User reviews

Somewhere in this tangled mess of debauchery and off-kilter, almost deliberately offensive humour is a decent movie. At its best and most promising, Behaving Badly plays like an ultra-quirky, purposefully black-hearted look at the standard coming-of-age tale we've seen too many times before. But it never really knows when to dial back its strange and frequently off-putting humour, resulting in a film that frustrates as much as it amuses.

Rick (Nat Wolff) is a self-absorbed, close to morally degenerate teenager growing up in a complicated household: his boozed-up mom Lucy (Mary Louise Parker) is barely coherent from day to day, and his deadbeat dad Joseph (Cary Elwes) only stays married to avoid paying alimony. Even as he navigates a huge crush on Nina (Selena Gómez), the school's resident goody-two-shoes, he embarks on an ill-advised affair with the sexually voracious Pamela (Elisabeth Shue), mom to his strange best friend Billy (Lachlan Buchanan).

The film is every bit as complicated and filthy as its title suggests, its characters dealing in drugs, alcohol and sex with next to no moral compunction. Actually, that's not its problem. These scenes are riddled with a grim humour, and work best when played loudly and ridiculously - as they frequently are. And so there are moments when Rick receives counselling from Saint Lola, the patron saint of aimless teenagers (played in a neat Oedipal twist by Parker); or when he must cut a deal with slimy strip-club boss Jimmy (Dylan McDermott) to score backstage passes for a Josh Groban concert. The film is almost brave in how determinedly it sinks into the most depraved of narrative depths.

But it's hard to shake the feeling that writer-director Tim Garrick lets his own crazy creation get the best of him. He packs the film with knowing, self-aware touches - Rick frequently speaks straight to the camera, as the title character did in iconic teen flick Ferris Bueller's Day Off - but achieves very little in the way of emotional payoff and insight. As a result, when his deliberately peculiar film heads down the road to redemption, it pretty much collapses on itself. It's hard to believe in any of Garrick's characters making good, when they've otherwise been portrayed as so horribly bad that they barely register as real human beings.

At least Garrick's cast seems to be in on the joke. Wolff is an affable if somewhat opaque lead, largely outshone by Buchanan (delightfully weird) and the adult actors - all of whom seem to be only too pleased to have been let off the leash and told to behave, well, pretty much as badly as they like. Parker, Shue and McDermott, in particular, play the taboo-happy comedy with relish, committing so fearfully to their parts that watching them in action becomes part of the joy of the film.

It's unfortunate, then, that they're doing such good work in so awkward a movie. Behaving Badly is not for the faint of heart or morally conservative, for a start. But even those who are willing to take a walk on the wild side with their teen raunch-coms will find themselves disappointed by the film, which flirts tantalisingly with the dark side but winds up being both too strange and too predictable to really work in the end.

This movie wants to be "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "Risky Business" and "American Pie" but it misses the mark severely and just doesn't have what made those other films good or even great. It's shock-value for the sake of shock-value and gross for the sake of being gross. There is no real heart or soul in this film. The characters are stereotypical for the sake of being stereotypical with no real cleverness or subversion happening. This film could have also really benefitted greatly from a script doctor, because so much of this comes off as low-budget fodder that a production company shoots out to fill their yearly quota. I do not blame the author of the novel this is based off of for disavowing this film.

Also I'm so sick of this "blaming a teenager for a grown adult perusing them sexually" trope. It is udder nonsense. It sends a horrid message that absolves any responsibility from the adults at hand who should know better than to actively seek out to be with a minor.

Overall, "Behaving Badly" had potential, but the creators behind the scenes clearly didn't care about fulfilling any of it.

Life for high schooler Rick Stevens (Nat Wolff) is going all wrong. His mom tries to commit suicide and "While I'm Dead Feed the Dog" is painted on the garage door. It starts with his crush on school hottie Nina Pennington (Selena Gomez). He loses his virginity to his best friend's mom (Elisabeth Shue). His own mom (Mary-Louise Parker) appears as Saint Lola, the saint of teenage sex. He gets pushed into a bet with the mobster's son about having sex with Nina before Arbor Day. She has just broken up with her boyfriend. She likes Josh Groban and he tries to buy backstage passes from sleazy Jimmy Leach (Dylan McDermott).

This is trying to be a teen sex romp with broad satirical humor. It fails in many different ways. The first is that it fails to make Rick a likeable character. The movie needs to dump on him again and again so that he becomes sympathetic. For all the bad things that is supposed to be happening to him, the first big thing in the timeline is him having sex with his best friend's hot mom. He gets the date with the dream girl too early and too easily. He is too dislikable. Selena Gomez is completely bland as the goody girl. The movie is trying to be crude but it's trying too hard. Everything is ugly. The humor is way off. I don't know that much about director Tim Garrick and his writing partner Scott Russell. They don't have much of a track record but I did see their earlier writing effort, Jailbait. It has the same teen sex romp writing with broad satirical takes. The actors are lower grade, the production is lower, and the level of humor is similar. At least, that one's satire marginally works. None of this one works and it's a grind from the very start. I grew to hate the repeat-o-punchlines. This is wasting the talents of some pretty good actors in the adult roles. It's bad.

Okay, okay this is obviously not a 10/10 movie. But I felt compelled to give it a high rating due to the ridiculous hate it seems to be getting.

It's not supposed to be a masterpiece. It's an attempt at irreverent comedy delivered in deadpan style. As such, it succeeds. It's not for everyone and I'm sure plenty of people will find something to be offended over, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. I found it quite funny, and there isn't a bad performance to be seen. Elizabeth Shue is especially good.

There are so many genuinely bad movies accepted as decent out there. It surprises me to see this one being so targeted.

Mostly this screwball lewd comedy about a nerd who pursues a girl and a crazy set of events unfold does not work. There are some laugh out loud moments but they are minor ones like the Stanford thing. Also there are such good stars you kind of want to watch to see how they act. The plot isn't convincing in a comical way and the crudeness and vulgarity aren't funny most of the time and border on painful and not even funny juvenile in an American Pie way just painful. Kind of feel terrible for fine actors and actresses like Elizabeth Shue, Dylan McDermott here. Mary Louise Parker surprisingly shows some versatility here, different from her previous roles. Nat Wolff is not charismatic enough a dork to carry off this role. Selena Gomez looks cute enough. Heather Graham is quite funny.

Overall only see it if you are in the mood for a few very crude chuckles.

The movie start like a normal rom/teen/comedy and after like 10-15 minutes become pure nonsense.

There are a lot of good actors in this movie for some reason, so much good potetial, lost in a terrible terrible project.

This movie is simply badly made, so badly that they even get the timeline events of the story wrong, probably during the editing.

It could have been an average comedy but they made too much errors. This should be put in a manual as an example how not to make a movie. Bad writing, bad directing, bad editing....... this movie is really bad.

Do yourself a favor and search elsewhere, there is nothing good about this one.

Seriously... Mary Louise Parker, Cary Elwes, Elizabeth Shue, Patrick Warburton, Jason Lee, and Dylan McDermott all in a movie that is this incredibly bad... and all in fairly big roles playing reprehensible characters. I just can't wrap my head around it. I have to believe there is a much better movie to be made about how they were talked into this.

The movie itself might not have made it over a 4 or a 5 rating, if it weren't for the cast! I mean Mary Louise Parker, Heather Graham and Elisabeth Shue (!) on one side ... Cary Elwes, Dylan McDermott and Jason Lee on the other. Oh and a bonus Gary Busey just for good measure. I was almost blown away just seeing those guys on screen (some in different roles).

Our main protagonist could've used a bit more ... a bit more everything actually. While the talking fast and making quick jokes does work in the movies favor most of the time, it might get tiresome for most pretty quickly. Still the script must have had something (or the producer/casting director had good connections) to attract all that talent to be involved with this. Oh yeah Selena Gomez is in this too - in case you love/hate her, therefor watch everything/nothing she's in ... A bit premature and juvenile (maybe more than a bit), this still can be entertaining at times

One of the worst teen movies and comedy movies I've ever seen - the story is really poor, the humor is really weak, and those young actors are really lacking talent.

1/10

That's right I gave it a frickin 9! I read the other reviews and I'm guessing they're all 16, and don't seem to know what they're talking about. I'm an 80s baby, we made this genre.

First off, who gives a s**t about Selena Gomez, she was a footnote in this movie and the least entertaining part. Second of all, 95% of the raunchy teen movies are about the same thing, kids acting out, but in this one it's the kids who are the responsible ones and the adults that are truly f**ked. That's where this idea is original. Sure there's some first-person p.o.v. stuff, slightly unnecessary and beside the point but, it was only because Morgan Freeman wasn't available to explain the mayhem of the twisted plot and somebody had to.

The cameos were awesome. Seeing Jason Lee and Patrick Warbutton beyond the boundaries of a PG rating was refreshing and reminded me why I loved them and they were just the tip of the filthy iceberg; Cary Elwes made me laugh as soon as he opened his mouth, I've had a crush on Elizabeth Shue since Back to the Future and probably will until she's at least 80 this movie made sure of it, Dylan McDermott brought stuff to the table I didn't know he had, apparently Heather Graham is still hot and don't even get me started on Mary-Louise Parker...awesome.

So if you're like me and love dirty, dark, raunchy comedies that have the balls to say it, you'll love this and wish more movies were like it. This movie is definitely not for kids even though it's starring a few so wait till they're in bed and enjoy!

Rick's life has gotten complicated. I couldn't even begin to explain what has happened. The list of events just came at me too fast to keep up.

Almost no one in this movie has morals. But Rick is basically a good kid and Nina has no reason to reject him. I'm not familiar with Nat Wolff but he has an appeal similar to the teenage Scott Baio and Ben Feldman of "Superstore". Occasionally he talks to the camera. He's actually quite good but not the standout.

Selena Gomez is really cute and does a capable job as Nina.

Mary-Louise Parker has to be the standout, but not for the reasons I thought. As I look at the credits I realize there is one character I thought was someone else. But first, Parker does a great job as constantly drunk Lucy, and then she makes appearances as Saint Lola, a fantasy character only Rick can see. But there were actually two saints, so I can't say for sure who did what.

Heather Graham as Annette, whose skirts are entirely too short and who shows off too much cleavage, is not believable as a lawyer, so I assumed she was one of Kristen's stripper friends. Later, it's clear she is really who she says. Still, a good performance.

I've liked Elisabeth Shue since she was a teenage baby sitter. Here, she is definitely all grown up. She's good enough as the promiscuous Pamela but also appears as one of the saints only Rick can see. I'm assuming that she's the one who was not only gorgeous but also quite naughty. But I thought there was just one.

Gary Busey looked familiar, but I didn't know his name until the credits. Busey is the only actor with a blooper reel during those credits, and I suppose it's worth seeing). He seems quite old for a uniformed officer but he's still quite tough.

We also hear occasional announcements from and get a couple of scenes with the uptight Principal Poole, portrayed as only Patrick Warburton can nearly every time we see this man on screen in whatever movie or TV series.

Even though there is so much bizarre comedy, there is a tender and sad moment. Since the imdb credits show photos, I can conclude that the fine performance in this scene comes from Carlease Burke, who has a Caribbean accent of some kind.

Have I made it clear this movie is not family-friendly? I hope so. I can't even begin to imagine what was bleeped out, and what made it to TV is pretty bad too. One man is washing dishes and these include something which is blurred. However, I suspect things may not be as bad as they seem because a nun who took a vow of silence was given special permission to speak so she could teach Latin. This was necessary so she wouldn't go to (bleep). You can't say that? No wonder so many words are missing. But from what I could tell this movie was hilarious.

If you can get through it, I think you'll be rewarded.

An amazing and interesting movie with comedy & laughs, Gomez & Wolff put in a great amount of effort into the movie, shown through how well the movie turned out. The movie is a romantic comedy with an amazing plot, story-line, and characters. 'Behaving Badly' is definitely worth your time & will put a smile on your face, but at the same time, teach you a wonderful life lesson. Props to Selena for a more mature role in this film and doing an amazing job! I hope to see these two collaborate in more movies. They did an amazing job together and this is definitely a movie worth watching more than one time. Be sure to check out this delightful movie soon!

The first time I watched it I thought it was totally enjoyable. The second time I watched I thought it's also really quite forgettable and a bit monotonous. So maybe it's only good for one watch. It can often depend on how you're feeling too, as to how you receive a film on any particular time. I think it's a contrived comedy film. The lead character has a lot of snide comments about things. It reminds me of Ferris Bueller in some ways. The Poster has Selena Gomez on it but she's a very incidental character to the plot. It shows the target audience. I however like and know the two female leads, mainly Elizabeth Shue whom I remember from the 80s and the chick from Weeds. What's his name from Earl is wasted. In fact that's the thing about this film, it's all over the shop in terms of a coherent story line. That is fatiguing to watch.

Stupidest movie i ever seen, but , oh what a .... Perfect for rainy afternoon

Lately, I've been doing some serious crushing on former Disney star Selena Gomez (as well as a few other post-teen hotties from the same network as well as Nickelodeon,but I won't get into them).Despite the fact that she has poor taste in particular boyfriends,she's definitely talented and quite a looker. But one wonders whether she'll be as popular 5 yrs from now or drop off the face of the earth.you can only go by her singing career(which will likely fizzle out because Disney-based pop has n't much of a shelf-life)and a fledgling acting career.Some advice to Ms. Gomez,rise above the material,cuz whether she likes it or not,she's the main reason for even giving 'Behaving Badly' a second glance.

High schooler Rick Stevens(Wolff)narrates the tale(Ferris Bueller- style)of how he won the heart of his true love Nina Pennington(Gomez)and along the way conquers a pill-popping',Vodka swilling mother(Mary-Louise Parker),stripper older sister(Ashley Rickards),estranged and adulterous father(Cary Elwes),seductress mother(Elizabeth Shue)of his slightly unhinged best bud Billy(Buchanan),vindictive ex(Stowell)of said true love,as well a pervy priest(Jason Lee),pervier principal(Patrick Warburton),shifty attorney(Heather Graham)and down-right sleazy strip club boss(a rare comedic performance by Dylan McDermott)who probably runs the same seedy establishment where his sister part-times.

The film is pretty predictable,since it seems to use cliché's from teen sex comedies of yesteryear,including a ludicrous wager(on how long it takes 'til he beds Nina) Rick makes with a fellow classmate who happens to be the son of a Lithuanian mobster(a plot device i felt superfluous and closely similar to 'American Pie').But this should have been more successful,considering the attractive supporting cast alone.But 'Behaving Badly'does n't quite cut it and IMAO,here's why:Nat Wolff,the obvious protagonist,has the charisma of a wire hanger,after you twist it to snake out your clogged drain.This flick falls in line with previous duds 'Bandslam' and 'I Love You,Beth Cooper',which despite featuring the eye candy of ingénues Vanessa Hudgens(Selena's 'Spring Breakers' co-star)and Hayden Panettiere respectively,had male leads that never endeared you to the story.Wolff comes across rather smug,so it's hard to sympathize with his character and you don't see why Gomez's character would be interested in him(especially when he fails to deliver on backstage passes to the Josh Groban concert).I'll admit that this movie is more enjoyable than the previously mentioned 'Bandslam' and 'Beth Cooper',but at least those two flicks had theatrical releases while this movie,already delayed by nearly 2 yrs,got an iTunes release this month.I think that guy McLovin,from 'Superbad' would have been a better choice for the role of Rick.

As for the rest of the cast,they really shine in their roles and wind up stealing scenes-the adults in particular.You never really buy the Rick/Nina romance so it would've been better served to explore his relationship with his long-suffering mum(Parker also moonlights as Rick's guardian angel(?)of sorts,another subplot that does n't quite work)or his sultry sister,who invites her stripper friends over to the crib in a sequence that reminds me of 'Risky Business'.Going back to Gomez,she's not a terrible actress,as others have described her,but in this particular movie she seems un-enthused,not having the 'just go with it' approach as the more established actors like Parker,Lee,Elwes,McDermott,and Graham.I really wished that at any minute she would've seized the opportunity to steal this movie away from Wolff,but it never quite happened.

Based on the Ric Browde's 2000 novel titled "While I'm Dead,Feed the Dog"(which should've been the title for the film-a cryptic note scrawled by Billy's mom after a failed suicide attempt sends her to the hospital)and adequately directed by Tim Garrick,'Behaving Badly'is not for the faint of heart(as in pre-pubescent fans of Gomez's Disney show 'Wizards of Waverly Place'),it really earns its R-rating.But it never gets to the degree of recent The Asylum releases(yes there is nudity and no-Selena does n't disrobe but she does call Rick a 'motherfucker'which considering his affair with the milfy Shue,is quite appropriate).It is the supporting cast that saves this flick from being a total loss,so it's slightly above average and though you won't be laughing hysterically throughout,the film has its moments,mostly provided by McDermott and a few involving Lachlan Buchanan.Most film pundits would already consider this a failure because of its aforementioned failure to obtain a theatrical release and a desire to prove Gomez an overrated no- talent(I think it's her punk-ass on-again,hopefully off-again Canadian bff who deserves that title;he actually makes a blink-and you'll miss him cameo in the jail scene.Remember,this was filmed in 2012,when the 2 were very much an item).But I must remind you that Selena is not the actually star or main focus of this picture,so don't blame her if you're disappointed,believe me,you could do worse(did I mention The Asylum teen sex comedies?).Selena is gorgeous in this,but almost every actress is attractive in this(Graham and Shue are especially tantalizing),even the background strippers.So if you like Selena,rent this off Netflix or iTunes and hopefully she'll take my advice for her future film endeavors:Rise above the script and go for it!!

I like it! It made me laugh the entire time! I'd definitely watch it again.

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)

Rating: 3.2/5 stars

A quirky comedy, which is quite hilarious in parts, and breezy in others when it doesn't be hilarious. Tim Garrick and Scott Russell's script throws in all the naughty elements for a typical teen comedy, which can take give viewers a nostalgic throwback on some of the fun times during their school and college days.

Garrick also doubles up as the Director, and he handles the material with just the right kind of nonchalance and spice needed to execute a silly, American sex comedy about young adults discovering adventurous things in life and encountering trouble along the way.

Nat Wolff and Selena Gomez just about past muster as the leads, but it's the supporting cast -boasting a string of noted movie and TV personalities - from Mary-Louise Parker, to Elisabeth Shue, Heather Graham, Patrick Warburton, and Dylan McDermott who really throw their weight into the proceedings to elevate what could have been an average, done-to-death teen, sex comedy. By the end of it all, you'll end up quite enjoying "Behaving Badly", and actually be glad that you chanced upon this little known, comedy romp.

The story was hilarious the cast and the acting was amazing i recommend this movie it will bring a smile to your face.

Cute funny shows with lots of crazy situations and the only one who cares is our hero. In the end life goes on. A good chuckle to be had by anyone over 16.

This movie was weird but it had a lot of very good lines in it. I'd say it was an OK attempt at crossing American Pie with Eurotrip. I don't know why this didn't get much much higher reviews. I'd want to give it a 10 just to make up for people with no sense of humor who gave it a 1. I'd give it about a 7.5 if I was completely honest.

Yeah, I think that the kids had outdone their jobs. I would prefer watching #SelenaGomez in some other movies than this one But really I enjoyed her role as Nina very much........ LOVE U SELENA !!!!! Hope to see U in the next movie soon...... I really liked this movie also the bunch of shits in the movie.One can really go with the level of comedy with actors like Selena Gomez.She really has killed her job in this movie.You will be surprised to see the grown ups in the movies. OMG !!! That was also shown in the trailer.But U will not regret yourself if u went watching this movie with someone.Hope U all enjoy the movie and don't forget to buy pop-corns before going in. Love U Selena!!!!!