User reviews

Ripe is a story about two 14-year-old sisters who, in their immature view of the world, strike out for Kentucky because they think for some reason it's a beautiful place where life is easy. On their way, they get sidetracked and decide to stay a while at a derelict army base that bears no resemblance to any base I have ever seen. There is no security and no discipline.

The girls live with a long-haired guy whose job, it seems, is to run errands for the base.

The best part of this film is the acting by the two lead actresses. Unfortunately the characters they play have no redeeming features (nor does any other character). They are thieves with a penchant for violence. The writer/director makes it clear in the first scenes that violence is a part of their natures. Their only allegiance is to each other, and that allegiance is at risk as they grow up and they discover an outside world.

The main problem with the film is the writing. The film does not have a viewpoint, it just seems to record happenings, which are often bizarre. Whenever one of the two main characters has an opportunity to learn something, the story thwarts that possibility--unless you think that learning to shoot a gun is a significant learning experience.

I found the film emotionally flat and disappointingly pointless.

Thinly-cloaked retelling of the Garden-of-Eden story -- nothing new, nothing shocking, although I feel that that is what the filmmakers were going for. The idea is trite. Strong performance from Daisy Eagan, that's about it. I believed she was 13, and I was interested in her character. The rest left me cold.

"Ripe" is one of those awful indies which manages to get into circulation and give indies a bad name. Telling a stupidly incongruous tale of pubescent twin sisters who crawl from a firey car crash which kills their parents and then hit the road while happily shoplifting, making goo-goo eyes at some guy, and ending up on an Army post so dilapidated no Army would want it (yeah, right!). An apparent attempt at a coming of age flick, "Ripe" is an almost complete loser which wanders aimlessly as the players drift in and out of character finally ending clumsily with nary a shred of credibility to be found anywhere. Not recommended for anyone.

This movie was, in one word, terrible. It was boring, predictable, and downright creepy. I kept waiting for it to end and when it did, I was horrified. The ending left a bad taste in my mouth, to say the least. My advice to anyone interested in movies about budding female sexuality: stay away from this movie. Movies like this give classics like Lolita a bad name.

This movie did attempt to capture the naive idealism that many young teenaged girls have for fun, friendship, escape, danger, sex, maturity, etc. The problem was that it failed to establish these things on every single level; which is why it failed to build a decent story around them. I couldn't follow the point of any part of this story, nor any reason why I should care.

This movie is not an exploration into pedophilia at all. It's basically about a girl being in love with her sister, and her sister being in love with the idea of "men". While the latter tries out her love of men, the former tries to win her sister back by "getting even".

The plot is weak, the characters are weak, and the reality of it all was similar to an amateur porn filmmaker (without the sexual substance).

Uninspired, pretty much all around. The only exceptions were a couple emotional scenes with Keena (Violet), with whose performance I was pleasantly surprised and occasionally moved. Beyond that, it ended up being little more than a bad COA flick.

This is one of the first films to really move me in a long time. The subjects touched on in the film, including the sexuality and sibling relationships are very true to life. A non-teen might not be able to quite relate to the story that well, but the story is universal (in a slightly extreme way). This film reached deep into the heart of two very real teenage girls, and told a very real story. I believe that it deserves some kudos.

as the director says, coming of age movies are so laced with sweetness and lace that you would think puberty for girls was a picnic (not verbatim)...this movie shows the confusion and frustration that young girls go through when dealing with the fact they may look, act, and be able to feel older, but in actuality are still just little girls. Its a classic case of wrong time, wrong place for them. The men in this movie, are evil just from being opportunistic to the girls. While the movie is intense in several parts, I think the fact the girls are actually in the right age groups as the characters really throws me for a loop. Casting them was daring and edgy, and about time to do something like that... nobody is right in this film, nobody wins, and everyone loses something... Q

This film probably tried to cash in off 1995 "KIDS" except, these main girls, (the actual actors) are 16-17? Kissing 28-30 year olds? And I couldn't follow no sort of story at all... KIDS was made by a Kid and written by a kid at the time of it's production... This film is adults on kids... Which to me, is weird, how was this allowed? The girls are literally 16 touching on men twice their age...what I can say is it makes me uncomfortable and cringe. Not in a good way.

There's no rule that says that true events necessarily seem real on screen. It's actually probably more difficult to make a realistic fictional film than to translate a tragic, but true, event to film. Mo Ogrodnik experiences this problem with his first fictional film, 1996's Ripe.

Based on an apparently true story of two fourteen year old girls who survive a car crash which kills their parents, Ripe is ostensibly about the bond between sisters and their different ways of dealing with the onset of adolescence. Both physically mature, the two girls run away from the accident and find residence at a military base, where they find a home with a long-haired biker. Out of tragedy comes further tragedy.

As evidenced by the film's poster (featuring Monica Keena's nymphet Violet biting into an apple), Ogrodnik, who got his start making documentaries, seems to think he has a provocative story of innocence lost and a fall from grace. The problem is that what he really has is a connection of completely unmotivated actions featuring a string of characters who are completely without depth. Keena's Violet is becoming interested in sex. Daisy Eagen's Rose is becoming interested in Violence. And Peter, the man who takes them in, is basically just there. He has no past and no dialogue to give any sense at all of who he is.

I guess the film has a nice look. Wolfgang Held's cinematography calls to mind the empty spaces and spare setting of Badlands, a slightly similar kinda-true story of innocence and violence. But the style is to service of nothing. The plot can't move because everything that happens either seems unbearably tacky (every scene involving the soldiers at the base is like a bad copy of every basic training movie ever made, from Biloxi Blues to Full Metal Jacket).

Keena (whose recurring role on Dawson's Creek marks the only time you would have ever seen any member of the cast) and Eagan give decent performances, but it's tough to get involved with the characters' internal lives because of the paucity of closeups. As Peter, Gordon Currie is fairly awful. He's given nothing to do and yet he still comes of only as shrill. He seems neither sympathetic, nor creepy and probably the film would like him to be one or the other. Basically he's a cypher.

Ripe is only marginally provocative and it produces no real emotion. As studies of young sexuality it's inferior to the underrated Adrian Lynne Lolita. And as a story of young girls made old before their time it pales in comparison to Manny and Lo.

I guess I'd probably give it a 3.5 outta 10 because I've certainly seen worse films, but I sure can't think of much to recommend it.

This film, alternately side-splittingly funny and stunningly bizarre,is destined to become a cult classic. It's difficult to decide if the filmmakers were wanting to make a seriocomic social commentary or just indulging a penchant for the outlandish. Either way, this is a movie that must truly be seen to be believed. After two viewings I can't really say whether I like it or dislike it, but I can certainly recommend it to viewers as a film unlike any other. Besides, if it airs on The IFC, it's got have something going for it, right?

After watching Ripe, I'm left feeling cheated of one and one-half hours of my life. The movie gets off to a confusing start, and goes downhill from there. The two young female stars of the film (Monica Keena, Daisy Eagan) are difficult to watch, the sets are hideous, and there is no feeling of genuine chemistry between any of the characters.

As for plot: forget it. The film is comprised primarily of silly episodes that do not serve to develop the characters or their relationships. From the beginning, we see that Rosie (Eagan) is seriously disturbed and dominating and that Violet (Keena) is submissive if slightly more cunning than her tomboy sister. These characters do not change one iota during the course of the film. When the story line isn't bogged down with mind-numbing predictability, it's busy being disgusting - focusing on unsavory body functions.

Perhaps the most irritating facet of this movie is the army base on which most of the action takes place. I understand that the US military has suffered some steep budget cuts over the last seven years, but I doubt that any army base in the nation is as poor-looking or completely lacking in discipline and protocol as the one depicted in this film.

Wasn't too jazzed with this movie at all, and felt cheated after terrible performances and mediocre writing, however the little girl, Maxine (Candice Love), was absolutely adorable and I hope to see her in future performances. There is real talent there for this cutie. Does anyone know where she's from or if she's done anything else? I hope to see her untapped talent in years to come! Her performance made the whole thing worth watching, and she had but a short part. Does she perhaps have a website? The director has gone on to do some worthwhile screenplays but as far as 'Ripe' is concerned, I hope she will not be directing ever again. This movie gets 2 very enthusiastic thumbs down down.

This movie was a complete letdown. By looking at the box and reading the back of it, you're expecting this to be somewhat of a skin flick, not so. The only real nudity was a rear shot of an army officer. The storyline for this was also quite stupid. Not to mention boring. I give it 2/10 stars.

This movie is a joke and doesn't even deserve the effort of explaining all the things that it does so terribly. Don't waste your time, it's a joke. And anyone who sees it as brilliant needs to get a life. This isn't art, it gives indies a bad name. Film is an art, and just SHOWING things that are SUPPOSED to say something isn't art. it's how you depict these characters. Mo Ogrodnik shouldn't admit this is hers. But she's actually quite proud of it. Just plain talentless.

This foul, putrid, puerile, rancid pile of dung should have been called "tripe." They forgot the first "t." If you wanted something entertaining, it was not. If you wanted something erotic, it was not. If you wanted something thought provoking, it was not. If you wanted something nauseating, it was. It was not, however, bad enough to be good...

Well, I have to admit I did not finish watching this cringefest - or should I say COULD not? I thought 'The Lover' featuring Jane Marsh was exploitative... But then again, it had nice atmospherics, while 'Ripe' is just fairly flat images meant to shock or create tension which instead nauseate or bore the viewer. This is pretty intense, right? OK, so the issue of pedophilism is touchy, but you can't build a WHOLE movie around it.

Rating : 1/2 * (one half star)