What more could possibly be said about Foxes that hasn’t already been said? Actually, quite a bit could be said about the film since it flew under the radar and isn’t often mentioned as being part of Jodie Foster’s lexicon; and that’s probably for good reason.
The film follows the foibles of four teenage girls that were trapped within the 1980s drug subculture of Los Angeles and shines a bright light on the romanticized rock n’ roll lifestyle that still persists today. Jeanie, Annie, Deidre, and Madge give us a wild ride that lasts just a few days within the world of the film. Until the eventual death of Annie, the teens go full-throttle: skipping school, doing drugs, running from cops, hosting parties, destroying someone’
s home, and evading gang-members are just a few of their activities.
As far as positives go, there were a few stellar performances from Jodie Foster, Sally Kellerman, and Scott Baio. However, these performances were followed up by quite a few lackluster ones from the rest of the cast. The soundtrack is to die for, listing great tracks from Donna Summer, Janis Ian, and Cher. These songs expertly woven into touching and tense scenes alike.
Unfortunately, this is where the buck stops.
Our main problems came from the flow of the script. The characters are poorly written and don’t allow those who don’t have an emotional attachment to the time and place to feel true empathy. Jodie Foster’s character (Jeanie) and her mother (Sally Kellerman) accept the brunt of any good writing there is, leaving no humanity for the others– the others simply become warm bodies to absorb space. It’s obvious that the film wants you to care about Annie, but she is in and out of the film too often for it to matter. On top of the poor script, the technical aspects of the film such as transitions, sound design, and the quality of the video itself fall short.
Matt's rating: 3/5 Gabe's rating: 3/5 Rewind Cinema composite: 6/10
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