Filipe Neto There are moments in the adolescence when a boy gets so infatuated by a girl that it seems he has never seen a woman in his life, but there are girls who know how to take advantage of it. This is, roughly, the theme of this film, where a teenager girl seduces several boys with rather dubious intentions. Nothing new, therefore. It's just another teen movie, full of sexual cues (direct or veiled), violence and stereotypical characters that exist only to die. What I don't understand is why Mandy Lane appears as an irresistible and seductive woman when, in fact, she is just a girl who loves to tease the boys. Do boys love being treated like idiots? The movie tries to surprise at the end with a plot twist, but the attentive viewer already foresaw it for some time. Amber Heard is excellent at her character and could have done better if she had received more dense and consistent material to work with. The rest of the cast is on the borderline between the acceptable and the mediocre. This film lacked a better development of the plot and the characters, so it all seems a bit meaningless.

A_Different_Drummer While it is all well and good to do "clever" films like Cabin in the Woods that de-construct the genre, the real challenge is to the film right from the getgo.Here I think the very talented director Jonathan Levine succeeds. Possibly the best slasher flick in decades.Aside from a really tight script, and direction/cinematography on par with a Hollywood "A" flick, we also have generally top-rate performances from the young cast.Of particular interest is Anson Mount, five years before Hell on Wheels, stealing every scene that is not otherwise nailed down.Years ago a reviewer said that the test of a good slasher film is whether, in spite of the body count, the viewer would want to be in the film because everyone seems to be having a good time time.This film passes that test.

James Hitchcock The title character in this film reminds me of that epitaph allegedly to be found in an Aberdeen churchyard:-"Here lie the bones of Elizabeth Scarlett Born a virgin, died a harlot. She was ay a virgin at seventeen, A remarkable thing in Aberdeen". Mandy Lane is a student at a Texas high school. Although she is attractive, Mandy is not part of the school's "popular set"; we are told that she is shy, puritanical (having been brought up by a strict aunt following the deaths of her parents) and still a virgin at seventeen. (A remarkable thing in a high school movie). Her best friend is a geeky, bespectacled boy named Emmet, although their friendship appears at first sight to be platonic and non-romantic. Her good looks, however, make her a favourite with the other boys, hence the film's title. The scriptwriter may have chosen the name "Mandy" because it is short for "Amanda", Latin for "she who must be loved".At least, the script tells us that Mandy is a shy, puritanical virgin, although Amber Heard (still in the early part of her career and not yet Mrs Johnny Depp) plays her more like a provocative, mini-skirted flirt. And would a shy, puritanical virgin really have accepted an invitation to spend a weekend at a secluded ranch house with a group of classmates whose main obsessions are drink, drugs and sex (although not necessarily in that order)? When they arrive at the ranch, however, the young people start to disappear mysteriously, and they realise that someone is attacking them. The film is an example of the "slasher movie", a genre dating back to the seventies and eighties. By 2006, however, films of this type had long since evolved their own set of conventions which had hardened into rigid clichés. The victims, for example, are normally teenagers who fall into one or other of the various stereotypes of the standard American High School movie. "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" is no exception, although the scriptwriters do seem to have paid rather more attention to characterisation than is normal in films of this type. Mandy, for example, is a willowy blonde beauty who is neither (i) a cheerleader nor (ii) from a wealthy family nor (iii) most popular girl in the class. Bird is a star athlete who is neither (i) arrogant nor (ii) academically challenged, although the film does contain another prime example of the "arrogant jock" type". Chloe, although another "most popular" blonde cheerleader type, is curiously lacking in self- confidence and jealous of Mandy's looks, and tries to compensate by making bitchy remarks about the third girl in the group, the oddly-named Marlin. (Either her parents couldn't spell "Marlene", or perhaps they really did want to name their daughter after a large fish with a spike on the end of its nose). Although the film was shot in 2006 and was released in cinemas in the United Kingdom in 2008, it was not released in the United States until 2013. Officially this was due to complications arising from the bankruptcy of its American distributor, but I suspect the real reason is that it is not very good. I won't reveal here who is responsible for the murderous attacks, but those familiar with the conventions of the genre will probably be able to work it out for themselves. What they will have more difficulty working out is the motive for the killings, but then killers in slasher movies don't really need motives. Films like this don't exist to enlighten us as to the social or psychological reasons why people might commit dreadful crimes. They mainly exist for the benefit of those whose idea of light entertainment is watching such crimes being re-enacted in as much gory detail as possible. Anyone who likes that sort of thing will probably find much to keep them amused in "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane". Anyone who doesn't like that sort of thing will probably wonder why the film was made at all. After the Columbine massacre and too many other similar incidents, films about teenagers running round killing one another tend to leave behind a nasty taste in the mouth and the suspicion that the film-makers are simply exploiting tragedy for commercial gain. Some critics compared the film to the early work of Terrence Malick, which made me wonder whether such critics had ever actually seen a Malick film. Director Jonathan Levine probably had, to judge from his bogus art-house touches, but someone ought to have told him that a few moody shots of the Texan landscape and a bit of Beethoven on the soundtrack won't make a sow's ear into a silk purse. "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" is no "Badlands". Still less "Days of Heaven". 3/10

Mia Gdowska BMus Hons Geez, i lost 90 minutes of my life and will never get it back. Before you watch this movie, don't! 3/4 of the movie disappointed me the most. the story piece just fizzled. Spoiler! a suicide pact was the reason they were all killed.. OK I do have a little sympathy for Emmet been ignored by the group and bless him for been protective over Mandy. The kills were gory. A shame the script wasn't on par with the acting. In many years to come this movie will be a 'cult' classic. I didn't really care for the group dying off except for Bird and Garth. also why didn't Emmet join the party at the ranch? Mandy's loyalties are questioned throughout the movie. Anyways, if you have 90 minutes to kill and bored then watch this movie. It's not good and it's not bad neither. Happy viewing.