Rather than a story, this is a psychological character sketch of a personality type.  Of course, it's told as a short story; two young women graduate from high school and begin their transition into the world … or do they? 

            Affluence in our society leaves a lot of room for teens to rebel, reject and generally vent their ire against 'growing up'.  We see it demonstrated in the iconoclastic actions of piercing, wearing death symbols, the obsession with black and dressing in baggy prison garb.   This is the stuff of idealistic revolution.  Society needs this angst to spur it into change, a change that occurs when that energy morphs into evolution and becomes more effective.

            But there are some individuals who get lost in the earlier stage of anger and nihilism.  They view any softening of their vitriolic reaction to everything around them as a compromise of their integrity.  Unfortunately, these are frequently some of the best minds, the most creative individuals, the ones who can make unanticipated leaps of inductive reasoning into innovation.  And the fact that they get stuck in an endless cycle of rejecting everything leaves them disabled and useless to society and themselves. 

            This storyline wonderfully dramatizes such an individual, a potential artist.  And it brings alive on the screen the difficulty in doing anything with or for this person because they're so busy protecting their integrity by alienating everyone and they have such an indomitable force to their agenda.  Our challenge is finding a place for a person like this in society when we don't understand how they think.

Thora Birch plays Enid, an artistic young woman.  Apparently, she looks like the comic book character, but more importantly for me, she demonstrated real acting ability over a range of emotions and in a number of situations.  She made this movie as a teen and that's impressive.  Previously she was child actress, the daughter of the Ryans in a couple of Tom Clancy thrillers, Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994).

Scarlett Johansson  plays Rebecca, Enid's best friend.  She provides the even-tempered balance to Enid's intensity.  Two years younger than Birch, her career ballooned quickly, three years later, following her role as Charlotte in Lost in Translation and Griet in Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003).

            Steve Buscemi provides strong support as Seymour, Enid's older soul mate with strange collectibles. 

The film is based on a comic book by the same name and the comic book author also wrote the screenplay.

            Reviewed February 20, 2005.

            MPAA: Rated R for strong language and some sexual content.