Featured Audience Ratings

• Emil K

  
  Mixed bag from two of Denmark's most talented and brightest voices in cinema meets with uneven results. Director here is great Thomas Vinterberg and screeplay is written by genius Lars von Trier. Dear Wendy is a effective statement which does has momens of great drama and… More
  Mixed bag from two of Denmark's most talented and brightest voices in cinema meets with uneven results. Director here is great Thomas Vinterberg and screeplay is written by genius Lars von Trier. Dear Wendy is a effective statement which does has momens of great drama and suspense in it. Still it somehow does feel a bit too preachy with it's anti-guns message and that banal decision to use animated effects in here is not also the wisest in my opinion. It just feels like an unncecessary trick. This is one of those films which begin slowly and then suddenly explode into a powerful cinema in it's last third. This story about young dandies who worship guns secretly but are sort of pacifists in the meantime is actually quite heartbreaking in the end. It is a story of outsiders who find a same language and by accident get into a huge trouble. Nothing prepares the viewer for the cruel ending which this film has except the fact that the film was written by Lars von Trier who is not known for his happy endings. Dear Wendy works more of an curiosity. It feels like an experiment from it's makers and mostly it is a experience worth to sit through.

• Cynthia S

  
  I was expecting a little more. I can't say that I was disappointed, but I thought that there could have been more to the plot. Some of the special effects work well with the movie, and play into its slightly dangerous charms. Something that's worth a look, I just… More
  I was expecting a little more. I can't say that I was disappointed, but I thought that there could have been more to the plot. Some of the special effects work well with the movie, and play into its slightly dangerous charms. Something that's worth a look, I just wouldn't consider this an idie classic.

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Jamie Bell, Michael Angarano, Allison Pill, Bill Pullman, Chris Owen, Mark Webber, Danso Gordon, Novella Nelson DIRECTED BY: Thomas Vinterberg When a young loner named Dick discovers a handgun, he finds himself strangely drawn to it despite his pacifist views. Soon he forms a… More
  Jamie Bell, Michael Angarano, Allison Pill, Bill Pullman, Chris Owen, Mark Webber, Danso Gordon, Novella Nelson DIRECTED BY: Thomas Vinterberg When a young loner named Dick discovers a handgun, he finds himself strangely drawn to it despite his pacifist views. Soon he forms a secret club with other misfits in his town who collect and revere antique guns and call themselves the Dandies. But despite their firm belief in the most important Dandy rule of all - "never draw your weapons" - they eventually discover that some rules are meant to be broken. One of the oddest but yet amusing movies I have seen. It all seems very silly. But it's also so different from any film I have ever seen. I felt like I was watching a Western. Especially in watching the ending. The only thing missing was some tumble weeds blowing by. Most of the acting was good. Love Jamie Bell. Thought Michael Angarano was quite funny and quirky. I loved that they used The Zombies as their soundtrack. Great stuff. This movie is interesting and one of a kind. Should be seen.

• Anthony L

  
  This is not the film I was expecting from Vinterberg and Von Trier but it is as good as I'd hoped! It's visually stunning in places and very cool. Some of the cast let it down but on the whole this is a great film!

• Cassandra M

  
  Apart from a few moments of jarring reality - this whole film seems like one of the brief dream like sequences from some of Lars Von Trier's earlier films. The story is grounded in the mundanity of modern youth, but uses a contrived Western style backdrop to extract it's… More
  Apart from a few moments of jarring reality - this whole film seems like one of the brief dream like sequences from some of Lars Von Trier's earlier films. The story is grounded in the mundanity of modern youth, but uses a contrived Western style backdrop to extract it's rites of passage plot and at times elements of shocking brutality are numbed by the histrionics employed in delivering them. The use of sets and choice to place the story in an old mining community, the Zombies heavy soundtrack and the use of solely modern-looking cars takes the film away from reality slightly placing it in a timeless environment by nature of conflicting periods. Centrally the characters dress and sense of honour as well as there insistence on using old fashioned guns is an interesting study in today's youths obsession with "retro" and also the contradiction of guns and pacifism is reminiscent of modern teenagers left wing crusades conflicting with their obsessive consumerism. The supporting performances are solid, if a little too mannered, but Jamie Bell's protagonist is difficult to place - quite spiteful and too disaffected to consider the fatal consequences of his actions. All in all this is an enjoyable film, with a none to0 subtle nor fresh, but always relevant message at the end that lacks the cold, bleak reality of some of Von Trier's and Vinterberg's earlier work. Still as a starting point for someone looking to get into the work of the aforementioned talents, this is a more accessible and light piece that won't leave you breath taken or thinking to much, but that's definitely worth a relaxed perusal.

• Luke B

  
  One half is a great and intelligent film. It deals with a pacifist gun club, without becoming wacky or bonkers. It plays it straight but the satire is still obvious without being forced upon it's audience. Bell is a superb actor, and the chemistry between him and his gun is… More
  One half is a great and intelligent film. It deals with a pacifist gun club, without becoming wacky or bonkers. It plays it straight but the satire is still obvious without being forced upon it's audience. Bell is a superb actor, and the chemistry between him and his gun is surprisingly real. It's a relationship you can feel for and to see Bell get jealous when somebody else fires it, without his performance becoming parody, is truly masterful. A good young supporting cast and a soundtrack by one of my favorite bands ever, The Zombies, are also superb. Each song is carefully selected and used to great advantage. The last third it all goes tits up. A fairly believable commentary on the love affair America has with guns, turns into exactly what it managed to avoid being. It becomes a shoot-out galore and suddenly things stop making sense. Pullman is relegated from a considerate and kind police sheriff, to a clichéd Western villain. It's a real shame that the film didn't know how to end.

• E.J. B

  
  Ignorant, and dumb.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Dear Wendy", Dick(Jamie Bell), a pacifist supermarket worker, is informed one day by Stevie(Mark Webber), a co-worker and gun aficionado, that the toy gun he has been carrying around for years is in fact a real gun. The two men bond and they gain… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Dear Wendy", Dick(Jamie Bell), a pacifist supermarket worker, is informed one day by Stevie(Mark Webber), a co-worker and gun aficionado, that the toy gun he has been carrying around for years is in fact a real gun. The two men bond and they gain confidence from the firearms they carry around with them. So much so, they decide to share the joy with their fellow outcasts.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Written by Lars von Trier and directed by Thomas Vinterberg, "Dear Wendy" is an intriguing and offbeat allegory about guns in today's society. The movie explores why people carry them(some characters are afraid of unseen gangs) and how guns change people. And, theoretically a pacifist may carry a gun(although I never would), just as long as it is never used against another human being.[/font]

• John B

  
  I loved Vinterberg ever since I saw the Celebration and I love the black humour of Dear Wendy. A move with a message to Americans and their obsession with weapons. I don't think anyone saw it though.

• Nick G

  
  This movie is proof you can't just take a stance on something and throw it together to make a movie, no matter how much you want to write it off as disturbed character piece. This movie was sloppy at times and silly at others, while it slowly went downhill at the mid-part, any… More
  This movie is proof you can't just take a stance on something and throw it together to make a movie, no matter how much you want to write it off as disturbed character piece. This movie was sloppy at times and silly at others, while it slowly went downhill at the mid-part, any hope of it recovering to become a decent movie is lost at the transition to Act 3 when in one scene it starts to become laughable. You can't just make a movie and say you are making a statement, no matter how much you believe in it yourself or how powerful you want it to be. There still has to be some rhyme or reason holding it together, and this movie gets to be just ridiculous. It has a great cast and the acting is solid. Jamie Bell is great, Pullman and Angarano are under used. I really can't say anything positive about it other than that though, and the acting is the reason I'm giving it 3 stars rather than 2 or 2.5.

• Sunil J

  
  A lot of hate for this movie but I thought it was so original and interesting.

• Henrik S

  
  What an extraordinary imaginative and well directed movie that was. The story is about a gang of boys, led by the somewhat off-beatish boy Dick who form a gang called the "Dandies", a secret society obsessed with classic marksmanship and honor codes. The movie adressess many… More
  What an extraordinary imaginative and well directed movie that was. The story is about a gang of boys, led by the somewhat off-beatish boy Dick who form a gang called the "Dandies", a secret society obsessed with classic marksmanship and honor codes. The movie adressess many issues on a very subtle and beautifully mellow level. The question of gun possession, how modern weaponry and warfare went over the top, especially in the context of youth politics. The movie has the quirkyness and love for its characters like a Wes Anderson movie, but also sports the brooding Post-America atmosphere of Lars von Trier and David Lynch movies. The cast is brilliant, from Pullman to Jamie Bell, so is the 60ies OST. I strongly recommend this movie to my friends here at Flixster, you will be surprised and raising your eyebrows at times but cannot help to be immersed, forced to rethink often and of course entertained by this work of art. H.

• Dimitris S

  
  Vinterberg brings up the Dogme theme,Von Trier's pocketful of miracles is vanishing yet obviously affecting.Major turnaround since his debut film Festen,he reminds me of Aronofsky.Reckless decisions over the script's details.It's a powerful film,I don't deny it… More
  Vinterberg brings up the Dogme theme,Von Trier's pocketful of miracles is vanishing yet obviously affecting.Major turnaround since his debut film Festen,he reminds me of Aronofsky.Reckless decisions over the script's details.It's a powerful film,I don't deny it however a work of art is measured in surprise and not just impressionism and controversy.What's the message of the lesson children?Don't mess and underestimate the big boys with swords (OK,guns but I had to embroider it a bit)

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