Kaboom

Described as trippy, entertaining, and very funny, "Kaboom" is actually just a very stylized version of the college-aged sexual exploration. It gets interesting when it mixes sex with a thriller plot, but colour-coating over-sexed college students doesn't make them anymore profound. Every shot has a colour filter to make sure that every scene is either blue, or pink, or yellow. Multi-coloured lights blur out definition in the scenery, and background sets are either in soft focus, or all black, or bright white. It's a useful technique for low budget films to not even show a question of money, but it also removes the film from reality. We follow Smith (Thomas Dekker) as he tries to define his current state of sexuality. According to him, he is not straight, not homosexual, nor bisexual. He likes men, particularly his blonde-haired, surfer roommate Thor, but he sleeps with women, mostly just one woman, London, but then also a couple of various men. We also move in and out of reality and into his dream world with Smith. He has a bit of a hard time deciphering what is real and what is a dream, and we have a significantly harder time differentiating the two. In either the dream world or the real world, a thriller plot develops involving unknown men chasing Smith, a mysterious red-haired girl, and a possible dead body. Unravelling this mystery seemed like it was going to be quite interesting, but then the film just took us back to the sexual misadventures of Smith and his friends. By the time we delve back into the mystery, the line between dreams and reality have blurred even farther, and instead of liking or caring about the characters, we have grown tired of their over-intellectualizing prattle, self-obsessed demeanor, and their constant bed-hopping. We never grow attached to them, we just form a sort of curiosity to see if they will ever become relatable. "Kaboom" is a modern, stylized sex ed thriller. The dialogue is even realistic because know-it-all college hippies really do talk like that. But do you want to hear college students philosophize their way out of doing assignments and into doing everybody they meet? I didn't think so.

KABOOM is a comical science-fiction story about a group of college students, each experiencing a unique sexual odyssey. Laced with undertones of horror. The title is catchy, but if KABOOM were renamed to describe what the viewer should expect, it may go something like… "Donnie Darko Goes to White Castle While Horny and Tripping on Acid Made by David Lynch." Thomas Dekker (HEROES, 7TH HEAVEN) plays Smith, a sexually confused young man and the central character around which the rest of the crazy, hormonal universe of KABOOM revolves. Haley Bennett (THE HOLE, MARLEY & ME) plays Stella, Smith's lesbian best friend and lover to Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida), a strange, exotic woman with mystical sexual powers. Juno Temple (THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL, ATONEMENT) plays London, a promiscuous pleasure guru who befriends Smith. Smith is haunted by visions of a troubled red-haired girl (Nicole LaLiberte, DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS) and violent men in animal masks. KABOOM is a bizarre journey full of plot twists and shocking jolts of abstraction. Araki has employed a nearly over-saturated color palette and stark contrast in lighting to pack punch into the heavy, uncomfortable scenes, while keeping the lighter moments resembling an R-rated TV sitcom version of THE BREAKFAST CLUB. Araki's dialogue is sharp and witty, at times nearly too much so. His stock of supporting and bit characters span an array of modern stereotypes, but the humor works well enough to summon laughter, even during the less original moments. While the first third of KABOOM skates by mostly on raunchy humor, sex and nudity, the remainder of the film will have many scratching their heads and others applauding it as a pseudo-psychedelic work of modern art.

This chronicles the life of college student Smith (Thomas Dekker). He's bisexual, is about to turn 19 and is having these trippy strange dreams which seem to work their way into his life. There's gay sex, lesbian sex, witchcraft, men in animal masks, murder and some secret organization. During the last 30 minutes the movie manages to pull everything together and throw a science-fiction angle in it! It sounds strange and it is...but I couldn't stop watching. I should admit I'm a fan of director Gregg Araki. He's not afraid to take chances and push buttons and doesn't tone things done for an R rating (this was unrated). It was also his first film shot in wide screen and the colors and cinematography are bright and vivid. Also he doesn't tone down the gay sex like most Hollywood movies do. There's plenty of hunky guys kissing other guys, simulated sex and male nudity. The acting varies but Dekker is great in the main role. He has a pretty tricky role but pulls it off. If you're looking for something different with plenty of sex this is it. I think this is a rare movie that would grow with repeated viewings. I'm definitely getting the DVD of this!

I have not been a big fan of Gregg Araki's films in the past but "Kaboom" is easily my favorite and it is his funniest. Obviously this is not a film for everyone. It is kind of a cross between "Scott Pilgrim versus the World" and "Donnie Darko" but "Kaboom" places more emphasis on comedy than narrative. From reading the other reviews on IMDb, a lot of people did not get the jokes. I was laughing throughout the entire movie. If you are offended by sexual content, this movie is not for you. This is one of the best ensemble casts I've seen in a while. Most of them are new to me. I predict Juno Temple is on her way to becoming a star. While "Kaboom" is definitely not for everyone, if you are willing to take a chance on an end-of-the-world sex comedy, you should give it a try.

It's a rare thing for me to walk out on a movie. But, about three quarters of the way through I made an exception for this one. Kaboom definitely qualifies as one of the worst films of all time. It opens with our "hero" masturbating in his dorm room, and goes downhill from there. The movie takes place on a photo shopped college campus with nice buildings and no students. The blasts of psychedelic color is supposed to make it all quite hip, but it really adds very little. The dialog, such as it is, is vapid. The only character who comes alive is Smith's lesbian BFF. She's fun. And about the only one you really care about. The viewer might actually get caught up with her involvement with the lesbian witch who doubles as a dominatrix. As for Smith and the rest, like who cares.

Gregg Araki's breakthrough film, 1992's THE LIVING END, was a gay THELMA & LOUISE in the age of AIDS, very cutting edge, and I thought he'd go much further than he did but, then again, big things were also predicted for John Dahl (RED ROCK WEST, THE LAST SEDUCTION) at the time. Oh, well. Anyway, Araki's been on the indie scene ever since and KABOOM takes his "apocalyptic teen angst" series (TOTALLY F***ED UP, THE DOOM GENERATION, NOWHERE, MYSTERIOUS SKIN) on a psychedelic roller coaster ride to a trippy -and inevitable- eve of destruction. It's a stylish (with vivid colors you can eat with a spoon), funny, sexy, college-set CLUELESS-on-acid that morphs into a cross between Sergio Martino's ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK and THE WIZARD OF OZ after a horny, existentialistic film student begins to realize he may be at the center of a global conspiracy with cataclysmic consequences. Fairly indescribable, free-wheeling sci-fi fun that'll leave you with a WTF? feeling. I liked it.

I just saw the last 20-some minutes of this crapfest and that was plenty! I have no clue how this could possibly have a 6/10 rating. Be real, people. A 2/10 would really be pushing it. Just bad in every way: the acting, the story, the dialogue, the production, the film. It looked like some Made-For-Cable or Direct-to-Video joke. Like a Fred Olen Ray "film" or something. No wonder it was on Showtime 2 at 4am, and I've never heard of it anywhere else. After reading the other reviews here it sounds even worse than I can imagine. I'm so glad I missed all that other garbage in it, and know to avoid this film for this rest of my life.

Gregg Araki continues his daring sojourn into the arena that other filmmakers avoid - frank sexual adventures of every kind, characters whose placement in the story is often like window dressing for effect, and yet out of it all comes a fascinating if at time discombobulating tale that appeals to a certain audience - and doesn't mind if the rest of the folks who don't approve of his antics even attend! The film follows the life of one Smith (Thomas Dekker) and his everyday life in the dorm - hanging out with his arty, sarcastic best friend Stella (Haley Bennett), hooking up with a beautiful free spirit named London (Juno Temple), lusting for his gorgeous but dim surfer roommate Thor (Chris Zylka). Smith parties, sleeps around with both men (Jason Olive, Andy Fischer-Price) and women in various combinations. He's bisexual, is about to turn 19 and is having strange dreams which seem to work their way into his life. There's gay sex, lesbian sex, witchcraft, men in animal masks, murder and some secret organization - it all gets turned upside-down after one fateful, terrifying night when all the signs of Smith's dreams seem to come together in a apocalyptic fusion that involves Smith's father (Michael James Spall), Smith's hedonistic mother (Kelly Lynch), and visits from the Messiah! It is a sci-fi story centered on the sexual awakening of a group of college students. Dekker somehow carries this film due to his skills as an actor but also his complete involvement in what is obviously Araki's secondary persona. It is a crazy film, rich in color, at many times ludicrous, and at other times very sexy - you know, the way Gregg Araki continues to make these solid little art house movies. It would be silly to fault KABOOM for being shallow or unserious; its whole mode of being is profoundly antiserious, playfully assaulting any form of earnestness other than Smith's emo melancholy. Grady Harp

That's how 'Kaboom' is billed on the DVD. I watched it, premiered on Film 4 last night. Initially I rather liked it, the striking design, the casual attitudes to almost everything and the dialogue. Especially the catty one-liners. I'm not familiar with this director and on the strength of this one movie, I'm not in a particular hurry to explore further, however. I realise that it's intended to be a surreal cult film and where it falls to pieces is where it starts to mess with your head, as it's just non-sensical and frankly, silly. I also realise that I'm not in the probable intended audience, age-wise. People running around in pig- headed masks just don't grab me, I'm afraid. The liberal, mixed sex scenes were both interesting and fun and the attitude that good sex is just that, refreshing. Most of the young cast play their parts well, especially Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett and Juno Temple. I did watch it all and there were many good points and I enjoyed much of it, but ultimately, it's just too way out there.

This is the second Gregg Araki film that I've tried to watch, and I hated it even more than the first (Doom Generation). For his fans, I'm sure this is going to be a positive experience, but I think that I will never, ever be a Gregg Araki fan. Most of this film is pointless sex scenes, sarcastic dialogue that desperately wants to be witty (and ends up trying way too hard), lecturing the audience, and gleefully indulging in independent film clichés. Perhaps the absolute worst part is the absolute pandering he does to disaffected teenagers. It's time for Araki to get a new schtick. I didn't like his style the first time I came into contact with it, and I figured maybe it was time to give him another chance. It's been 15 years since The Doom Generation, and he's still going on about the same crap. It makes me happy that I skipped everything between them.