63
Nothing new to say, and, in the end, no real point to make.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
Clark denies his audience the catharsis, resolution and renewal of classical tragedy. The film reduces its viewers to helplessness, and I'm not sure that's its intent.
10
The New York Times by Dana Stevens
It's instructive to compare Bully with Jean-Pierre Ameris's "Bad Company," which tackles similar themes and manages to be explicit without stooping to cheap salaciousness. It's a genuinely disturbing film. Bully, in contrast, is merely disgusting.
80
Ferocious and sometimes creepily funny, Bully is a raunchy suburban "Crime and Punishment."
20
A riot of sleazy camera moves, bad acting, and maladroit profane dialogue.
20
The script is worse than slack, and despite its lurid premise, Bully doesn't have "Kids" tabloid immediacy.
30
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
Whatever his intentions, Clark, in his third outing as a director, has come up with a film that is seriously flawed.
80
Chicago Reader by Lisa Alspector
The tone -- a combination of earnestness and gallows humor -- is strangely appropriate.
30
New Times (L.A.) by Luke Y. Thompson
Like the recent "Baise-moi," Bully is a whole lot of shock and titillation trying to pretend it's saying something. Unlike the French import, however, there's no awareness of its own absurdity, nor anything for the audience to care about in the slightest.
50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker
It feels like a peek into the closet of a pedophile and it's genuinely discomforting.