The Chumscrubber

The Chumscrubber (2005)

  • 34% of critics liked it
    (58 reviews)

  • 74% of users liked it
    (38,599 ratings)

The death of a troubled teen throws a suburban neighborhood into chaos in this darkly satirical comedy. Dean (Jamie Bell) is a disaffected teenager living in a California suburb that's beautiful on the surface but populated by families who live emotionally vacant lives, with the parents often too… More

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R, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By
Arie Posin
Written By
Zac Stanford
Genres
Drama, Comedy
In Theaters
Aug 5, 2005 Wide
On DVD
Jan 10, 2006
Picturehouse

Critic Reviews

  • Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times

    An impassioned and occasionally mesmerizing first effort that's at once messier, more complex and more ambitious than many recent suburban dystopias.

  • Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

    An appallingly clumsy and stupid take on drugs, kidnapping and suicide in suburbia.

  • Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

    There are some very good performances and some strong writing.

  • Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

    It's neither funny nor sad, and it's filled with cheats, phony come-ons and red herrings.

  • Bill Muller, Arizona Republic

    Exploring suburban malaise is nothing new ... but The Chumscrubber puts a fresh coat on the arguments.

Read all 20 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • xGary X


    A high school student is blackmailed into recovering a stash of drugs from his dead friend's house by the school bully who kidnaps an innocent boy for leverage. The plot of The Chumscrubber is basically an "indie" version of Alpha Dog, and the whole thing comes across… More

  • Jim H


    In suburbia, a teen who recently discovered the dead body of his best friend must recover the dead kid's drugs before his classmates kill a kidnapped boy. I was reminded of <i>Alpha Dog</i> when the victim of a drug-related kidnapping rather enjoys the experience… More

  • Thomas J


    Along the style of a Donnie Darko.... I enjoyed this movie just because it is different than the regurgitated Adam Sadler crap that is always out there! Jamie Bell is a fine actor. Ralph Fiennes could have just stayed home, his character in no way added anything to the movie for me.

  • Cynthia S


    While I appreciated the overall purpose/message of the story, I felt the movie was put together rather poorly. The characters were over-worked and hard to like, the plot was holey, and the cinematography was less than fabulous. In other words, this is one of those movies that… More

  • familiar s


    I found it like a combo of Donnie Darko + American Beauty + Alpha Dog (+ whatnot that I know not). Enjoyed it reasonably but there are too many annoying moments in it to make it thoroughly enjoyable.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

Cast

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Trailers & Clips

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