Reviews of movies I've only seen parts of: "American History X"

American History X (1998)

American History X was on TV this afternoon and since nothing else was on I watched for a while, beginning during a whites vs. blacks basketball game and stopping at Edward Norton's arrest (plus I missed a few scenes while I was flipping around).

I'll be honest- many people recommended this movie to me over the years but I avoided it, and not because of Ed, or even because it's a "movie with a message" (which is, I guess: racism is wrong).

No, I stayed away all these years because one time I overheard some people at work talking about "the curbing". I heard a guy say that at one point in the movie a character is made to lay in the road and put his open mouth over the edge of a curb and he then gets stomped in the head. I love horror movies and action movies and I consider myself to be pretty tough. But this sounds like the most horrible thing in the world. I decided that day to never watch American History X.

I still don't know if that really happens in the movie, and if it's as extreme as he described it-I was out of the room making waffles and when I came back there was a guy laying in the street and Ed Norton was surrendering to the police.

Again, I have to say, I was unimpressed by Edward Norton's acting. He's never the guy, he's never the character, he's always the greatest actor of his generation giving yet another fearless performance.

You know who was good though: the other Edward (but have you seen pictures of him lately? Gigantic. Not as big as Corey Haim with his headband on VH1's 100 Greatest Teen Idols, but close). He's very believable as the adoring younger brother.

Plus I couldn't get over how young Beverly D'Angelo looks. I think she's beautiful and I've loved her ever since the Vacation movies.

You know who was awful in this movie? What's-her-name with the weird name and the creepy eyes. Can't stand her.

Anyway, this is a movie with a message, with an overly dramatic title, and the music (like during the basketball scene) is ridiculous. Would I watch this movie all the way through? Yeah, I guess. I can probably even watch the curbing scene; it can't be any more upsetting than what I've been imagining all this time. I already know how it ends but that's fine; I've only seen the last 10 minutes of The Usual Suspects (which, I take it, is a surprise twist) and I'll watch that someday.