George Tooney (Josh Peck) is a foul-mouthed big kid obsessed with his video camera. Sam Merrick (Rory Culkin) gets into a fight with him and gets beaten up. Sam tells his older brother Rocky who starts planning revenge with his friends Clyde and Marty Blank. They lure George on a fake birthday trip for Sam. Millie (Carly Schroeder) finds George loud but not necessarily mean-spirited. She convinces Sam to change his mind. Despite the change, a conflict escalates on the trip going down the creek.This is River's Edge with younger kids. That is very compelling. The kids are solid actors. They feel real. After the incident, they need time living with the secret. It would be nice to have more conflict time as the cops search for missing George. The second half is set up for more drama.

I only watched about half an hour of this movie and this is what I got out of it. After reading the plot summary I could not go through with it. George is an overweight, mentally disabled kid with anger issues who is unfairly marked as a bully. Other than beating up Sam he shows no sign of bullying and appears to be more of an outcast. Sam, a good looking guy with a hot girlfriend, messes with George's camera after he is told not to.As a result, George beats him up. Obviously that's not okay, but the school already punishes George. George should be getting some professional help and Sam should not act like he is completely innocent. Sam gets his brother and his friends to avenge the somewhat deserved beating he got. He even drags his girlfriend in who is just an innocent bystander. George actually believes that Sam wants to be his friend and actually makes an effort to be friends with Sam. This shows that he is not a bully. George is the weird outcast kid and Sam is the more popular kid. After George tries to be nice, Sam still goes through with his plan that involves putting George's life in danger. Sam and his brother are murderers and should be put in jail, even if they did not intend to kill George. George was the only good person in this movie, but because he was different he was labeled as the "bully" and killed.

I love this film, I can watch it over and over again. George (the so called bully) is a sad, fat, lonely kid with dyslexia. He eats lunch alone and his only friend is his video camera. Sam foolishly touches Georges camera, George unable to control his emotions goes nuts and gives Sam a couple of punches in the face. Sam takes this personally and his older brother and 2 of his friends come up with an evil plan to get back at George. They invite him on a "day out" George is excited thinking hes finally got friends, because hes not very clever he doesn't suspect anything. Then things don't go according to plan and George ends up dead. And it goes on from there.It was so uncomfortable watching poor George trying to strike up a conversation with the gang, while they're all sitting there uncomfortably knowing what there about to do. I cringed like hell the first time I watched this. Its just so sad and awkward to watch. But on the up side there are some SEXY guys in this film. Rocky, Marty, Kile and the acting is really good.

MEAN CREEK reminds me a lot of Stephen King's STAND BY ME and William Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES, looking at the issue of childhood bullying and exploring what happens when the tables are turned on a bully by one of his victims.It's a haunting, evocative, beautifully shot little movie, one of those low budget indie efforts that eschews special effects and melodrama in favour of solid characterisation and tight, focused scripting. You get caught up in the lives of the characters right from the outset and the film keeps you glued to the screen until the last moments.The young cast members are excellent, bringing to life the grittiness and authenticity of the storyline. As the bully, Josh Peck is particularly engaging, remaining an irritating and unpleasant character throughout but somehow eliciting sympathy from the audience at the same time. All in all, this is a tough, uncompromising little movie that proves a refreshing alternative to the latest Hollywood blockbuster.