In this episode of "How to get kidnapped for sex-trafficking" a fifteen-year-old girl going on twenty-five finds herself hated by her family and beloved by every guy with a hard-on within shouting distance. She doesn't waste time with subtle signals, she puts up signal flares announcing, "come and get it!" Just like many girls that pine to be noticed by only those they want to notice them, she gets noticed by the wrong guy. Most of the time the "wrong guy" is the guy the girl isn't interested in, yet he's harmless. This time the "wrong guy" is a predator.
When I was young they called girls like Connie (Laura Dern) fast. I'm not exactly sure how the term originated--fast to get pregnant, fast to grow up, fast to drop her pants, I'm not sure--but it wasn't a label you wanted. It was like a scarlet letter and yes it was for girls, as in not yet a woman. Besides being a strumpet in training, she was a witch to her mother. By day she loafed around and gave her mother an attitude, and by night she paraded around in revealing clothing looking for a guy to "hold her tight."
She found a couple of guys and one very special guy found her. You may think that I'm running down all the reasons why Connie deserved being stalked, hounded, and more by Arnold (Treat Williams) the predatory perv. Nope. I'm not saying that at all because the word "deserve" varies from person to person. My kids wash a dish and think they deserve ice cream whereas I don't. So, did she deserve it? To be politically correct I'll say no. Did she increase her chances of such an encounter by her behavior? That's a definite yes. Like Dave Chappelle said in a comedy routine of his, "I'm a victim blamer." He was being funny, as am I, but with a kernel of truth.
What was most amazing about this movie is how they failed to make Connie a sympathetic character even after her ordeal. I saw the same petulant teenager I saw in the first scene. I thought the movie was supposed to be a thriller and it was more of a Hallmark special. It was weak. I had to suffer through an hour of "Mall Rats" before anything of any significance happened. Then, as weakly as the climactic scene happened it ended. I was totally misled.
When I was young they called girls like Connie (Laura Dern) fast. I'm not exactly sure how the term originated--fast to get pregnant, fast to grow up, fast to drop her pants, I'm not sure--but it wasn't a label you wanted. It was like a scarlet letter and yes it was for girls, as in not yet a woman. Besides being a strumpet in training, she was a witch to her mother. By day she loafed around and gave her mother an attitude, and by night she paraded around in revealing clothing looking for a guy to "hold her tight."
She found a couple of guys and one very special guy found her. You may think that I'm running down all the reasons why Connie deserved being stalked, hounded, and more by Arnold (Treat Williams) the predatory perv. Nope. I'm not saying that at all because the word "deserve" varies from person to person. My kids wash a dish and think they deserve ice cream whereas I don't. So, did she deserve it? To be politically correct I'll say no. Did she increase her chances of such an encounter by her behavior? That's a definite yes. Like Dave Chappelle said in a comedy routine of his, "I'm a victim blamer." He was being funny, as am I, but with a kernel of truth.
What was most amazing about this movie is how they failed to make Connie a sympathetic character even after her ordeal. I saw the same petulant teenager I saw in the first scene. I thought the movie was supposed to be a thriller and it was more of a Hallmark special. It was weak. I had to suffer through an hour of "Mall Rats" before anything of any significance happened. Then, as weakly as the climactic scene happened it ended. I was totally misled.