If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

I picked this up at the local video store, having been impressed with its credentials and the intriguing writeup about the storyline. I guess I'm glad I did, even if the film really fails at getting beyond some rather simplistic coming-of-age poignancy. The kind of films I most enjoy are slower mood pieces ... but they have to add up to something."Dandelion" fails because the script really isn't meaty enough to warrant any in-depth resonance to these characters. The cast does remarkably well with precious little, particularly Vincent Kartheiser in the lead role and Arliss Howard as his father. Their relationship is one that's actually fascinating but it doesn't get too far into redemptive territory. Part of what I want to know is how these characters got here. How'd the father become such a remote curmudgeon? What's Mason's past history with friends, his mother? His way of being protective over her is touching, but his role as her son is given scant attention. Everyone seems so passive, as if they're letting things roll over them. And what really motivates Mason to take the fall for his father? Why does he feel that in some sense he deserved it? This we'll never know because the writing isn't there. When the dad tells Mason he loves him in the graveyard, it's supposed to be a powerful moment, but comes off as pretty sophomoric. Because, really, if that's all he realizes, it's not much.Because of the poor writing, the plot turns feel forced, contriving to hammer down twists and turns. But none of that feels natural -- just overloaded (particularly Danny's demise ... what a cheap shot by the writers).Best scene: Mason, Danny and the dying bird. That scene, at the very least, has some surprise and kick to it. But it doesn't really connect in any coherent way with their love and the rest of the film.The pace and cinematography are just fine. There's great use of the landscape and pretty camera work, but I'm not sure it really adds much to have endless fields of waving grain.Ah, such beautiful emptiness. Too bad it's not as interesting as it could've been.

This was an absolutely, as someone else before said, textbook angsty coming of age movie. The thing is I usually really like a good independent coming of age movie. But this was terrible. I struggled through this movie every step of the way. In fact, half-way through the movie, I had to stop, go to scene selections, and pick the last chapter of the movie to browse it to see if the movie got interesting. It looked like it did although was pretty sure they were going to find a way to make it underwhelming anyway, which they did. I have a lot of problems with this movie. The beginning is one. After watching the whole thing, I can say with confidence that they threw in that gun-in-the-mouth scene just to shock us into watching the whole thing to see how the events lead up to that. But it turns out that he never actually does it anyway. Another problem is that the person playing the girl looked too old for the character. She is playing a 16/18 year old girl but her face looks like late 20's perhaps even early 30's. It completely drew me out of the movie. Then there is the fact that after only the second time of even seeing each other the girl kisses Mason. There wasn't even any good build up to it. It just made her seem slutty. I also found her suicide highly aggravating. I am sorry but she was not mentally strong enough to kill herself by simply throwing herself in the slow-moving stream. She could not have resisted bringing herself back up for air. Even Virginia Woolf had to weigh herself down with rocks so she could drown herself.Another bothersome event in the film was the fact that they just skipped the kid's 2 years in jail. I mean they just completely ignored a great opportunity to build on the depth of his character, his relationship with his parents, and development of anything with Danny. There is also the fact that no one in this town goes to high school or college or talks about it when they are out of it or not going to it. At least Mason should have been talking about it because he's supposed to be the angsty teen whose too smart for his dive of a town. But he is not smart because to him apparently the only way to escape his town is suicide or in the end to hop on a train and in probability become a bum. So in the end he is stupid and depressed which makes for a very uncompelling character. I thought the Father did a good job but they didn't do enough with him. We don't even learn if he won the election or not after he ends up accidentally killing one person and sending his son to jail for. The only thing I find no fault with in this movie is the setting. It is gorgeous and I doubt anyone can argue against that.

"Dandelion" is one of those films that seems like a good idea, mostly because of other films it reminds you of. In this case, the films it brings to mind are "Donnie Darko", "American Beauty", and particularly David Gordon Green's brilliant "All the Real Girls". While director Mark Milgard, along with his two (!) other screenwriters, obviously had their hearts in the right place, the end results leave a lot to be desired.Cinematographer Tim Orr (who works on all of David Gordon Green's films), does a typically great job at capturing beautiful, Malick-like landscapes, but Milgard blatantly lacks the poetic touch needed to find an emotionally resonant story within the picturesque environment. Instead, all he manages to come up with is an almost embarrassingly by-the-numbers coming-of-age story. The plot itself would not be such a problem if he had infused it with convincing characters or memorable dialogue, but alas he does not. The characters are wince-inducingly one-dimensional (the angry dad, the repressed alcoholic mom, the "troubled" girl next door, and of course the introverted, gloomy protagonist). I found myself all but begging the filmmakers to allow for some nuance to creep in, to allow the characters some kind of depth, but no. None of the characters are allowed to escape their stereotype for even a minute. This is particularly sad in the case of the lead Vincent Kartheiser, who did good work in Larry Clark's "Another Day in Paradise", and seemed able to deliver here too if he had been allowed to not play up to his morose stereotype of a character. Taryn Manning, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired. Although of course the filmmakers didn't help, her performance was still notably lacking.At times the film showed promise. In it's best moments, it recalled the great classic coming-of-age film "Over the Edge", as well as David Gordon Green's work. But it is actually that last comparison which ultimately proves what a flawed film "Dandelion" truly is. Where David Gordon Green's films always seem to unfold naturally, with no forced plot, "Dandelion" was full of contrived, obvious events. The biggest problem is that Milgard seems so obviously emotionally manipulative. Whereas David Gordon Green's films hit brilliant, unforced, emotional moments, "Dandelion" seemed intent on forcing you what to feel in the most obvious, unsubtle way. This contrivance ultimately amounted to the film more closely resembling achingly self-aware trendfests like "Garden State" rather than the Green or Terrence Malick it seemed to be attempting. In this respect, the dialogue was often particularly problematic as well.All and all, "Dandelion" is the kind of film I desperately want to root for, that I want to see succeed, yet it stubbornly insists on shooting itself in the foot at every opportunity it gets.

There isn't much to say about Dandelion that the film doesn't say for itself. Form the beautiful shots of Idaho fields to the perfectly understated acting, Dandelion is its own greatest compliment. The editing, although only using very few techniques succeeds in making the most powerful transistions possible. As well, for a movie of its length and bare bones story it is amazing that the film never feels boring. Most directors would have felt like making Dandelion a short, but in its full length one can see its true colors. Anyone who watches independent film will not be surprised by the plot, but the beauty with which Dandelion executes the simple story is a testament to artistic film making.