Boys Don't Cry (1999)

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*Get a physical copy of "The Brandon Teena Story" on Amazon here*
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Hello. Welcome to another negative review of a universally triumphed film. I hate to break this to the good citizens of Hollywood, but there are literally hundreds of millions of people in-between the coasts of California and New York who are not "looking to get out" of their small town existences. Please stop trying to make us feel wrong for the location we have picked to live.

Based, very very very loosely, on a true story, Swank is Teena Brandon, who cuts her hair short and becomes Brandon Teena. She is a troubled soul with big dreams about owning a mobile home park, and who likes to pass as a boy in order to be with other women. She leaves Lincoln, Nebraska, lands in Falls City, and meets up with John (Peter Sarsgaard), who introduces her to his screwed up extended family. Everyone here drinks too much, smokes too much, and works dead-end jobs so they can leave this "godd@mn town." Brandon also meets Lana (Chloe Sevigny), falls in love with her, and they make plans to leave Nebraska for a glistening fantasy life in Memphis- then the cornhusks hit the fan. Brandon is imprisoned on a traffic violation and is found out to have been born a woman. Everyone reacts the way movie white trash should react, and the final forty five minutes of the film is an orgy of drunken sexual assault and murder.

Let me state that Hilary Swank deserved every award heaped upon her. She has a perfect look, and I sometimes forgot she was an actress immersed in the lie Teena Brandon lived. For years now, Hollywood has doled out all this cow plop about how horrible it is to live in the flyover country, and I am sick of it. After the horrible murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming, some celebrities were literally disappointed that they weren't attacked by rubes on the tarmac when they left their L.A. bubble to come fix things- but be sure to see their latest film or television project.

The Nebraska of this film is not Nebraska, and I figured it out early. Kimberly Peirce directs the film with all the subtlety of acid thrown in your eyes, and at one point shows us a director-y shot of a big city skyline- Dallas'. Reading the credits, this film proudly states that it was shot in Dallas, Texas. I can honestly say there are more than a few differences between Texas and Nebraska. For one thing, the white trash cast here all have Texan drawls that are never explained. The film makers make a point of how horrible Nebraska is, yet do not even back up their hatred with accurate locations (I was born in Texas, and graduated from high school in Nebraska, so I know my stuff).

The entire cast is awful. Not awful actors, but awful human beings. One of the people portrayed sued the film makers for defamation of character, and you have to wonder what other liberties the co-writer/director took. Brandon Teena does not come off as a heroic martyr, she comes off as an idiot who could not seem to wake up, smell the stale beer, and SKIP TOWN. Peirce throws us into this cesspool, never explains WHY Teena did what she did, and still expects us to be moved and angered. Peirce has some good moments here and there, but after all the decadence in the first part of the film, the viewer may find themselves dulled to the horrific assault and murder scenes, which leave nothing to the imagination. If anything, I felt bad for the real people involved, who had to relive this nightmare on film in order to shock an audience- although for some reason, one of the victims of the killing spree isn't mentioned in the film. I dare use the word "exploitation" to describe the extended rape scene and the murders. While these scenes are strong and shocking, do not let them anger you into thinking this film is gospel fact, and therefore, good cinema. For a horrific true crime story, see the original film version of "In Cold Blood," that film will stay with you for days for what they did NOT show.

This is a ghastly story that needs to be told. I just think the money may have been better spent on a documentary with the people involved, not a skewed perspective masquerading as an independent film. "Boys Don't Cry" is not worth the tears.

Stats:
(1999) 118 min. (* 1/2) out of five stars
-Directed by Kimberly Peirce
-Written by Kimberly Peirce & Andy Bienen
-Cast: Hilary Swank, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendan Sexton III, Alicia Goranson, Alison Foland, Jeannetta Arnette, Rob Campbell, Matt McGrath, Cheyenne Rushing, Robert Prentiss, Josh Ridgway, Craig Erickson
(R)