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Adrienne Rollo, Blayne Weaver, Don Cheadle

Lyle Jensen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a teen who's prone to sudden and violent outbursts, is committed to the juvenile wing of the Northwood Mental Institution. As Lyle settles into this new environment...( read more  read more... ), we see that the psychological problems of the patients are a glaring indication of what's wrong with the society that surrounds them.

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84% liked it

6,208 ratings

Critics

69% liked it

58 critics

R, 100 min.

Directed by: Jordan Melamed

Release Date: November 1, 2002

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DVD Release Date: January 20, 2004

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Flixster Reviews (471)

  • ceWEBrity
    August 25, 2009
    ceWEBrity
    Manic is lent exceptional power by a group of talented performers, bringing life to a bunch of teenagers who you've probably seen around high school and ignored completely. In the wrong hands, many of these characters might have seemed like cliches, but the film gracefully allows...( read more) us to recognize that they are a group of mentally ill youths sliding themselves into socially accepted roles in an attempt to fit in. The subsequent frustration and rage when they fail is depicted in Manic for us to see, and each performer really gets at the person behind the stereotype, immensely sharpening the film's human touch. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's ascension to dramatic power is obvious here; he gives a wild, diverse, sickeningly scary range of emotions. His moods don't swing, but undulate slowly. Impending breakdowns and outbursts are telegraphed perfectly by silence and non-reaction, much like the behavior of an intelligent young man who recognizes the power he has. Zooey Deschanel, who I've never liked, gives a sumptuous against-type performance as one of the most dead souls I've ever seen. Don Cheadle is not quite right, playing his role suspiciously green: if the doctor had been new to the facility, he would have fit perfectly, but Cheadle is meant to play a veteran at the home. His awkward, unnatural attempts at reaching out to the group don't seem to gel with his supposed experience. The rest of the cast, primarily unknowns, all fit perfectly in their roles, and had this film taken off at the box office they probably would have all rose to great careers.

    The film has two stumbling blocks. The first is a suspicious need to signpost where each of these childrens' mental disorders come from (my dad beat me, my mom was mean, etc.) For a film so trusting in its viewer's observational ability and general knowledge of human behavior, inference would have worked better than exposition. It wouldn't be a problem in an isolated case, but we get backstories for every single character, which makes Manic feel a little hesitant. The second problem is the camera work, difficult to no real effect. If you can stand it past half an hour it won't bother you anymore, but it's obtrusive and doesn't really do much concrete to highlight the aesthetic or the drama.

    If you're on a Joseph Gordon-Levitt kick after 500 Days of Summer, this is a definite must. If not particularly illuminating about teenage mental illness, it is most successful at creating a rich and realistic group of people. A sad, noble, human tale.
  • 76Majikat
    July 13, 2008
    76Majikat
    Some great performance all around especially Don Cheadle and another of my favourites right now, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

    The beauty of this film is that it's very realistically created, showing this condition in warts and all sort of way, the down side of which is that it's so...( read more) realistic and due to the nature of such conditions, as a film it does come across a little dull and drawn out.
  • creepfreak
    May 17, 2008
    creepfreak
    Have you ever been so mad at one point where you just felt like hurting someone? I'm sure at one point in your life you have, I think it's quite normal for human beings to feel this way from time to time. This movie is about Lyle Jensen(played by one of my favorite actors, Joseph...( read more) Gordon-Levitt), who gets committed to a juvenile wing of a mental institution after he beats a kid with a baseball bat during a game. Apparently the victim would always pick on Lyle and would never leave him alone, of course not so much anymore after Lyle had beat him up with a baseball bat. Inside the juvenile center we meet another group of troubled and angry teens with similar problems as Lyle, and It just so happens that Lyle even meets a girl that he might actually be interested in.

    Kind of like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" the troubled teens have round table discussions with a doctor named David Monroe. This doctor really connects with the kids, and it seems like he's the only person that they can talk to. There is unfortunately this one kid in the juvenile center that Lyle does not get along with. A kid named Michael, who loves hip-hop and lives to only respect his "homeboys", is giving Lyle a hard time. Lyle does make a few new friends though, one being Chad, a boy who likes smoking marijuana and listening to heavy rock music, and another boy named Kenny who's been sexually abused by a family member. Through the round table discussions we get a chance to understand these kids better and we can see that, although they caused pain on others, they too were victims as well.

    Manic is a very well made and emotional film. Great acting and great script. There were actually some parts in this movie that made me want to bring out a little rage within myself, especially the part when the doctor flips out on the kids or when the kids are head banging their angry out to heavy metal music. I really felt these characters to the bone and I could even relate to some. Everything in this film is shot documentary style and it's all hand held, which gives this movie an even more realistic feel to it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is absolutely amazing in this and his character actually becomes the hero figure of the movie, and we find ourselves strangely looking up to him. Great movie, I highly recommend this!

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  • Fragglefreak
    March 3, 2009
    Fragglefreak
    Shaky camerawork was not enough to keep me from liking this move.
  • NickCoalNoir
    November 29, 2009
    NickCoalNoir
    Chad: "I'd rather feel like total shit sometimes, and God the rest of the time, than just like - ok all the time, you know? Fuck mediocrity."



    Great movie. It truly showed what it would be like to live in an institution for tr...( read more)oubled teens. It was serious and didn't sugar-coat anything. That's what I liked most about the film. I think everyone did a wonderful job with their performances; and you can feel for each of them and wish you could help them. (At least I did.) But, the ending worked out really well and, in retrospect, it was the best way to end the movie. Recommended.

    i am human
  • allefra25
    November 8, 2009
    allefra25
    Joseph Gordon-Levitt was good, as expected. The movie was incredibly depressing, and its low budget values kind of turned me off. It reminded me of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, although instead of an interesting cast of characters that you could sympathize with, you had flat,...( read more) psychotic teenagers, few of whom changed in the ending. It was the ending that I found especially sad, as no one changed or bettered themselves; Lyle just ran away from his problem instead of trying to fix it. They had all made a lot of progress, only to reverse any progress made by having violent outbursts. I think I'm really feeling like a 2.5 on this movie, but I have to give it 3 for JGL; that, and it was like Tom and Summer's teenage years together in the psych ward, a precursor to their relationship in 500 Days of Summer (since Zooey Deschanel was in it, too).
  • dukeakasmudge
    October 22, 2009
    dukeakasmudge
    An alright movie but NOT something Id watch more then once
  • Shelibelle
    September 25, 2009
    Shelibelle
    loved manic. and again starring Zooey Deschanel.
  • SageSlowdive
    September 6, 2009
    SageSlowdive
    Levitt is fine in this.
  • LYNNWOODS04
    August 8, 2009
    LYNNWOODS04
    Joseph Gordon-Levitt is amazing. Who knew the kid from a silly t.v. series could do such great work in films. He makes me wanna watch more of his films. He was great in Brick and thats what made me want to see more. He gives a heart wrenching performance as Lyle Jensen. His chara...( read more)cter Lyle finds himself in an mental institution after almost beating a kid to death with a bat at a baseball game. He has a lot of anger issues that seem to developed around the relationship he had with his father who was physically abusive.
    Alot of the characters are dealing with a lot of dark issues. It felt very real watching this movie. It kinda felt like a documentary. Its disturbing and gripping. Don Cheadle was great. He is also really good in The United States Of Leland.
    The only complaint I would really have about this film is the camera work. Seemed to be all over the place at times.. and it was a bit much with all the close up shots. But all in all a great movie worth seeing. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is definetly turning out to be one of new favorite actors.. He's really great.

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Critic Reviews

May 23, 2003
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

A movie of heart and substance. full review

May 23, 2003
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

At the end of Manic I'd seen nothing really new, and the camera style made me work hard to see it at all. full review

May 16, 2003
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

It's not that the film has much to say about teen mental illness, but that it creates a world of people about whom we suddenly care. full review

View more Manic reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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Manic Trivia

  • This film's cast includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Don Cheadle, and Zooey Deschanel.  Answer »
  • The only actor/ress in all of the following movies, Hotel Rwanda, Rosewood, Crash and Manic.  Answer »
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