The Good: Moments of performance, Decent general story
The Bad: Some character leaps just don't work, Light on DVD bonus features.
The Basics: Teen violence and teen nudity make Foxfire more than just the average girl empowerment flick.
When it comes to movies on my partner's shelf, there are very few that I have been enthusiastic to watch. Before I saw it there, I had never heard of Foxfire, one of the earliest cinematic outings for Angelina Jolie. But when I looked at the DVD case, my hopes rose. Foxfire was based upon a novel by Joyce Carol Oates and I remember loving Oates's novel Because It Is Bitter And Because It Is My Heart (reviewed here!). My wife promised me I would love the movie and she told me it was one of the most influential on her life, so I sat down eager for it.
It did not take long in watching Foxfire before I started thinking about the film Robert A. Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters" (reviewed here!). The memory has little to do with the actual film, but more an experience I had of watching it. I saw The Puppet Masters the day it made its debut in theaters and it was the only time I recall ever doing anything alone with one of my friends from school who traveled in the same clique as me. We went after school and saw it and I loved it. Years later, I was watching it with my family and becoming more and more embarrassed by it. At that point, my dad smiled and noted that he could see why I liked the movie and that I probably liked the movie more for where I was in life when I first saw it than any inherent quality of the film itself. I suspect that Foxfire is like that for my partner. It's good, but it's campy, predictable and some of the character leaps do not fit, minimizing the individuality of the girls the story is about.
Maddy is a high school senior working on her photography portfolio and getting by in high school with her white bread boyfriend and life. She empathizes with Rita, who is made increasingly uncomfortable by the proximity of her biology teacher, who publicly humiliates her. When Rita breaks down, other girls come forward with stories of him taking advantage of them as well. Rather than go to the authorities, they take the advice of a new stranger who walks into the school one day, Legs. With Legs they beat up abusive biology teacher and earn themselves a suspension from school.
In their time away from high school, Maddy, Legs, Rita, Violet and Goldie bond in an abandoned house where they decorate, swap stories, get drunk and become close friends. But soon, Goldie's drug problem and a group of dumb jocks threaten their idyllic friendship and Legs' past catches up to her.
Foxfire is not as bad as your average Lifetime made-for cable movie, but it does have similarly obvious themes and monolithic male characters. The girls rule in this movie, but they soon trade in their individual quirks for participation in the cult of personality surrounding Legs. This is one of those movies where the outsider girl comes in and shakes up the placid, suburban existence of the other girls, but rather than growing strong, independent and smart as a result, the others just become pretty dependent upon the new girl.
And Legs is a terrible role model. She drinks, smokes and rather unsafely gives herself tattoos with her own needles. That scene actually made me lose most of my respect for both the movie and the characters in it. Foxfire isn't so much about nonconformity, it is about the joy of the squares, sluts, artists, and druggies finding something to conform to, namely the bad girl role. After they beat Mr. Buttinger, the girls each get a tattoo on their breast from Legs and none of the girls seems to have the wherewithal or inner strength to say "Yeah, no, that's not for me." None of them has the character to say "I'm just as much a member of this group" or "I'll remember this day just fine" without the tattoo. So, the tattoo scene plays as plot-convenient and in opposition to the characterizations established less than half an hour prior in the film.
As well, Foxfire is appropriately predictable in its plot and character elements. A gun is introduced fairly early, so when the movie degenerates into a hostage situation with said gun, only the people who slept through English 101 are likely to be even remotely surprised. Similarly, Maddy's big fear at the beginning is of heights, as characterized by an early scene where her portfolio falls off a bridge and is rescued by a precariously hanging Legs. So, when the movie is winding down, it is no surprise that Maddy will end up back at the bridge to show viewers just how much she has grown.
But there's less growth in less positive ways that I would have liked. Ultimately, Foxfire degenerates from a story of female empowerment (which I was enjoying) to one of stupid gang violence where women who are smart become idiots following a bad element.
That said, what makes Foxfire work more on the balance than the failures of plot and character is the acting. Hedy Burress is excellent as Maddy. She takes the frumpy girl and establishes her as a character of intelligence and creativity, which makes her moral core realistic when it finally reasserts itself. Similarly, it is easy to see why Angelina Jolie would be cast as outsider chicks from this point on. She plays Legs as moody, dangerous and stylish, which becomes a characteristic many casting directors would fall in love with Jolie for. And for the horn dogs reading, yes, this is an early film featuring Angelina Jolie's breasts.
The real acting surprise for me was the performance by Jenny Lewis. Lewis plays Rita and she was an actress whose work I was entirely unfamiliar with before this. Lewis plays mousy excellently when Rita is being groped by her teacher and her performance lends credibility to the scene and makes it nauseating to watch. But as Rita becomes empowered, Lewis makes it believable by maintaining a sense of strength and shyness that ultimately becomes the performance to watch.
On DVD, Foxfire has minimal extras, like the theatrical trailer for the movie as well as filmmographies of the major performers.
Good for fans of drama, Foxfire does tell a story where women take charge of their lives and it is admirable for that; the methods they use, though, are not so wonderful and that makes the movie tougher to recommend in the long run.
For other works with Angelina Jolie or Chris Mulkey, be sure to check out:
The Tourist
Salt
Cloverfield
5.5/10
For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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