All the Wilderness
Director: Michael Johnson
Year Released: 2014
Rating: 0.5
Death-obsessed James (Kodi Smit-McPhee) gives his mother (Virginia Madsen) fits when he sneaks out to hang with new friends Val (Isabelle Fuhrman) and musician Harmon (Evan Ross). This is little more than a self-pity party (another sad victim of Psychology for Beginners Syndrome) that could have used an injection of Intelligence and Real Human Experience: not only does Smit-McPhee need genuine psychiatric help (visits to the shrink, played by Danny DeVito, amount to nothing), but the movie's insinuation that smoking pot and walking around a city at night are cures for suicidal ideation and depression is ludicrous. Reciting lines from Carl Sandburg for poetic depth is a desperation move.
