User reviews

Betcha my bottom dollar (not that I have any) that Dominique Swain watched MY SO- CALLED LIFE. She channels Angela Chase in her movie GIRL (which I've only seen snippets of) and again, here in TART. She gives us teenage angst, a sense of desolation and despair, to perfection in this outing. And then there is Mischa, lovely as always, as the mean girl, and Bijou Phillips as the wild one.

Problem is, what went into the mix, choice ingredients; but the cake turns out kinda bland. Many of the scenes are far-off, the entire movie is oddly distant. It could have been great, but whoever was at the helm, avoided that achievement skillfully.

Is the movie true to real life, though? I have to concede, yeah. But real life is mostly about as interesting as closed circuit security monitoring on an uneventful day. The movie lacks zing. And please, if your idea of something controversial was the toilet + ice bucket scene, please keep it to yourself.

The director also avoided a nude scene while delivering what the script described. The Bijou Phillips character was supposed to be dancing with her top off, instead it was filmed rather puritanically with just her jacket off. Yeah, that boy would rush out the way he did to go see a girl removing only her jacket. I'm pretty sure the script called for more, but bare flesh was circumvented (for whatever reason, lots of possibilities spring to mind).

All in all, we the viewers, lost out on what could easily have been a much- better experience. This small-budget movie need not have cost much more in order for it to be great. Only a little bit more and it might have been something truly worthwhile. As it is, a weak botched attempt that only shows wasted potential.

On their own, both Dominique and Mischa deserve much better scores. The vague lethargic storyline bogs them down completely. And the title of the movie would be off-putting to the intended audience, while the poster/box design hints at a sexy schoolgirl. Who is that on the poster/box anyway? Totally misleading.

This is another respectable entry into the genre of the unhappy and unloved teenager, going after a boy who turns out to be no prize, and trying to fit in with her fellow classmates, but how does it find its audience when the title misleads you into thinking its a sex-and-drugs movie, and the video cover misleads you into thinking it's has Melanie Griffith it when she only makes two passing appearances? -- one is her coming out of doorway. Hard to come to the film in the right frame of mind after all the deceptions.

The box to this movie totally misrepresents itself. The cover shows a view of legs & panties in a short skirt. The title is `Tart.' The synopsis on the back of the box made it seem as though Cat, the main character, was an outcast who became one of the popular students, but that popularity lead to a bizarre lifestyle that she could not escape from. Everything that the box built this movie up to was a horrible lie. I expected a sort of crappy, direct-to-video version of `Heathers' targeted at the teenagers of today.

Let me tell you what `Tart' was really about. Yes, this really is the plot; so if you don't want to know what happens, stop reading. We have one unlikable, boring rich girl. This unlikable girl's best friend is a skank. The skank gets expelled from school, so the unlikable girl befriends some British girl. This leads to the unlikable girl dating this boring guy, who the box refers to as the `most popular boy in school.' If that guy was the most popular guy in their school, I wish I would have gone to that high school, because I could have kicked the crap out of him. Anyway, as any movie will tell you, the most popular guy in school is invariably a murderer or drug addict or thief, or in this case, all of the above. Anyway, everyone ends up disliking the unlikable main character because she is Jewish. Then the most popular guy in school beats her best friend, the skank, to death with a rock because the skank caught the most popular boy in a homosexual act. The unlikable girl's stoic mother and hypochondriac younger brother are there for her at the end. Oh, and the entire movie is about snotty rich kids and their horrible parents too. Gee, what is wrong with that? That sounds like a fantastic movie! Well, that's what I thought. But you see, there are NO likeable characters in this movie. The main character is boring. The filmmakers made her average, while during the film she keeps spouting off about what a freak she is. The skank is not skanky enough, and has little screen time. The popular guy is nothing to write home about. The popular girls are just your run-of-the-mill rich girls. There are no moral lessons. Cat, the boring main character, is not a freak, does not ever become one of the truly popular girls, and (worst of all) after all the crap she goes through, she thinks she is still too good to befriend the only nice girl, the dorky girl. To be honest, I have no idea why the movie is called Tart. I kept asking, who's the tart? Is she the tart? Are they all tarts? At 94 minutes, theoretically this is not a long movie. But after actually watching this awful waste of a VHS tape, and not knowing who the tart was, I was surprised that the movie was only an hour and a half. The movie felt like it was two hours and some change. After a while, I was hoping the movie would be about pop tarts. At least when you look at a box of pop tarts, you know what to expect.

"Tart" is a good illustration of old the Yogi Berra saying: "If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up someplace else". Writer/Director Christina Waye (in her first feature) has managed to make a $3 Million movie that ends up someplace else. "Tart" is either a coming of age story devoid of characters that a rational person can connect with, a black comedy without any humor, or a sexploitation movie without anything that is particularly sexy.

Unlike the standard Swain film, "Tart" actually employed a competent and experienced production designer. Good enough to provide two extremely nice shots: the scene of Swain and Barton taking a bubble bath together and the scene of Swain in the park-featuring a nice montage of the "Alice in Wonderland" sculpture. The symbolism incorporated into these elements supports the possibility that Waye (despite the absence of a linear logic or unity of tone) actually has some visionary talent and aspirations for making a quality film.

It is even possible that Waye was trying for a fusion of the somewhat expressionistic "Metropolitan" and the camp classic "Cruel Intentions" which also deal with the Manhattan upper class. There are many camera shots framed by windows and doors yet few tight shots of faces and eyes. The former technique hinting at symbolism and the latter at intentional distancing from the characters and their motivations. "Tart" seemed on the verge of veering into camp territory at least twice and would have been well advised to keep going in that direction. First there was the scene where they try to dump the seemingly deceased Swain into the garbage chute. Then there is the whole bit about her father being Jewish (played to the same extreme as Joel Grey dancing with the Jewish guerrilla in "Cabaret").

In her other films Swain's acting technique is to overwhelm each scene in which she appears (insert scenery chewing here) but in "Tart" she actually shows an ability to restrain herself. This is the best performance of her career. It also provides some clues about her physical deterioration from willowy super cute in "Girl" to hulking lumpy-faced in "Pumpkin". This transformation was about half-complete by the time she made "Tart"; so go the ravages of time.

Mischa Barton ("Sixth Sense's" I feel better girl) and Lacey Chabet are excellent in supporting roles. The rest of the cast is simply horrible, although some of the blame for this should go to Waye's script and direction.

As a rule, I try to find as much in films as I possibly can to enjoy them. I made no exceptions with "Tart", doing my very best to appreciate it for what it was. But no effort, no matter how great, could possibly redeem this pitiful excuse for a movie.

It failed for a number of reasons. Firstly, the cinematography was directionless and ineffective. Secondly, the script reached depths of 'poor' that took it well and truly beyond the 'so bad it's good' category. Thirdly, the acting left mind-blowing amounts to be desired - it was appalling, it really was. Anyone who saw Mischa Barton (seen here as the remarkably terrible Grace, a character so poorly invented and realised that Ja Ja Binks doesn't seem so bad) as Devon in John Duigan's "Lawn Dogs" will wonder what went wrong between then and now. Perhaps, had she been given a character worth bothering with, and a modicum of direction, she at least might have given this film ONE redeeming feature. Alas, such was not the case. Finally, the film seemed to have no point whatsoever, expressing nothing, achieving nothing. Really, I wonder why Christina Wayne bothered.

"Tart" made a feeble attempt to be something, and failed. The result - a film, sadly, so bad that it's just very, very bad. Don't bother - it really isn't worth it.

I only wish that I had the good sense to turn this movie off in the beginning when I knew it was terrible.

Instead I gave it the benefit of the doubt and waited for it to get better.

Don't make the same mistake I did.

The title has nothing to do with the movie. The movie has nothing to do with the real world. The plot has nothing to do with a plot. The acting consists of a guy who wants to be John Cusack, but can't pull it off. The lead is a girl who tries to be Claire Daines. Sadly, she can't pull that off either. They are in love, although god only knows why. And by the end I was hoping that they would all kill each other off just so I could believe none of these kids would ever taint the world again.

For me this movie is about losing things and being lost. And it makes the observation that when you're lost you can end up losing things that you didn't know you had much less that you wanted to keep.

Cat (Dominique Swain) doesn't know who she is, which ironically doesn't keep her from not liking who she is. And in the people around her -- family and friends, adults and peers -- she finds varying amounts of belonging, rejection, hope, and disillusionment. In other words, Cat is just 17 in a way that should be familiar to us.

That's one of the strengths of Christina Wayne's quiet, mature film is the feeling of verite. I've never been young and rich in NYC (or near-rich, or formerly-rich, or trying-to-keep-up- with-the-rich) but Wayne's portrait seems so detailed it makes me really curious to know if she has been. Far from being "Just another spoiled rich kids film - _Kids_ meets _Metropolitan_!" Wayne shows us Cat trying to "fit in" and a diverse number of reasons -- from financial to social to emotional to behavioral -- why you can cast out of this insular, cannibalistic sub-culture.

Another strength is Wayne's direction and writing. The film is well-constructed with strong characters, with images and (Yeah, I'll say it ...) motifs that appear once and then quietly reappear in different contexts. And all throughout Wayne shows a really nice eye for pictures.

Plus she's got really good people doing good work. I mean, everyone is in this movie: Swain, Renfro, Phillips, Zehetner, Chabert and Barton (before they had to try to be smoking hot), Scott Thompson of _Kids in the Hall_ fame. She even gets Melanie Griffith to do a walk-on.

One thing the film has going against it is the marketing. Looking at the trailer and the film poster, it's clear that Lions Gate or whoever didn't know how to pitch this film. It seems like they wanted it to be naughtier or rowdier or ... brighter than it is. But it's not a melodrama. There are no simple heroes and villains, no moralizing on right and wrong, no suspense- ridden plot. It's the type of character-based, even, sad, dramatic storytelling that seems to go down better in Canada that here in the States.

I like it, though. If you've got a quiet morning and some time, it deserves a try.

great movie to show kids the price of trying to fit in. it is a little immature but i like my movies that way. the main character is developed as much as she should be you kind of get the idea it could be any girl which isn't an over all bad thing. i'd say its worth a watch.

Though I have watched Salò, I do not know if excrement tastes tart. If it does, this "film" is accurately titled. So much of roughage, so little substance, this is the celluloid equivalent of celery - only it does not cleanse the palate. It leaves the taste of wasted time in the mind's mouth, and if I could vomit this film and get back that expanse/expense I would. Detention was more exciting. The director should be forced to wear a dunce cap, and the Spirit of Ed Wood Jr. couldn't save this semi-professional projection from certain failure. A waste of time, a waste of mind. **Don't be fooled by the toothsome Dominique Swain: competent eye-candy she was in the Lolita remake, less tragic and savvier than Sue Lyon, though by no means better. However, a previously competent turn of the screw does not make her a skilled crafts-person. You need craft for that, not crap, which is what this film is. The reels belong in the girls' bathroom, flushed till the pipes burst, while director/direct-less Christina Wayne should do 5-10 in study hall. Watch anything else and pass this class, by (bye), forever!

I love movies that almost grasp the reality of a teens life. Though I do enjoy the occasional happy ending, as unrealistic as they are. Tart was real, the boy really screws you over and leaves you heartbroken. 'Chick flicks' have probably a more depressing ending than movies like Tart, because you know you will never find that perfect mate, it gives us false hope and sets us up for disappointment. While Tart is cold, hard, reality. Probably a little more harsh than most of our realities. After watching Tart, you don't think wow that was a great movie because it leaves you with an uneasy feeling. Life isn't rainbows and butterflies, and Tart is a great example of that, what we refuse to see, but its there. Love it or hate it. But I choose to love it.

Serious minded but mostly dull coming of age drama plays a bit like Metropolitan, but without any of the humor. Only Bijou Phillips manages to make much of an impression, and she isn't in the movie nearly enough to save it. Since her character is pretty much the only interesting or lively one in the entire film, it might be fair to ask why the movie isn't about her rather than the dull, self-pity filled girl played by Dominique Swain. Fans of the Lolita star and fifteen year old girls who can identify with the lead character might want to take a look. Everyone else should probably avoid this one.

Its was like an independent flim. The kind you watch to pass time on a Sunday as I did. The movie title has nothing to do with the movie.. I was mislead and the movie was dry and uneventful.

Over the decades Hollywood has always continued to make movies that just send out bad and wrong messages, especially to young girls. in the early days it was; You won't be truly happy until you to get married as soon as possible, with the first guy that seems suitable enough and now days it's actually being quite the opposite and and to live life with sex, drugs and other stupid immature behavior and being popular should equal being happy. Seriously, that's the type of message that this movie sends out. Yeah I know, the movie probably attempted to tell the opposite thing but it failed miserable at that, due to it's incredibly stupid execution of it all.

It's really a very pointless movie to watch. The movie does an incredible bad job at telling its story. The story seems to be about nothing really because it just isn't going anywhere with it. Was the main character supposed to go trough a big transition or something because if that was the case, I surely missed it. Perhaps it's trying to be one of those movies that just advertise being a random slice of life, following the story of just an average young girl, doing average young girl things. But if this was the case it surely failed even more miserably, since the story is just being filled with some very unlikely events and annoyingly stereo-typical characters. The movie its story doesn't really explain anything and even worse, it isn't going anywhere at all with it.

The story of this movie seems to be about fitting in and just being the person that you are, without forcing yourself to be someone different, just to please your friends. I mean, I'm still guessing that this is what the story was all about, since this movie doesn't really send out this message at all. In the movie all of the characters do drugs and have sex, just for the sake of it and to impress and fit in with their so called friends. They even steal and cheat people, without thinking about the consequences or facing responsibilities for any of it. But the movie is not showing at all how you SHOULD live and deal with growing up and maturing. It doesn't set the right example for anything and it more or less just seems to tell the life-story of the movie its writer. No idea if this was truly the case but I'm willing to put some money on this.

It's annoying how this movie doesn't reach any conclusions and it's annoying how it doesn't explain anything or go more into detail with certain things. It's being an emotionally bland and distant movie to watch, since all of the characters and their action just seem far too stupid and unrealistic to relate with as well. And seriously what was with its ending? Is everything suddenly supposed to be OK after that point for the main character? It just didn't made any sense and it only sort of wrapped up one issue the main character was dealing with.

All of the characters are really stereotypes. There is a girl everybody seems to hate for no apparent reason, a very free-minded girl and the mother of the main character seems mad at her daughter all the time and doesn't seem to trust her and tries to deprive her of any kind of fun. These are just a couple of stereotypes out of the movie, that also don't make any sense, since the movie doesn't go any deeper into certain things and the movie doesn't flesh out its character properly enough. I can't really blame the actors, since I can't really say any one of them gave away a poor performances. The movie has actually some good young acting names attached to it but it makes you wonder if any of them had read the script for it in advance.

It's also not a bad looking movie. I mean, it was an incredibly cheap one to make and it was also being first (and still only) directing job, so the movie does certainly deserve still some credit for that. Perhaps one day, if Christina Wayne is being give a different script to work with, not writing by herself, she might be capable of delivering a pretty good movie actually.

It's a movie that gets more and more worse at it's progressing, since it isn't heading anywhere with its story and it doesn't ever reach any satisfying conclusions at all. It instead gets more and more stupid and its not being clear what the overall message and point of this movie is supposed to be.

3/10

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I wish they would just make a special section in the video rental stores for movies like this. The section would read: "Movies for lonely older men who like to watch young girls being naughty and wearing fetish clothes" I guess dominique swain, after lolita nd now this, is establishing herself as the queen of the dirty old man genre.

Where is the ending to this movie? Did they forget to cut and paste an ending to this half baked movie? Where is the moral? The climax? Oh yeah, the character development? I think they lost the director half way through production and one of the PA's started to give orders. Dominique Swain is the only aspect worth watching in this garbage. Why oh why must she take every film opportunity that comes her way? This movie could have been huge. Instead, it failed without having any motivated drive from lack of story and lack of interesting characters. Still, it has its moments but doesn't add up to a good movie

*Below first Melanie Griffith did not just say '2 lines" she played Kat's best friend's mother.So obviously you did not see the whole movie.i liked this movie.I understood it.How many people 'try' to fit in school?A lot.And this is what happens at alot of schools, drugs,sex,popularity and sometimes even death.There are so many people today trying to get in a 'in-crowd' and they will do anything to get that place in the in-crowd.But sometimes when people try to get in the in-crowd they ignore whats around them and only pay attention to whats happening in their lives.

I don't really know what to think about this film. It would have worked much better as a series of short films. It has a promising beginning but there is no build up or climax in this movie. It just goes on and on. If it wouldn't have been for Delilahs weird and amusing behaviour, this film would have been a real sleeping pill.

This was a much- overhyped movie. No likable main characters, especially the two or three leads. Slow, meandering, NOT some quirky, coming-of-age or hip- indie movie it tries to be. Even though it is clearly pandering to this demographic. However, they didn't bet on this demographic having a working brain or any kind of taste.