REVIEW: Bully

 There are no spoilers in this review.

PLOT: A documentary on peer-to-peer bullying in schools across America.


THE GOOD: Message. The message behind Bully is a very important one. It features five or six real kids who are being, have, and had been bullied. I use the past tense because it's already too late for some of these kids. A couple of the stories feature children who took their own lives due to the amount of bullying that occurred. It's a devastating fact that getting picked on at school can lead to such a horrific act. It's not fair that a kid can lose his life and the bully gets off scot-free. I was never repeatedly bullied in school, but I certainly had my fair share of bullies. I know I fantasized about beating the crap out of some of these kids, to the point of smashing their heads in to a bloody pulp, a la Drive. In one instance in middle school, I even let a teacher know about a boy who said he was going to kick my ass and the vice principal followed me around school between classes. On the way from first period to second period, I passed the bully who was waiting for me in the hallway. I remember his smirk as he saw me walking with the vice principal. Had they not been with me that morning, I almost certainly would have gotten in a fight. (By the way, this boy wanted to beat me up because I wouldn't move from my seat on the bus when his girlfriend had so impolitely asked. He had already failed two grades, so he was much older and bigger than me.) I don't know what made the bully decide that I wasn't worth it since he never approached me after that day, and the vice principal wasn't going to shadow me around forever, but my point is that I told someone. I know the last thing a lot of kids want to do is involve an adult in fear of retaliation, increased bullying, or plain rejection. The thing is, you have to tell more people than just your teacher or your parents. Let more people know. The more people that know, the more they'll be able to help you.

THE BAD: Cinematography. This documentary suffers in a visual sense. Writer and director Lee Hirsh was also the cinematographer for this film and he shot on a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR camera. I'll admit that the Mark II shoots some great footage, but there's still a lack of professional quality to it. This is a documentary though, so that's not the most important thing in the world. However, focus is and I don't know if Hirsh was filming in an auto-focus mode or what, but it's very inconsistent. I could understand if he was doing the whole out-of-focus, in-focus thing throughout the entire movie, but he doesn't. Sometimes it's there and other times it's not. Would have been nice to spend a little more on an actual DP or get a prosumer camera to do the job. And if you're going to be artistic, be artistic. Don't half-ass it.

Rating. This is no fault of the filmmakers at all, but rather the Motion Picture Association of America. You see, the MPAA decided to give this film an R rating. It makes sense when you look at their guidelines, but the problem is that those guidelines need to be changed to accommodate certain things. Bully has a lot of foul language in it. Lots of the two big f-words, "f*ck" and "f*ggot." They are indeed used aggressively, but the message of this movie is to show how poorly these kids are treated, both physically and verbally. The documentary certainly is not promoting the use of these words or glorifying them in any way, which is why I think the MPAA should give movies like this a pass. PG-13 is much more appropriate for a film like this. It might be a poor excuse, but kids have heard it all before. Schools are riddled with bad language, so to censor this film from kids with a R rating is pretty devastating. This movie deserves to be seen by all kids. Will it stop bullying alone? Heck no. But it can bring better awareness. It can save a child's life. And if that's all it did, this film would be worth it. This isn't the first time The Weinstein Company, the distribution company for Bully, has fought the MPAA. If you remember a couple years ago, the MPAA gave Academy Award winner The King's Speech an R rating. Weinstein fought them on it, but ultimately settled on cutting a PG-13 version of the film, but it was much too late to increase box office intake. For Bully, Weinstein decided to refuse the MPAA's rating and release the film Unrated. This is a unique situation because it'll be up to movie theatres whether they allow or not allow minors into the movie to see it. Typically, theatre chains treat Unrated films the same way they would treat an NC-17 movie. As if there wasn't any reason to like AMC Theatres more, they have announced that they will be showing the film and will treat it like an R-rated movie, except children under 17 will be allowed without an adult if they provide a signed permission slip found here. I commend AMC Theatres for making this bold move. Seeing as how they are one of the biggest movie chains in the world, this could push the MPAA to change their rating guidelines. Another chain, Cinemark, has also taken sides on the issue and will not be showing Bully at all unless Weinstein releases an R version. Shame on them. Regal has not made a statement yet. UPDATE 4/6/12: It was announced today that the MPAA has granted a PG-13 rating for Bully now. Many are calling this a big victory, but the reason that the MPAA felt that it was now appropriate to change the rating is because the movie was indeed changed. According to reports, three uses of the "f-word" were removed from the film. Again, kids probably hear this word multiple times per day in school already, so I'm still baffled on why the MPAA hasn't progressed through its flawed rating system. That being said, it is also being promoted that a key sequence in which one of the kids is being physically bullied on a bus was not cut from the film. That's a relief considering that it's one of the scenes that has the most impact for the viewer. I guess the positive thing to take out of this is that more kids will have the opportunity to view this movie, but the MPAA still sucks. Bully will expand to 55 theaters on April 13th with the PG-13 rating.

THE END: Let me make this perfectly clear: EVERYONE should see Bully. Children, parents, teachers, politicians, government officials... EVERYONE! This is a topic that spans generations, jobs, races, social status. It's not something that only happens in schools and can only be remedied in the school districts. It's something that we all need to provide our voices for to help stop. It's a pipe dream to believe that this movie or any type of movement or rally is going to end bullying. I'm sorry, but I agree with the adults who replied that "kids will be kids." But that doesn't mean that something can't be done. That doesn't mean a simple slap on the wrist will make all the problems go away. What we can do is improve awareness to help alleviate a lot of the nonsense bullying that happens everyday. One life saved is completely worth it. This is a straightforward documentary. There's no animation, no fancy editing, or deep narration. What you see is what you get. Support this movie now. It is getting a limited five screen release this weekend and will expand in coming weeks. I believe April 13th is when it'll reach Seattle, if you are local to me.


DISCUSS: What did you think of Bully? Were you ever bullied in school? Were you ever the bully? Do you agree with the MPAA's rating on this film?