Go Kart Films presents

Tweeked (2001)

"Cocktails, madam?"- Michelle (Ali Raymer)

Stars: Darling Narita, Ali Raymer
Director: Beth Dewey

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (language, drug use)
Run Time: 01h:25m:50s
Release Date: 2005-04-12
Genre: drama

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
D-	F	C-	D+	D+

 

DVD Review

I never thought I'd be calling a film "a poor man's Spun," but then along came Tweeked. This indie film, shot on what appears to be the cheapest of DV cameras, looks at the lives of Carrie (Darling Narita) and Michelle (Ali Raymer). These young women are the products of rather well-off families, but they have another thing in common: they're both addicted to methamphetamines, one of the most harmful, life-crushing drugs in existence.

Life is nothing but a party for these girls when they first become hooked on the drug, but when their roommate, Rikki, shoots himself while high, Michelle freaks out and shoots the drug dealer who made the fatal sale. One bad hallucination later has the pair fleeing town and heading for San Diego. Of course, being blown out of their minds the entire trip doesn't exactly make the ride to San Diego a smooth one, with the girls' drug-addled state yielding some horrible consequences.

"Drug movies" can be very interesting when handled in the right way (see Requiem for a Dream and Rush), but when you have something like this that seems to exist only to disgust, it's a problem. OK, we all understand that doing drugs is a bad thing, especially meth, but what value is there in showing a pair of actresses going way over-the-top in their depictions of junkies? Most of the time, Narita and Raymer aren't acting like drug addicts, they are acting like complete psychopaths. I'm sure there's a degree of psychosis involved when you'll do anything for a fix and can't distinguish between reality and fantasy due to the drugs, but their actions are just plain ridiculous.

As far as the aforementioned Spun goes, that film wasn't perfect, but at least had some flair and personality, with director Jonas Åkerlund adding some nice visual touches to his project. With Tweeked, all we have is a collection of grimy set pieces, with two girls who are always on camera, and always making their own lives worse and worse. Director Beth Dewey has no grasp on the material or the message she is trying to convey, instead opting to show us just how crazy drug addicts can be. This is awful, awful material.

Rating for Style: D-
Rating for Substance: F

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.85:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: The film is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen, and isn't the prettiest of pictures, given its extremely low-budget DV nature. The color scheme is well rendered, though, resulting in some nice California landscape shots. Still, far too much detail is compromised in dark, interior sequences to make this transfer more impressive than it is.

Image Transfer Grade: C-
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	yes

Audio Transfer Review: The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0, and is rather lifeless as well. The only time the rears come to life is during music cues, and the dialogue is muted at times, especially when more than one person is talking or action is taking place in the background.

Audio Transfer Grade: D+ 

Disc Extras

Static menu with music
Scene Access with 7 cues and remote access
2 Original Trailer(s)
3 Other Trailer(s) featuring Ball of Wax, Ding-a-ling-Less, Horns and Halos
2 Deleted Scenes
Packaging: Keep Case
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extras Review: The only extras are a pair of trailers for Tweeked, some trailers for other Go Kart Films releases, and a couple of deleted scenes that aren't very memorable.

Extras Grade: D+
 

Final Comments

Tweeked, unlike other drug-oriented movies that actually carry some social value, seemingly exists only to disgust its viewers. Go Kart Films' DVD release is just as disgusting, with horrible audio and video presentations and a couple of extras that are passable.

Chuck Aliaga 2005-08-12