I found it telling that the criminals pad was more spectacular than the 1%'er fat cats, no doubt that was intentional, maybe crime does pay after all. In contrast to most other reviews the only thing I found preposterous was the ending and the police not checking out the house when they come around. definitely would not have been something cursory in the Palisades, given the taxes those people must pay. Other than these things it was quite OK, obviously not Oscar material. it was interesting to live vicariously thru the squatters enjoying the house (but annoyingly not fully) for the duration. a bit like hitting the mall in the dawn of the dead. the sons pad in Venice though not glamorous was also nothing to sneeze at, but that's fat cats for you, they make sure the next generation of fat cats are well set up.

Desperate, drug-addicted, and homeless, Kelly (Gabriella Wilde) and Jonas (Thomas Dekker) have a random stroke of luck and find themselves squatting in the lavish home of the wealthy Silvermans, who are vacationing in Greece. Jonas rationalizes that it should be their privilege to do this because rich people are all corrupt pigs anyway, but Kelly watches the Silvermans' home movies and finds them to be more tragically ordinary and human than Jonas will ever realize. Jonas gets a little too eager and greedy with the Silvermans' expensive jewelry and cars, arranging a lucrative deal with a dangerous racketeer, and to tell you any more would be spoilous.SQUATTERS is well-acted by just about everyone involved, with especially memorable performances by Wilde and Luke Grimes as Michael Silverman. Some other reviewers have criticized its Hollywood-slick portrayal of life's underside in L.A., and it could have shown a bit more sympathy in that area, but what it does show seemed pretty realistic to me. The general cinematography is excellent, with some really pretty south Cali scenery.On the other hand, the transformation that Kelly and Jonas make is pretty unconvincing, as are certain other things, e.g., Jonas's safe-cracking abilities, and wouldn't the maid be coming by occasionally? The ending's somewhat rushed plus a little too neat, easy, and Peter Pan for many tastes. Overall, it just seems that the directors and writers could have made a little more-in-general happen here.Still, SQUATTERS does have some interesting turnabouts and nice old morals to it. The fine acting and expert production help compensate for some of the basic flaws to the story, and I like the way it left me rooting for both Kelly/Jonas and the Silvermans.

I thought this film maintained some tension at times and had some interesting theme elements such as rich versus poor and some self-worth issues. However the movie takes such preposterous twists and turns that, in my opinion, it loses any sense of real credibility.Gabriela Wilde and Thomas Dekker star as Kelly and Jonas respectively. They're homeless and sleeping on the beaches of Venice, California, while "dumpster diving" and shoplifting from local stores for subsistence.However, one night when Jonas has ventured into the affluent neighborhood of Pacific Palisades to see what he can steal from unlocked cars, he overhears a conversation between a woman (Lolita Davidovich) and her housekeeper. The woman, Evelyn, is instructing her on how often to clean her home, as she's ready to embark on a trip for a number of weeks. Evelyn even gives the housekeeper the code for the alarm system.Jonas immediately sees this as a golden opportunity to rob her home while she's away, and he's able to follow her home to locate the address. Finding Kelly strung out on drugs back in Venice and hanging out with some "bad dudes", Jonas takes her to the rather palatial home of Evelyn and her husband David (Richard Dreyfuss) who have left already for their trip to Greece.Once in the house, Kelly and Jonas are satisfied to just take baths, put on some nice clothes, and help themselves to food and liquor. They even take one of the luxurious high-price cars to a swanky restaurant in town. Jonas had been able to easily (one of the plot elements that didn't ring true) open Evelyn and David's house safe, which was chocked with money and jewels.You can see Kelly is just going "along for the ride", but Jonas sees this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to sell as much as he can of the contents of the home, plus the cars and jewelry, and start a new life.Without going into any real spoilers here, let's just say things don't go according to plan, and, as mentioned, the plot takes a number of twists and turns which I thought were ridiculous and non-believable for the most part.Although you can feel for Kelly, in some ways, as the film progresses, and you wonder how it will all turn out, it's not enough to overcome the incredulous elements that are thrown into the mix.

Whoever wrote this must have never left the suburbs. I've been homeless and never saw other homeless people walk around with a dirty face. You can't sleep on the beach in California. They make sure everyone is off the beach at 10:00 pm. They even have helicopters with searchlights overhead to make sure no one is hanging back.An amateur cracking a safe? Please. Next time you write a movie try to do a little research. They also find clothes that just fit them.This story has more holes in it than swiss cheese. I' sorry but the sloppy writing kept me distracted. I couldn't enjoy the movie. The acting was good. Too bad it wasn't enough.