So Tell Me About Hesher: A Movieline FAQ

How is Gordon-Levitt?

Often hilarious, but again, almost for its own sake. There's nothing really happening with this dervish of chaos and one-liners ("You ever been skullfucked?" he asks the fussy T.J. upon casually moving into the kid's home uninvited) until it's too late, and even then, his catharsis makes little to no sense.

But isn't it fun watching him run wild?

Well, yes. You haven't lived until you've seen JGL lay waste to a suburban swimming pool.

What is his most transgressive, anarchic act we can look forward to?

Hesher's relationship with T.J.'s grandmother is something special, from his protectiveness ("Go for a walk with your grandma so she doesn't get raped," he urges T.J.) to introducing her to the finer points of bong usage.

What about Natalie Portman?

What about her? Just another miscast role for Portman, playing ugly and on the fast track to old maid, confiding in a 13-year-old. Please. That said, you can't help but notice the weird dynamic shift Hesher represents for her -- how she used to be the young lady absorbing confessionals in Beautiful Girls or grappling with nihilism in The Professional and Heat, and today is on the flip sides of those arrangements. But that has nothing to do with the script. I just kept seeing Rachel McAdams or even -- (and this would have been fun) Zooey Deschanel in her place. Portman may actually have had her finest moment before the screening, when she introduced the film in absentia.

At least the kid is all right, isn't he?

Yes, when he's allowed to act. Susser often has Brochu walking so deliberately into rooms and frames that T.J.'s dread of Hesher -- of everything, for that matter -- starts to feel cheap and unearned. But when going toe-to-toe with Wilson, for example, or battling against the bully who torments him in wholly grim and novel ways even for a Sundance film, Brochu yields a strong physical and emotional resonance. He'll go places.

So when can I see it?

Good question. Despite my prediction that a bidding war might be in order with this cast and this concept, word is that the distribution community wasn't exactly scheming and plotting tonight around their condo kitchen tables. It might not even sell during the festival, but it will sell eventually, probably with an eye on an August limited release. Just a guess! We shall see. Anything else?

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