Chasing Holden (2001)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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

It's over-dramatic and over-sentimental and has a TV-movie feel to it but... for some reason I like it a bunch still.I read a couple reviews on here by people saying they thought it was a sequel to 'Chasing Amy' by Kevin Smith with Ben Affleck, seriously?Why would you think that?Just for the record it's not, and neither are 'Chasing Liberty' or 'Chasing Papi' or any other movie with chasing in the title.Anyway back to the movie, it stars DJ Qualls and Rachel Blanchard who previously starred together in 'Road Trip (2000)' but this movie is as far from 'Road Trip' as you can get... (Even though technically there is a road trip in this movie as well, but that's beyond the point.)The feel of the movie is dark and gloomy and there is a true sense of loneliness and frustration throughout the movie, so yeah don't expect DJ Qualls to make you laugh in this one.'Chasing Holden' is a reference to the character Holden Caufield from JD Salinger's book 'Catcher In The Rye' which is one of the few books I've actually read (not much of a book-reader) and I think it helps if you have read that book because DJ Qualls character is absolutely obsessed with that book.It's not a movie that everyone will enjoy, a lot of people will find it too depressing but those that do like it I believe will like it a lot, no promises though, it helps if you like DJ Qualls.

This film is a compelling and emotional journey. After reading some of the exceptionally bad reviews I almost didn't watch it but I'm glad I did. The characters are very real, the story is touching, and there was never a moment of boredom. This is a classic movie, and although not a movie I would deem to be sensational, it is very much still worth watching. I have never read Catcher In The Rye but this movie has inspired me to do so. The only problems that I could perceive with this film were that it occasionally has disjointed editing (continuity is slightly below par) and in a few instances the dialogue was underdeveloped but anybody that has given this movie negative criticism overall is probably extremely unintelligent. This movie is certainly worth watching, and anybody that disagrees probably has no heart.

I loved this show, mainly because I relate to the main character, he's a bit nuts, and just the way he goes through this torment and struggle with every day life and how the little tiny things that normally a person wouldn't care about bother him to death. I love how even though it's loosely based on catcher in the rye, that the main character actually does have a ton in common with Holden Caufield and how many things from the book are similar in the movie. I also recommend reading Catcher in the Rye if you even liked the movie at all. I do have to say that the movie was really slow going, but had it's really good moments. I love movies about crazy people like this one, and others like "Falling Down," or "Bringing Out The Dead," They need to make more movies like that.

Spoiler This movie might have been halfway decent if every single scene and character weren't so cliched. First off, how many times have we seen the, 'rebellious teen with animosity towards his rich - too busy for his son - father'? Too many if you ask me. As the story proceeds, Neil runs off in search of the author JD Salinger (he feels a 'connection' to his character, Holden Caulfield) with the girl he's sweet on, TJ. They both encounter disastrous situations and in the end he realizes he was really finding himself and now he knows he loves TJ, who is clinically ill and dies in the end.Whoa, sounds so entertaining and original right? How about... NO? NOTHING about this movie was something I hadn't seen before 101 million times. It seems more like a made for TV movie, and it SHOULD have been. They could have kept that money they wasted distributing this in their pockets. The acting wasn't THAT bad, and everyone seemed well cast - except the main character. It's difficult to believe that this scrawny little dude could be such a badass troublemaker. I kept thinking of Road Trip and wondered how anyone could cast him as a 'tough guy'... I mean, COME ON, he even LOOKS like a nerd. He tried though.Anyway, this isn't the worst film I've ever seen, but I felt I just wasted my time with it. Oh well, I suppose it was better than watching paid programs for salad shooter. 3/10