For most of its length, "Fear" is a teen movie. Nice sixteen-year-old blond girl from bourgeois family (Witherspoon) is doing well enough except for a bit of irritation because her father (Peterson) objects to her school dress one morning. And it has to be admitted that she looks like a little girl's doll with a mini-skirted frock, white bobby sox, and Mary Jane shoes. I know I'm getting these terms all mixed up but bear with me. There is also her stepmother (Brenneman) whom Witherspoon resents. Witherspoon's best female friend is Alyssa Milano, whom every high schooler should have -- or have had -- as a close friend, especially me. Milano is mischievous but fundamentally sound.Enter handsome bulked-up Mark Wahlberg, experienced, soft spoken, silky, full of concern for Witherspoon, and a raving maniac underneath all that muted politesse, but that comes later. This gracious young man comes home with Witherspoon to "meet the family," a necessary step in ordinary courtship, but Dad doesn't like him, not even at first meeting, when Wahlberg shakes Dad's hand and calls him "sir." Later, after Peterson intuits an outburst of violence from the kid, he REALLY perks up, his Darwinian points quivering.Witherspoon too, sporting a black eye, tells Wahlberg she wants nothing more to do with him, but Wahlberg's apology is passionate and seduces her. That's before he gets her off on the roller coaster, sneaks into her bedroom, and deflowers her. That sets the tone for the rest of the teen movie section. Two, or maybe three more times, he violates her trust and she forgives him tearfully until finally it's over for good. I sobbed like a baby.Now, the rest of the movie -- say, the last twenty minutes. Peterson happens to be an architect and has built his home with enough safety features to make Castle Machrae pale with envy. And Wahlberg, barred admittance, rounds up half a dozen hooligan buddies and attacks the fortress. If you want to see it done horrifyingly right, catch "Straw Dogs" or even "The Birds." Or, if you want the entire floor plan laid out before you at feature length -- louche man threatens and attacks one of those imaginary happy families -- try the 60s version of "Cape Fear." The most impressive thing about the movie is how YOUNG everyone looks. Scarcely a wrinkle in the entire cast. Wahlberg gives a decent performance and so, surprisingly, does just about everyone else. Amy Brenneman is memorable as Witherspoon's perceived rival for Peterson's affection, and she has virtually nothing to do but stand around and bystand, offering occasional suggestions and comments that do no more than reflect common sense.

This movie is visually strong, suspenseful and extremely entertaining but the way in which it depicts family tensions is its greatest achievement. A teenage girl's relationship with a young man from the wrong side of the tracks soon sparks off numerous problems that are down to her father's over-protective instincts and the girl's natural rebelliousness but the dramatic possibilities are then heightened even further due to the specific dynamics that exist within the girl's reconstituted family.Nicole Walker (Reese Witherspoon) is the naïve 16-year-old who, after previously living with her mother, moves into her father's suburban home in Seattle. Steven's (William Petersen) an overworked architect who lives with his second wife Laura (Amy Brenneman) and her young son Toby (Christopher Gray). When Nicole and her high school classmate Margo Masse (Alyssa Milano) go to a local rave, Nicole meets David McCall (Mark Wahlberg) and is instantly attracted to him. He's exceptionally polite, softly spoken and seems very gentle and considerate. David instantly makes a positive impression on Laura and Toby when he visits their home but Steven instinctively takes a dislike to him. This naturally creates a rift between him and Nicole and makes her even more determined to continue the relationship.Things suddenly change one day when David sees Nicole hugging her school friend Gary (Todd Caldecott) and is overcome with jealousy and rage. In a sudden and violent outburst, he brutally attacks Gary and roughly pushes Nicole to the ground. After the attack, Nicole is left with a black eye and immediately stops seeing David. This incident reinforces Steven's negative feelings towards David but it isn't long before Nicole surprisingly rekindles the relationship. Steven is incensed and angrily forbids David from seeing his daughter again. David, however, is totally obsessed with Nicole and as his fury grows, the revenge he takes on the Walker family becomes progressively more violent until his actions eventually lead to a terrifying conclusion.The ways in which conflict grows between the generations is shown very effectively in this drama because, whilst it's natural for parents to want to protect their children from pain, exploitation or bad experiences, it's also entirely natural for teenagers to want to explore life in the way that their instincts dictate and not be given advice which they just regard as being interfering by parents who want to spoil their fun. The tensions in the Walker family are also complicated by the step-parents' desire to be accepted by their adopted children and also the uncertainty that children can feel about a parent's new spouse.Reese Witherspoon does a great job of portraying the mixture of naivety and growing maturity that's typical of a 16-year-old and Mark Wahlberg is particularly good in the scenes that require him to express his anger. William Petersen provides the other standout performance as the father who's left frazzled by being overworked, having to contend with his concerns about his daughter and trying to cope with his wife's unreasonable attitude to his work commitments. Overall, this is a movie which provides some pertinent observations on family life in the 1990s in a story that's perfectly paced and delivered in a style that's never dull.

This is probably one of my favorite movies. Why? Because men like this EXIST IN REAL LIFE. Being a residential counselor and seeing men behave this way - it is completely realistic. The psychological background completes Mark Wahlberg's character development. The upbringing and dialog corresponds to the promiscuous friend's behavior Played by Alyssa Milano. This is the most under-rated movie. Mark Wahlberg shines in this one.There is one particular scene in this movie that is still stuck in my head which rarely happens. The few lines from Mark Wahlberg are so poetically psychotic it leaves you thinking for hours (or even days) after the credits role - which is what a movie is supposed to do. A movie is supposed to send a message and expand your awareness. This is the most under-rated movie and a must watch. It's 2013 and this 1996 script still resonates a fresh tone in today's world.

Over the years, I've developed quite an aversion to Mark Wahlberg for various reasons: the guy was the front-man for quite possibly the suckiest boy-band of the 90s; he speaks with an irritatingly soft voice; his hair is crap; he starred in the awful Four Brothers, dreadful Planet of the Apes and dreary The Yards; he got to have on-screen sex with Heather Graham and Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights, and in Fear, he gets to break-in a jailbaitalicious Reese Witherspoon and screw a slutty Alyssa Milano. Tell me, what's to like about the guy?Fortunately, in Fear, where Wahlberg plays despicable psycho David, who makes life absolute hell for pretty schoolgirl Nicole Walker (Witherspoon), her friends and family, a general disdain of the actor, compounded with a hatred for his character, makes this movie an all the more intense and enjoyable experience: after having Witherspoon and Milano lounge around in bikinis, Milano bending over in a very short skirt, step-milf Laura Walker (Amy Brenneman) in a sexy one-piece, Witherspoon orgasming (with a little help from David) while riding a roller-coaster, Gary's neck snapped like a twig, and The Walker's pet dog Kaiser's decapitated noggin pushed through its dog-flap during a tense siege/home invasion, what better way for director James Foley to end his film than by launching Wahlberg through a first storey window to land face-down on the rocks below?