New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

Follow Me

• Dark Shadows ***
• Darling Companion **1/2
• God Bless America ***
• Marvel's The Avengers ***1/2
• ReGeneration ***
• Sound of My Voice ***
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits ***1/2
• The Raven ***
• Safe **1/2
• The Lucky One 1/2*
• 4:44 Last Day on Earth **1/2
• Blue Like Jazz **
• The Cabin in the Woods ***1/2
• Damsels in Distress ***1/2
• Lockout **1/2
• The Three Stooges ***
• The Turin Horse ****
• We Have a Pope **1/2
• American Reunion **
• Goon ***
• More

• Bird of Paradise
• Maniac Cop
• Miss Representation
• Mother's Day (2012)
• Murder Obsession
• Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
• Underworld Awakening
• The Vow
• Clueless
• Haywire
• Hit!
• Men in Black
• New Year's Eve
• The Red House
• More

• Peter Lord
• Abel Ferrara
• Nicholas Sparks
• Whit Stillman
• Sean Hayes
• Terence Davies
• Peter Lord Interview
• Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
• Taika Waititi
• Will Ferrell
• Interview: Ewan McGregor [SF Examiner]
• Interview: the 'Project X' stars [SF Examiner]
• Interview: Oren Moverman
• Interview: Rachel McAdams
• Interview: Ti West
• Interview: Elizabeth Banks
• 2011: The Year's Best Films
• Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
• The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
• My Top 100 Films [Updated]
• My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
• Christmas Movies
• Essential Halloween & Horror Movies
• Cult Movies
• More Features and Interviews

• Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, by Alonso Duralde
• Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
• James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
• Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
• More Books

• Home
• Reviews A-C
• Reviews D-F
• Reviews G-J
• Reviews K-M
• Reviews N-Q
• Reviews R-T
• Reviews U-Z

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Chaos (2001)

Rating: 3 Stars (out of 4)

Girl Power

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Chaos on DVD

Coline Serreau (best known for the original French Three Men and a Cradle) writes and directs this snappy, female revenge fantasy -- a less-hysterical Thelma and Louise. Forced onto the street by her family, Algerian-born prostitute Malika (Rachida Brakni) begins stealing money from her pimp in order to someday retire. One night, she's caught and makes a run for it. A white, bourgeois couple -- Paul (Vincent Lindon) and Hélène (Catherine Frot) -- in a car have a chance to help her, but instead they lock their doors. Later, Hélène visits Malika in the hospital and begins to return again and again, helping to care for her. The women eventually become friends and together manage to outwit all the men in their collective lives, including the selfish and neurotic Paul. Serreau makes fine use of digital video and crisp cutting to keep the story on its toes. But really, do all the men in the movie have to be this stupid and self-involved? The film even opens with a biting pair of scenes in which two grown men hide in bathrooms to avoid seeing their mothers.

Starring: Rachida Brakni, Catherine Frot, Vincent Lindon
Written by: Coline Serreau
Directed by: Coline Serreau
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Language: French, with English subtitles
Running Time: 109 minutes
Date: April 4, 2003