By Robert Scucci
| Published
At the ripe old age of 36, I’m finally at that point in my life where teenagers are beginning to scare me. Sure, I’m not quite occupying “old man yells at cloud” territory, but if I’m walking alone down a city street and I see a bunch of young whippersnappers coming my way, I wouldn’t put it past myself to cross over to the other side of the road and put my hood up until whatever horrific scenario that’s playing out in my head blows over. While I’m speaking in hyperbole for a good laugh, I do need to point your attention to 1986’s River’s Edge, which will validate my previously mentioned paranoia, as this movie has some of the worst teenagers you’ll ever see in a coming-of-age crime drama.
The Kids Aren’t Alright
River’s Edge starts with a murder, and somehow manages to spend the next 90 some-odd minutes getting exponentially worse. We’re first introduced to Tim (Joshua John Miller), a pre-teen degenerate who witnesses John (Daniel Roebuck) sitting next to the naked dead body of his girlfriend, Jamie (Danyi Deats), by the river where he strangled her to death.
When news breaks of Jamie’s death, John’s friends, Matt (Keanu Reeves), Clarissa (Ione Skye Leitch), Maggie (Roxana Zal), and Tony (Josh Richman), have conflicting feelings about wanting to involve themselves with Tim’s discovery. Layne (Crispin Glover), on the other hand, feels that it’s his duty to help an indifferent John dispose of Jamie’s body and help get him enough cash to flee town and start a new life on the run from the law, who will likely have him dead to rights after a simple investigation.
Keanu Reeves Was Still A Good Guy Back Then
Though every character in River’s Edge generally has an off putting and apathetic countenance, Keanu Reeves’ Matt is the only character that seems to have a conscience, as he tries to distance himself from Layne, who’s willing to stop at nothing to clean up John’s mess. Despite Matt’s uneasiness about throwing his friends under the bus, he ultimately tips off the authorities to what’s happening and tries to keep a low profile as the murder investigation heats up.
Meanwhile, Layne heads over to a local drug dealer named Feck’s (Dennis Hopper) house so John has a place to lay low while they figure out their next moves.
Feck, who has once alluded to killing his own girlfriend in the past, is a shell of his former self because his vague recounting of events suggests that he had no choice to do what he had to do, and the guilt has been slowly consuming him for years. John, who shows no emotion throughout the entirety of River’s Edge is clearly a psychopath who has no regrets about killing Jaime, and Feck is shaken to his core the more he gets to know the troubled teenager he’s hiding in his house – an important comparison when considering the conflicting sense of morality these two characters possess.
Apathy With A Side Of Malaise
River’s Edge is a slice-of-life film about a group of troubled teenagers left to their own devices when their parents are mostly absent, and how they attempt to handle a situation that’s way beyond their scope of reason or ability to cope with as high school students who have a friend who is potentially on his way to becoming a serial killer. While the body in the first act is disturbing enough, the level of indifference that this group of friends exudes when they find out it’s one of their friends is the most terrifying thing of all.
As of this writing, you can stream River’s Edge for free on Tubi.
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