Hesher (2011)

A young boy (Devin Brochu) is having difficulty in coming to terms with the death of his mother. His father (Rainn Wilson) has retreated into prescription drugs and his grandmother (Piper Laurie) is addled and not quite all there. Into his life comes a mean spirited slacker (Joseph Gordon Levitt) who, without being asked, invades the family's home and takes over. To call this movie hideous and one of the worst films I've ever had to sit through is an understatement. It's a mass of cliches, indifferently acted and one can imagine director Spencer Susser rubbing his hands behind the camera and saying, "Man, this is going to be such a cool movie!". Well, I suppose it is cool to potheads who preface every statement with "dude" but I suspect the rest of the universe won't be so congenial. Levitt is meant to be a non conformist rebel who rails against society but he only comes across as an annoying pain in the ass. Susser wants his cake and eat it too and in the end Levitt's Hesher, despite his counter culture credentials, spouts the usual cliches as if they were pearls of wisdom. Truly a godawful film, Susser may as well have pissed on his audience, at least it would have been honest. With Natalie Portman putting another nail into the coffin of her career and John Carroll Lynch. Yuck!