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FILM INFO               >> MONTH OF RELEASE 8th June 07 FILM CREDITS Director Arie Posin Starring Jamie Bell, Camilla Belle, Justin Chatwin, Glenn Close, Ralph Fiennes CONTENT ICONS

So we return to the American suburbs and tales of perfectly manicured lawns, four-wheel drives and vacant smiles.

A perfect, peaceful neighbourhood pops up on the screen one house at a time, paving over the Californian frontier.

Then Dean (Bell) stumbles across his best friend Troy, hanging from the rafters of his bedroom. He decides not to tell anyone because - well, they probably won’t care.

The parents swig from their oversized wine glasses, whilst the kids fight over Troy’s drug stash. In an attempt to kidnap Dean’s brother the school bullies end up with the wrong kid, ticking all the generation X hallmarks along the way.

The mammoth ensemble cast sees, amongst others, Glenn Close playing Troy’s cracked and grieving mother in fine caricatured form and Ralph Fiennes as the slowly unravelling town mayor.

The Chumscrubber manages to place itself between the claustrophobic weirdness of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and the magic realism of Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. A real must for anyone who hasn’t yet got their fill of American teen angst.

Matthew Collington