User Reviews

I found this film good in parts. If we skip to the part where Skip has already committed suicide, his parents' reactions, from denial to realisation and acceptance, are believable. Dana Hill plays a compelling grief-stricken sister, letting loose on his room in her anguish, and tackling his classmates on the matter. My problem? - Skip's demeanour in advance of his suicide just doesn't convey suicidal anguish. At best he comes across as glumly resigned and a bit anxious. He's unhappy about poor school marks.. but his parents seem perfectly nice reasonable people, not demons who will beat him and berate him over this. The girl he has a crush on turns him down - perfectly nicely, as it happens - and what teenager hasn't been infatuated in vain and repelled much less kindly? We see no tears, no hair-tearing, nothing to stir the emotions and convince us he is more than a little downhearted. And at a pool party - the VERY NIGHT of his suicide - he performs a comic strip-tease for his friends. It really just doesn't ring true. Neither does his friend Ken's assertion that "he told me he was going to kill himself". Or only if you read into this teenager much more sensitivity and intuition than is portrayed in the film. And neither does his sister's later assertion that Ken is acting really odd and said nasty things to her (he didn't). On the basis of Skip's only mildly depressed-seeming behaviour, his sister's speech claiming that "we all let (his suicide) happen", though heartfelt, left me wondering exactly what signs all these relative strangers were meant to have noticed and acted upon, when we, the audience with a window directly into Skip's emotions saw nothing terribly concerning.

Troubled teen Skip Lewis (a strong and moving performance by Chad Lowe), depressed about getting bad grades on his SATs and being rejected by a hot girl (the gorgeous Alexandra Powers) he's got a crush on, commits suicide by driving his car off a cliff. His confused parents and friends try to figure out why he killed himself and attempt to come to terms with the sudden severe loss they feel they could have possibly prevented. This gripping and touching film tackles the explosive and pertinent subject of teenage suicide in an admirably tasteful and restrained manner; it's this subtle presentation of a delicate subject and the thankful complete lack of sappy melodrama which in turn makes this picture so strikingly effective and heart-wrenching. Ably directed with laudable tact and sensitivity by Richard Michaels, with a thoughtful and insightful script by Phil Penningworth, sharp, polished cinematography by Isidore Mankofsky, a moody, melancholy by Georges Delerue, and exceptionally affecting acting by a first-rate cast which includes Mariette Hartley as Skip's loving, exuberant mother Barbara, Dana Hill as Skip's compassionate sister Cindy, Howard Hesseman as Skip's sturdy denialist workaholic dad Carl, Charlie Sheen as Skip's loyal best friend Ken, and Elizabeth Berridge as Skip's sweet gal pal Penny, this remarkably poignant and powerful made-for-TV knockout is well worth watching.

It's very rare I give a film a 10, but this was amazing. I saw it about a year ago and still remember how deep it felt. Skip is feeling depressed, so when he doesn't pass a test at school and the girl he likes turns him down, he forgets all the good things in his life, like his best friend who's a girl, his guy friends at school and his family. So he drives off a cliff. His friend, Ken, who's equally depressed takes his mind of his misery by volunteering at a children's hospital. Then one day a kid he was close to at the hospital dies. This is all too much for him that he was almost heading for the same fate as skip, until skips mom talks him down, and finally accepts her sons death was a suicide (having first been in utter denial).