Title: Hesher
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Spencer Susser
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rainn Wilson, Natalie Portman
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins

What It Is? Young TJ Forney (Devin Brochu) is distraught over the loss of his mother, as is his anti-depressant dependent father Paul (Wilson). This new lack of an authoritative figure has left a void in TJ. One evening while vandalizing an unfinished house he crosses paths with a drifter named Hesher whose only joys lay in things like Porn, Metal music, and Pyromania. Hesher has decided his next course of action is to stay with TJ, since it’s his fault he had to flee the aforementioned abandoned home. One day the consistently bullied TJ is met by his aggressor at a local grocery store parking lot. It is here he is saved by a Nicole who works there. TJ is smitten with his heroin, and now Hesher is going to try to help him to get with her.

What We Think? While there are some moments in this film that are truly funny, for the most part it’s actually quite depressing. None of the characters are one’s you feel any ounce of sympathy for. In fact it’s quite the opposite you sorta hope Hesher takes a shotgun to them all and then kills himself. And while normally Portman and her characterizations are enthralling 3 dimensional people her Nicole just felt forced, and basically everything her Nina Sayers wasn’t. JGL makes Hesher a real person even with his nihilistic glee, penchant for felony arson, and chain smoking bravado. Where the film truly suffers is the direction,or lack thereof the script takes young TJ.

Our Grade: C-, Struggles in character development, tangible story structure arc, and acting, but is overall it does things that are for what it’s worth risky. JGL takes Hesher and runs with him, while Rain Wilson shows that perhaps he can maybe, just maybe pull a dramatic role. Portman, and young Brochu are flat and bland in their characterization, and perhaps it’s the source material, because Portman is a good actress. Nonethless Hesher was a lesson in how NOT to make your characters likeable, and how much it can hurt a film.

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