to endure 2 hours of screen time. The most unbelievable part of this film was the point when the main character talks the school jock/bully round (the school jock's dialoge consisting of what looks like lyrics from a 50 cent people and made me wonder if the author had ever actually met any black people).I'm not prone to violence and that sanctimonious, self indulging scene made me want to beat the crap out of the little twerp but the aggressive, crotch grabbing, stereotypical jock is talked round? I don't think so.Basically when the most likable character in your film is the child murdering rapist you have problems. If I ever meet mark brown I will slap him round the head, I won't get the wasted two hours of my life back, but it will make me feel better

I got to see this movie in the Asheville Film Festival, towards the end of 2004. The description grabbed me, guy takes a camera to school to film his last days leading up to his suicide.... What I witnessed was simply extraordinary.... I personally believe, every parent should be forced to watch this movie, because it breaks down the issues of Child Suicide and the mentality that goes along with it, and what it can cause. Being not too far removed from my teenage years, I understood things like the Columbine Masacre and other such child tragedies. This movie finally brought that into the spotlight, and if you really watched this movie, you will get a glimpse at the mind set. It ends with the perfect political statement. "I hope this wakes you up, because if this doesn't, then something else, far worse will happen that will...." My only regret, a woman got up beside me after the movie was over and said, "Well, now to try to get THAT out of my head." I should have stopped her and said, "No, don't force this from your head, because if you do, you'll be forced to relive it...we all will...." All that said, I'm almost positive that the movie will never be picked up and distributed. It is controversial on a whole nother realm, because it will make everyone see what they themselves turn a blind eye to.... And if there is one thing American's can't stand, is seeing the truth of what is in front of them....