Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: Monica Keena, Vincent Kartheiser, Ellen Barkin
Director: Rob Schmidt
Films go down in movie history for all sorts of different reasons. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN SUBURBIA will be known for its introduction of a new ‘star’ in the shape of Monica Keena. Monica has previously had roles in the movie ‘The Simian Line’ and TV series ‘Dawson’s Creek’ amongst others, and now in CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN SUBURBIA she plays Roseanne. Still at school and dating Jimmy (James Debello), the school football star, her world is thrown upside down when her mother Maggie (Ellen Barkin) in an unhappy marriage, starts an affair and leaves her husband (Michael Ironside) who is Roseanne’s stepfather. As Maggie moves out of the house and in with her lover, Roseanne stays at home with her stepfather who after getting drunk rapes her and kicks the film into high gear.
Roseanne is determined not to be one of life’s losers and decides to kill her stepfather with the help of Jimmy her boyfriend. She also unwittingly attracts the attention of another boy at school Vincent (Vincent Kartheiser) who she thinks is weird, but will come to have an everlasting effect on her life.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN SUBURBIA starts at a very slow pace, in fact it is difficult to get into for the first half an hour or so, but don’t let that put you off, because by the end of the movie you will realise you have been caught off guard and drawn into it’s plot and the characters, and you’ll have seen a movie that you won’t forget and discovered a new star.
In fact all the lead characters give excellent performances, but it’s Monica Keena who really pulls the whole thing together and is sure to be a major star in the future.
