Description (from the IMDB):
Unlike the rest of the girls coming to Hollywood with dreams of seeing their name in lights, Carrie Kevin arrives with a single purpose, to protect her cousin Stefy from the dark side of showbiz. A moderately successful pinup model, Stefy uses parties, alcohol, and sex to get ahead like everyone else. But when tabloid sensationalist Evelyn Echo gets a hold of a video tape that could destroy Stefy’s career, Carrie has only one choice. To satisfy Evelyn’s need for a bigger story, Carrie must become what she hates, a bottom-feeding scene-dweller, and investigate the disappearance of a teenage cyber-lebrity named Jordan Rivers. Lost in the web of chat rooms, fan forums, and online vlogs, Carrie quickly learns that no one is what they seem in the City of Fallen Angels and it is up to her to unravel the conspiracy before she too becomes its victim.
Cast:
Sara E.R. Fletcher as Carrie Kevin, Travis Brorsen as Zeffer, Kelly Noonan as Stefy Sinclaire, Leah McKendrick as Jordan Rivers, Christie Burson as Rachel93, Alex Petrovich as Aphid818, Bradley Fletcher as GavinofScotland
Special Features:
None (Screener Copy)
Written and Directed by Bears Fonté
Ever have an experience that over all is really good, but there is just that one certain thing that ruins it? Like, for example, a heavy metal song with a pop break, or a wheat beer with pineapple flavor. Overall, it’s mostly good, but there is that one thing, and that one thing is so wrong that it throws every thing else off… well, iCRIME will be added to my list of these sorts of occurrences.
iCRIME has an interesting plot: a newcomer to L.A. decides/is forced to search for a semi-famous “internet celebrity” that may, or may not, have been kidnapped. This aforementioned celebrity seems to be a vapid, shallow high school girl that has somehow captured the attention of the vapid, shallow L.A. masses, or at least a few thousand of them. Said newcomer, Carrie, is the cousin of a former Miss Oklahoma, who has previously come to L.A. in search of her own fame and fortune and found semi-celebrity and her own eating disorder. Now Carrie has been pressured into using her seemingly powerful Sherlock Holmes-like skills to find if this high school girl is lying on camera, or has truly been absconded with.
In truth, the plot and story work better than I may have made them seem to. It is truly an interesting story that moves along pretty well. iCRIME could stand to be a little shorter; there was bits and pieces here and there that added a little to the characters but drug the story down as a whole and could have been trimmed. I also will admit that the plot has some twists, and they aren’t even that telegraphed; you know that what is going on is not “the truth,” but iCRIME never comes out and puts all its cards on the table too soon. With that, the end – while not truly a “twist” – has a nice surprise to it that I wasn’t really expecting.
On the technical side, iCRIME was mostly good. The camera work was well done – though it did look pretty “digital” for being shot on a RED camera, which may be because of the formatting during the editing process – and the lighting was also better than most low budget films. The audio was really well recorded, and the foley was all very natural. The direction was strong; all of the actors were very competent, but Sara Fletcher does an especially great job carrying the weight of the film. The cinematography was also good – iCRIME was visually interesting without becoming overly stylish in its camera work.
Most everything on iCRIME was pretty well, if not really well, done. However, as I mentioned in the beginning, there was that “one thing:” the editing. The overall editing would have benefited from being a bit more aggressive, the film would move much better if it were 5 – 10 minutes shorter. Then thing that really, really perturbed me about the editing was the transitions. Seriously, it felt like the editor had just bought a new program that had a bunch of wipes and said to himself “I will every single one of these, and it will be awesome.” I was waiting for the star wipe. It didn’t get that cheesy, but it was pretty close in places. It was such a big distraction for me that every time there was a transition, I was completely pulled out of the story and began to focus on the editing – not a good thing. I realize in reading this review that this grievance may sound trite, but it was so annoying that I had a very had time focusing on anything else other than to wonder what kind of cheesiness was waiting for me at the next scene change.
Overall, iCRIME was a well-made film. The plot/story was interesting and a bit different, the production values were high for a low-budget film, and the acting was top-notch for a film of this type. If it were not for the editing (The Editing!) I’m sure I could have easily given iCRIME a 7.5 or maybe even an 8 for my overall rating but the editing (THE EDITING!!!!!) was so cheesy, so made-for-television-afterschool-special, so distracting, that I just could not rate this film any higher than I did. I actually, in retrospect, almost dropped the score a little more… because of THE EDITING: that one thing.
Overall 6.5 / 10
iCRIME on the IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1398429/
iCRIME for sale: http://www.shop.breakingglasspictures.com/iCrime-853937002797.htm
iCRIME site: http://www.icrimemovie.com/
Ryan's Reviews 