Havoc

Cert: 18
Stars: Anne Hathaway, Bijou Phillips, Freddy Rodriguez, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matt OÂ’Leary
Director: Barbara Kopple
Five-second summary: Two rich girls from Los Angeles get mixed up with drug dealers

Full Review

Given that it went straight to DVD in the US last year and features Anne Hathaway getting semi-naked, the release of Havoc over here just after The Devil Wears Prada reeks of cynicism and exploitation. This is actually rather apt as the film itself has much the same odour.

Allison (Hathaway) and Emily (Bijou Phillips) are a couple of poor little rich girls at a posh school in Los Angeles who like to hang out with their ‘crew’ and act like they are ‘gangsta’. They actually make Ali G look authentic, although to be fair, this is kind of the point.

After a scenic tour of the poorer quarters of East Los Angeles, Alison witnesses her boyfriend wetting himself (literally) when Mexican drug dealer Victor (Freddy Rodriguez) points a gun at him. At the time she appears suitably terrified herself, but is supposedly so desperate for ‘real’ experiences that she goes back to the ghetto and asks Victor if she and her girlfriends can hang out with him and his pals. Needless to say it doesn’t end happily ever after.

HavocÂ’s first big problem is that itÂ’s hard to sympathise with rich teenagers complaining that the cocoon of wealth leaves them feeling dreadfully bored. Why donÂ’t they just get hobbies, expensive ones if necessary, when they can certainly afford them? They always seem to keep themselves busy on The O.C. Then you have the feeling that the relationship between these pretty white girls and these dangerous Latino gangsters is constructed with titillation very much in mind.

Verdict: A distasteful exploitation of the social and racial divide in America.

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