rogerb-391-111246 What is rich and self-indulgent teenagers of Upper East Side have in common with low-life ghetto scum? Drugs, of course. Particularly a recent, very addictive and expensive variant called "Twelve".The young peddler that brings together the two different worlds is White Mike (Chace Crawford). Mike was a normal kid until his mum dies of cancer. Unable to cope, he drops out of school and starts dealing illegal substances to high-society kids.Everything starts spiraling out of control in domino manner for Mike and his clients in one night of incident.His junkie cousin is killed and best friend Hunter (Philip Ettinger) wrongfully accused of the crime. Ex-school mate Jessica Brayson (Emily Meade) get herself hooked to Twelve. Preppy snowflake was a top student but now willing to do anything to score again. Jessica's friend Sara Ludlow (Esti Ginzburg) is the most popular girl in school and in her own words 'a shallow narcissistic bitch who manipulates everyone for everything'. She charms one of her many admirers Chris (Rory Culkin) to hold her 18th. birthday party at his parent's lush apartment. The gawky lad has his own problems especially with hotheaded druggie brother Claude (Billy Magnussen) who is about to go off the deep end. They are all connected tenuously to the new narcotic and matters come to a culmination at the party.There is no groundbreaking stuff here. Joel Schumacher takes the easy way out and chooses to concentrate on the obvious and clichéd aftermath of drug abuse but viewers will be turned off by the thin plot with unsympathetic characters. Wallows in preachy BS.Background narration by Kiefer Sutherland aimed at extrapolating the players is intrusive than anything else.

jotix100 Rich young kids from fancy prep schools converge on Manhattan for the Easter recess. They are children used to get what they want, when they want, as though it is a given right. We are introduced to an assorted number of young men and women who have nothing to do; they go from one party to the next of their circle trying to be fabulous at an early age.White Mike is king among this set. His father has recently lost his restaurant and his mother has died of cancer. White Mike turns into selling drugs to the set he knows are seeking them. He is a welcome friend to all the rich kids he provides pot, and stronger stuff such as the new combination "Twelve" which is a combination that assures its user a great high. White Mike's friend Molly, is a sweet girl, the only one who shows any real feeling toward the drug dealer, realizing what he has gone through in his young life. In flashbacks we are told White Mike grew up with his cousin Charlie going to good schools where they no doubt, met all the other teens in the story. One night, while buying drugs from Lionel in Harlem, the drug dealer out maneuver Charlie's friend who has come armed with a gun and kills him, and another innocent bystander, Nana, who happened to be returning home. At the same time, a nerdy Chris, whose parents are away, is conned into letting Sara, a popular girl in this crowd, throw a fabulous party which will be featured in one of those gossip pages of the local press. Chris' brother, Claude, released from a penal institution returns home. He is a loose cannon, with a deranged mind who will be instrumental in derailing the party. The problem with "Twelve" directed by Joel Schumacher, is the amount of characters he and screenwriter Jordan Melamed have crammed into the story, which is based on a novel by Nick McDonell. Most comments compare this feature to "Less Than Zero", which came out earlier, but dealt with the same subject. The urban kids shown in the film have too much money to get them in trouble, as it is the case in the story. There are no parents supervision anywhere to be found, so the kids are left alone to do drugs, party, have sex, or whatever they see fit. It is a sad state of affairs. Chace Crawford appears as White Mike, the youth who turns all his energy into supplying drugs to whoever has enough money to buy them. He is not too convincing in the role. For that matter neither does Emma Roberts, who gives Molly a flat reading. Keifer Sutherland serves as the narrator introducing the various characters. Best of all in the film is Billy Magnussen who makes an impression as Claude, the problem boy who must make a statement. The rapper 50Cents is also effective as Lionel.

Philip Keenan I hesitated a couple times before I finally decided to rent this film out. Basically the film revolves around teenage individuals who live in the city of New York, and have a position in the social scale of partying. The film is lead by Chase Crawford from "Gossip Girl." In this he stars as "White Mike," a sober drug dealer who has never taken a drug or sip of alcohol. The section of his life of which the film chooses to observe takes place after the death of his Mother of him he had lost to cancer. This leaves him drifting throughout the dullness of New York dealing drugs to his ex-classmates and a particular girl named Jessica, who is hung over from a new drug called "Twelve" and wants more. As she finds herself played by this drug the events in the film escalates into plots of murder, sex and drama leading to the sleek finale of where the mess that explodes at an 18th birthday. I have to say the best thing about this film is the way the characters interact with each other. Although I am not a fan of Chase Crawford, his performance towards the end of a lost soul left numb by the death of his Mother caused me to feel sympathetic for the guy. Crawford's performance is unlikeable and blank at times but it stands almost unnoticeable by the witty performances of the ensemble. The film leaves us to deal with a range of characters at different levels. Emily Meade, Jeremy Allen White, Rory Culkin, 50 Cent and Esti Ginzburg all give the film a variety of drama's in different tones. Emily Meade plays Jessica, she is my favorite character with her strong individuality of a girl who knows what she wants yet has a weakness to the drug Twelve, progressing to methods of desperation when she discovers she has no money for one last fix. Rory Culkin delivers another likable performance as Chris, a guy who lives alone in his parents townhouse, throwing parties for the sake of if it, while giving into his weakness of women as he finds himself manipulated by a blonde social princess, Sara Ludlow. He deals calmly and accustomed to his Brothers large explosive egotistical personality. Emma Roberts who stars as Chase Crawford's love interest, tries hard yet innocently to spend time with him. His reaction of always wanting to leave her causes frustration and desire of him healing from grief and committing love to her.These characters are pleasing to me as I am interested in stories about rich kids of take advantage of their wealth, money and power. These stories fascinate me ever since I read the novel, Less than Zero. Keifer Sutherland's deep Sin-City-meet's-Ghostface tone of narrating gives the film a dark downbeat pace. His smooth voice embodying the senses of sadness, corruption and pleasure. The only problem I had with this movie was Rory Culkin's brother Billy Magnussen who performed annoyingly and just plain lame at times. The character Magnussen portrays has just escaped from rehab after assaulting a officer there. His douchebag outbursts, crude comments, and self centered cockiness could have been portrayed with a better actor like Ryan Phillippe or Channing Tatum or just someone better. This stupid brainf****d character however gives a chilling intimidating ending tying the ribbon to this dark interesting film. The film is not perfect, but for a straight to DVD feature I am pleased with the character driven plots. It doesn't waste time or dwell on certain topics like most underrated films, it's not stereotypical ignoring the use of character's we've seen before. It's cinematography and tone is similar to Daydream Nation starring Kat Dennings as the lead.I like this film. Check it out.

Bob_the_Hobo White Mike (Chase Crawford) sells weed to various rich kids in New York, who all have their personal problems. Crash-ish but with predominantly high school kids.This kept me watching, but it's not great. Most characters are all lavish, wealthy a-holes you don't feel sorry for, but somehow you are interested in. Lots of unbelievable points in the script, and a lot of times you just want to call the characters d-bags.Worth a watch if you like the actors. I don't know anything else Crawford has done outside of this film, but he does a very good job as the lead. 50 Cent has a bit part but it's probably the best performance he's turned in as of yet. Emma Roberts matches her looks with acting skill. These are the biggest names but they're all pretty good.You can do better but if you have nothing else to do and you like the subject matter or the actors, it might be worth a look.