I watched the movie Carrie last night, and went into it with a "meh, this movie might be okay" attitude. I wasn't all that excited to see a probably mediocre movie. I wasn't about to slap a bunch of seven year olds off their little bikes while they were delivering the morning paper so that I could be first in line when the movie opened. Oh, why did I go in with that mindset to a movie that stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore? Let me back up a little bit...
I was about 10 years old when I saw the original Carrie with Sissy Spacek and John Travolta. I remember the movie scaring me, but not because the content was scary, but because Sissy's eyes creeped me out. Her eyes are so unique that it scared me. Piper Laurie, who played her mother Margaret, was undeniably scary as well. I still think about her sometimes and the way she scared me. She was never motherly, only psychotic and religious, which was the point of her character. I mean, man...
I watched that movie when I was 10. I couldn't comprehend the religious tones, the insults, the periods, or the fact that John Travolta could be a bad guy. All I saw was the cool guy from Pulp Fiction (I sneaked and watched these movies when my parents went to bed...whoops) and a lot of blood and people getting killed. That's literally all I took away from the movie when I was 10...oh and the boobs too. That was awesome.
I watched the movie again last year at age 20. I watched it one day on Netflix because I was sick and confined to my bed. I saw the movie on there and thought to myself "hmmm, I don't remember a thing about that movie except for John Travolta, a scary mom, boobs, a period and Sissy Spacek being the scariest looking human alive". I looked at the Rotten Tomatoes rating for the movie: 91%. I checked Roger Ebert's (R.I.P. big homie) site, he gave it three and a half stars out of four. I'm in!!! I'm going to love this movie, I never appreciated the original horror masterpiece when I was 10 (other than the boobs), but I can't wait to fully value a genius work of art written by one of the greatest literary minds of our time, Stephen King. So I watch it again, fully prepared to love this movie that everyone tells me to love.
HELL NOOOOOO. That movie was trash. The original Carrie sucked so much that the boob scene wasn't even cool anymore. Don't ever come up to me and tell me that movie is a masterpiece because you're lying to me. That movie was worse than trash. That movie was supremely overrated, much like The Shawshank Redemption, yeah, I didn't like that movie, what are you going to do about it? I get why people like the original Carrie, but there are probably 1,000,000,000,000 movies I'd rather watch instead. I mean, the movie was so bad that I can't remember a thing that happened. Seriously, I saw it last year and I don't even know if Sissy Spacek said a word during the movie.
That's a little backstory as to why I wasn't stoked to watch a remake of a movie I forgot all about as I was watching it.
The remake begins with Juliane Moore in pain, bleeding on her bed, wondering what kind of cancer she has (she's just pregnant). She's having this baby, but she's convinced she's dying of cancer from seXXX. The baby pops out, and Moore goes to stab it with some scissors (this was disturbing), but she couldn't. She holds the baby, cradling it, living in her own delusional world.
We fast forward a few years, and see Moretz as Carrie, being bullied at school. My big problem with the school bullying was that it was way too obvious. This is 2013, girls aren't going to openly destroy you in front of everyone. This is an accepting time period, a time where girls merely subtweet and trash you subtly behind your back. People have such a need to be liked nowadays, that there's no way a girl will go out of her way to openly humiliate someone in public. Whatever, that's just a minor complaint.
The other weird thing about the school was the huge emphasis on prom. Again, this is 2013, prom is nowhere close to ruining your whole life for as it was in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Also, Tommy Ross is the star Lacrosse player and the most popular boy in school. As stated earlier, this is 2013. This is supposed to be a remake of an old, terrible movie but its customs seem stuck in another generation. Of course there was the accentuation on smart phones, propelling you to think "SEE THIS TECHNOLOGY?! THIS IS TECHNOLOGY THEY ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE ORIGINAL MOVIE".
Now, I don't want to compare this movie to its predecessor, I'm reviewing this as a stand alone film. And there are a lot of moments in the movie where you wondered if the director sent a 40 year old to a high school to learn their formalities. But these are just minor grievances that can be overlooked in the final product. But anyway, let's move on to the performances.
Chloe Graze Moretz: A
She's the foundation of this movie. She's a great actress, always has been, and at 16, her future is as bright as can be. One of the main reasons this movie doesn't work in 2013 is because Moretz is naturally pretty. She's too pretty to be bullied at school. Sissy Spacek was perfect for the role because she looked like someone who would've been bullied in school. She was gauche and scary. Moretz is way too pretty to be a victim. The only real hiccup in the movie was the way they handled her awkwardness. Subtlety isn't the film's strong point (which it needs to be to be believable in 2013), and aside from that, she turns in a solid performance. I also loved that the studio went with an actual teenager instead of a 30 year old playing an 18 year old. You'd be surprised how much more conceivable it is when the actors and actresses are the appropriate age. This movie doesn't work without Moretz, anyone else in this role would have been a disappointment.
Julianne Moore: A+
Gabriella Wilde: C+
Yeahhhhh she's meant to be hot. She does an okay job of fake caring, but this role literally could have gone to anyone else and had the same impact. The role of Carrie and her mother work so well because those two actresses are so wonderful that they made those roles their own. The Sue character though? If you're hot you can play this part.
Portia Doubleday: B-
She was actually pretty decent as the school bully who was weirdly obsessed with prom. Why didn't she just wait and go to the after party? There were literally like 30 people at the prom in the school gym that had decorations that looked like they were done by a 5th grader. Why would she go out of her way to be mean to Carrie? Why would she risk going to jail for a school dance? It's 2013 and prom is not a big deal anymore.
Ansel Elgort: B
The surprise of the movie!!! In the beginning he's only in the movie to flex as hard as he can and be the pretty popular guy. But as the movie goes on, you actually end up loving the guy. The character of Tommy Ross could've gone to anyone, but I don't think anyone could have made the role as likable as Elgort did. It was a pleasant surprise.
Judy Greer: B
Nothing memorable, but she did drop a solid performance. Her character as the teacher with a heart of gold didn't require her to go above and beyond the call of duty. She had a little scene with Portia Doubleday where they are getting heated, but the acting did exactly what it was supposed to do and nothing more. In fact, outside of the two fantastic leads, everyone sort of played their roles the way they were meant and that was that. It's not a bad thing necessarily, but a movie will never be memorable without distinctive roles.
The movie itself was really good when you get past the small flaws. The thing I think I liked most were the moral consequences. Good people lived, bad people died, as opposed to the original Carrie where everyone died. Of course the bucket scene with Tommy Ross was stupid, but I understood WHY it happened. In the end, this Carrie was more likable and wasn't just a demonic monster. And honestly, Chloe Moretz outshines Sissy Spacek, even though Spacek had the look for the role. Piper Laurie was scarier as Margaret White, but Julianne Moore made the role her own (something I really appreciated). Everyone else fit into their roles and blended into the background behind the phenomenal performances of Julianne Moore and Chloe Grace Moretz.
I'm all for remakes, I am, I love the idea. Of course the remakes rarely eclipse the original (21 Jump Street was more of a "sequel", but it surpassed the TV show by lightyears), but Carrie was better than the original, not SCARIER, better. Both movies hold up well on their own, so it's really a matter of preference. If you don't have a significant tie to the original, then the remake will be enjoyable, but it's understandable that someone who was around for the initial impact Carrie had in 1976 may not prefer the updated version. But I do. Because the 1976 movie was not a very good movie, to me.
This movie is very much in the running for one of my personal awards at the end of the year, The Surprise Movie Of The Year (more on that at a later date). If you're wondering whether or not you should see the remake of Carrie or wait until it comes to Redbox because you don't want to sit in a theater with a bunch of college kids that have the IQ of a bean, take the risk and go see it.
Final Score: 3.5/5
