"Mean Creek" could have been called "The River's Edge," "Bully" or even "Revenge of the Nerds" if those titles hadn't already been taken.
Which is not meant to imply that "Mean Creek" is derivative or shallow, but it does have some things in common with them. On the other hand, it also has an emotional honesty — sometimes brutally so — and real-life comic sensibilities that make it akin to television's late, lamented "Freaks and Geeks."
Consequently, you can forgive this dark drama for its occasional overly melodramatic moments, or some of its more clunky ones. And the young, talented cast certainly helps.
That includes Rory Culkin, who stars as Sam, a picked-on young teen living in Oregon. His main tormentor is George (Josh Peck), an obese fellow teen who's become the class bully and who has been subjecting poor Sam to a once-daily pummeling.
Sam's older brother, Rocky (Trevor Morgan), isn't too thrilled about that. As it turns out, he and his friends Marty (Scott Mechlowicz) and Clyde (Ryan Kelley) are tired of being bullied themselves. So he they come up with a revenge scheme for Sam.
The idea is to plan a fake "birthday party" for Sam, which includes taking George up the creek — so to speak — and then humiliating him. However, Sam's best friend, Millie (Carly Schroeder), has some serious reservations about the plan, and as the trip progresses, Sam begins to have second thoughts as well. Not to give anything away, but by then it's too late for Sam to change his mind, and tragedy ensues.
Writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes does make some missteps common with first features. But he's bailed out by his cast. Culkin and Mechlowicz ("EuroTrip") are the most recognizable faces here, and the performances by all are very solid.
"Mean Creek" is rated R for frequent use of strong sexual profanity and crude sexual slang terms, other off-color humor (including a flatulence joke), violence (a beating, as well as some target practice), drug content (marijuana use and references) and brief partial male nudity. Running time: 90 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com