Havoc (film)

Havoc
Havoc film poster
Directed by	Barbara Kopple
Produced by	Jack F. Murphy John Morrissey
Written by	Stephen Gaghan Jessica Kaplan
Starring	Anne Hathaway Bijou Phillips Freddy Rodriguez Michael Biehn Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Studio	Media 8 Entertainment
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	November 29, 2005 (2005-11-29)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$9 million

Havoc is a 2005 American film about the lives of wealthy Los Angeles, California teenagers whose exposure to hip hop culture inspires them to imitate the gangster lifestyle. They run into trouble when they encounter a gang of drug dealers, discovering they are not as street-wise as they had thought.

The script was written by Jessica Kaplan (1979-2003) and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan and the film was directed by Barbara Kopple. After appearances at several film festivals, the film was released directly to DVD on November 29, 2005 without ever receiving a theatrical release in the U.S.

The film stars Anne Hathaway, Bijou Phillips, Shiri Appleby, Freddy Rodriguez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Biehn and Laura San Giacomo.

Plot

Havoc begins in a parking lot in which a teenage filmmaker named Eric (Matt O'Leary) is attempting to document the faux-gangsta lifestyle enjoyed by Allison (Anne Hathaway) and her boyfriend Toby's (Mike Vogel) gang of white upper-class teenagers living in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. During this sequence, a brawl arbitrarily ensues between Toby's gang and another gang, which ends with both sides fleeing just before police arrive. Later that night, Toby's gang goes to a party at Eric's house, and Allison's relationship with Toby as well her other friends Emily (Bijou Phillips) and Sam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is further revealed. At the end of the party, Allison and her boyfriend have sex at the back seat of the car. The scene ends with Allison giving him a blowjob.

The next day, Allison meets with her father (Michael Biehn) at work to discuss family problems, the awkward conversation revealing the virtually non-existent relationship Allison has with her parents. Afterwards, she and her friends drive downtown into East LA, intent on buying marijuana, eventually encountering Mexican drug dealer Hector (Freddy Rodriguez) and his crew. Toby and Hector make a deal, but Toby believes that Hector did not sell him enough for what he paid, and attempts to confront Hector, who pulls a gun on him, humiliating him in front of his friends. Allison persuades Hector to leave Toby alone.

The next night, Allison and her girlfriends return to the location of the drug deal. There, she and her friends once again meet up with Hector and his crew, who invites them to a party at his house. Before they leave, Hector informs Allison of a motel where his crew regularly party, and invites her to stop by if she wishes.

The next day, Eric continues his film project at Allison's home, with Allison turning his interview of her into a bizarre mind-game. That evening, Allison meets up with Hector again in a store, and he shows her around his neighborhood, while talking about his family and lifestyle. His guided tour abruptly ends when the police arrive in force, ostensibly on a drug bust. Allison winds up being arrested with the other present gang members, but – save for an argument with her parents and Toby – is let off the hook. The experience only serves to increase Allison's fascination with the inner-city lifestyle. The night after her release, Allison and Emily agree to head downtown the next evening to hang out with Hector's crew.

The two meet up with Hector and his gang at a motel, and a night of partying and drinking results in Allison and Emily asking Hector if they can join his crew. Hector informs them of their initiation; to join the gang, the two must roll a die; the number they roll corresponds to the number of gang members they must have sex with. Allison rolls a one, Emily rolls a three. Hector and Allison pair off and get into bed, but Allison has second thoughts and pushes him away saying that she "can't stand it". He forcefully pushes her back down, but lets her go. Allison tries to get Emily to leave with her, but Emily is determined to follow through with the initiation. The gang, annoyed by Allison's protests, kick her out of the room where she sits, waiting. Hector undresses himself, then Emily, who eagerly engages in sex with him while a few crew members look on. After a short while, Hector motions behind Emily's back for the watching crew members to join in. Allison, still waiting outside, hears a scream from inside the room and rushes in to find Emily crying out in pain with two guys on top of her forcing double penetration. Emily screams for them to stop and the guys storm out of the room, Hector cursing at them furiously in Spanish. The two girls leave the motel, distraught over what just occurred.

The next day after school, Allison returns to the motel and confronts Hector over what had happened the previous night. Hector responds by saying he didn't do anything wrong, that he only did what they asked him to do. At that moment a woman (presumably Hector's girlfriend or wife) shows up at the door. Allison is struck speechless for a moment. Hector, seeing her surprise, mocks Allison for thinking "he was in love with her or something", calling her a poser who only knows how to play games and nothing about the realities of gang life. The same day, Emily is shown at a police station, accusing Hector and his crew of gang rape. Allison is brought in for questioning, but claims to know nothing about a rape.

Hector is subsequently arrested, and members of his crew vow to seek out and silence Allison and Emily, but wind up getting lost in Bel-Air. Meanwhile, Toby and his gang are shown posing with guns in front of Eric and his video camera, making clear their intent on seeking revenge on Hector's crew. Eric later shows Allison the footage, and Allison subsequently calls Toby and makes an ill-fated attempt to convince him that there was no rape and what he is doing is foolish.

Allison then heads to Emily's house and reveals to Emily what Toby plans to do, and reveals to Emily's parents the truth about what happened at the motel. Allison's revelation of the truth to Emily's parents initially upsets Emily to the point of nearly attempting suicide, but eventually the two reconcile. Meanwhile, Toby and his gang arrive at Hector's motel and bust in violently, but only succeed in frightening a group of Latino women and a baby. Toby tries to work up the nerve to shoot them, but, consumed by their desperate pleads to not hurt the baby, realizes he can't and storms out. On their drive home, the gang passes the SUV containing the members of Hector's crew that had been looking for Allison and Emily. The two gangs exchange looks, and the screen subsequently fades to black; for a few seconds the audience can only hear the sounds of tires squealing, people shouting and gunfire.

In the final scene of the movie, Eric wraps up the film project with Allison saying that teens will be teens, but if adults are willing to reach out to them to connect and give them even just a small amount of insight, it's like they suddenly know everything.

Cast

• Anne Hathaway as Allison Lang
• Bijou Phillips as Emily
• Shiri Appleby as Amanda
• Michael Biehn as Stuart Lang
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Sam
• Matt O'Leary as Eric
• Freddy Rodriguez as Hector
• Laura San Giacomo as Joanna Lang
• Mike Vogel as Toby
• Raymond Cruz as Chino
• Alexis Dziena as Sasha
• Channing Tatum as Nick
• Jose L. Vasquez as Manuel
• Luis Robledo as Ace
• Sam Hennings as Mr. Rubin
• Cecilia Peck as Mrs. Rubin
• Josh Peck as Josh Rubin

Production

The original treatment of the script was written in 1993 by Jessica Kaplan, who was 14 years old at the time, and was based on her own observations of her affluent white classmates in West Los Angeles. Her script was sold to New Line Cinema two years later for $150,000. Originally titled "The Powers That Be," the script went unused for seven years, eventually gaining traction with the studio after it received a re-write as well as a new title from Stephen Gaghan. On June 6, 2003, shortly before filming began, Kaplan was killed in a plane crash in Los Angeles, along with four other people, including her uncle. A dedication to Kaplan is shown preceding the credits at the end of the film.

Mandy Moore was originally cast as Allison, but dropped out and was replaced by her Princess Diaries co-star Anne Hathaway shortly before filming began. Moore reportedly left the project because she decided that she felt too uncomfortable with the subject matter of the film. Jena Malone, Moore's co-star from Saved!, was originally set to play Emily, but she left the project shortly after Moore's departure from the film.

Filming took place around Southern California, including Los Angeles, Altadena, Brentwood and Santa Monica, in the fall of 2003.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics, and has earned a 40% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 11 collected reviews. Mr. Skin has called the sex scene with Anne Hathaway and Bijou Phillips the 10th greatest nude scene of all time.

Lisa Nesselson of Variety claimed that the movie "too often feels like a gussied-up '50s-style treatise about the dangers of nice girls flirting with social rebels," and suggested that the film be re-titled "Slumming for Dummies." Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide stated that the movie was a minor effort that was even more disappointing after considering the highly-regarded names that had worked on the film, most notably former Academy Award winners Kopple and Gaghan. Scott Weinberg of DVD Clinic was also critical of the film, claiming that it was "just another one of those 'lock up your daughters' cautionary tales that shoots for gritty 'street' reality and ends up eliciting chuckles from its intended audience." Weinberg compared the film unfavorably to Catherine Hardwicke's 2003 film Thirteen and Bret Easton Ellis' 1985 novel Less Than Zero, stating that there was "nothing (in Havoc) that you haven't seen before. And better." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times was among the few noted critics that praised the film, calling it "harrowing and authentic," and also claimed that it might have made his list of top 10 films for 2005 had it received a proper theatrical release in the U.S.

Various critics both praised and criticized Hathaway's performance in the film. Some critics such as Christopher Null claimed that Hathaway's performance proved "without a doubt that she has been underutilized as an actress for far too long," while others such as David Quinlan claimed that Hathaway was both miscast and completely unbelievable in the film.

Ratings

The film was banned in Malaysia; it received an R21 in Singapore (with an edited version receiving an M18), an M/16 in Portugal, a 16 in Germany, a VM18 in Italy, a thirteen in Argentina, a 16 in Iceland, an MA15+ in Australia, a K-15 in Finland, and an 18 in Peru.

See also

Normal Adolescent Behavior — an unrelated 2007 film — was released on Region 1 DVD under the title Normal Adolescent Behavior: Havoc 2.

External links

• Havoc at the Internet Movie Database
• Havoc at AllRovi
• Havoc at Rotten Tomatoes
• Havoc at Cabin Creek Films