It’s rare to see Salvadoran/Guatemalan American representation on screen, especially something as specific as the Southern California skate-punk scene, and that’s honestly the one thing I really appreciated about Wassup Rockers. I knew kids like this growing up in middle school and high school, and some of them even reminded me of my cousins. Whenever the skaters are just hanging out, talking shit, and skating together, the movie actually feels authentic.
But outside of that, the movie really falls apart for me. The acting is rough, and while I understand Larry Clark was going for realism by casting actual teens, a lot of the dialogue and interactions feel awkward and cringe instead of natural. It comes off like he had a loose outline for a script and just told the actors to react to whatever scenario they were thrown into. The biggest issue is that none of the kids are really developed beyond being skaters, so there’s barely any emotional connection to them. That feels more like a failure on the director’s part than the cast’s.
And honestly, the entire movie had me questioning Larry Clark’s intentions. What was he even trying to say with this film? By the end, it feels less like a genuine story about these kids and more like Clark using them to throw shock value and exploitative situations at the audience again.
It’s rare to see Salvadoran/Guatemalan American representation on screen, especially something as specific as the Southern California skate-punk scene, and that’s honestly the one thing I really appreciated about Wassup Rockers. I knew kids like this growing up in middle school and high school, and some of them even reminded me of my cousins. Whenever the skaters are just hanging out, talking shit, and skating together, the movie actually feels authentic.
But outside of that, the movie really falls apart for me. The acting is rough, and while I understand Larry Clark was going for realism by casting actual teens, a lot of the dialogue and interactions feel awkward and cringe instead of natural. It comes off like he had a loose outline for a script and just told the actors to react to whatever scenario they were thrown into. The biggest issue is that none of the kids are really developed beyond being skaters, so there’s barely any emotional connection to them. That feels more like a failure on the director’s part than the cast’s.
And honestly, the entire movie had me questioning Larry Clark’s intentions. What was he even trying to say with this film? By the end, it feels less like a genuine story about these kids and more like Clark using them to throw shock value and exploitative situations at the audience again.
