It's a bit baffling how Brittany Snow was cast in The Vicious Kind, Lee Toland Krieger's at-times darkly funny drama, which, at its most basic level is about a bizarre love triangle between two brothers, Caleb (Adam Scott, who, in my mind at least, is best-known for his four-episode stint as Harley Keiner's replacement Griff on "Boy Meets World") and Peter (Alex Frost, the kid from Elephant), and Peter's girlfriend Emma (Brittany Snow). She is neither dark nor dramatic (this may be false — she was on "Guiding Light" for some time), and no amount of hideous stark black wigs or dye jobs will change that.
However, it seems entirely possible that that's what Krieger was going for: a sweet, naive girl who is trying to seem anything but. It's difficult to tell what we're supposed to make of Emma. Is it an act? Is she as sweet and innocent as she looks?
Caleb doesn't think so. He's convinced himself that all women are whores, and worries that Emma is going to hurt his brother. He goes so far as to attack her in a grocery store, calling her a whore and accusing her of sleeping with the football team (a little harsh — she's not a cheerleader, after all), and gets a punch in the face for his troubles.
Eventually there's sexual tension between the two. Caleb, torn between dislike for Emma and a desire to sleep with her, tries to convince her that they're better together than she and Peter, who's clueless about any of this. Unlike Emma, he's exactly what he seems: a nice guy, but naive. He's a virgin, trusting, pretty much believes most of what people tell him. Caleb and Emma do end up having sex, and, a testament to how far Caleb's persuasive nature can reach, we're surprised to discover that Emma is a virgin.
We discover that Caleb is, of course, emotionally damaged (the antics are a defense mechanism); his mother died while he was a teen; he's been estranged from his father (J.K. Simmons, unpleasant at best here) ever since; he suffers an unknown heartbreak from a previous girlfriend (the circumstances of which are unclear — all we are told is that he takes photos of himself having sex with a prostitute to send to his ex).
Scott's performance has already been widely-praised by critics, and for good reason. He brings a strange likability to a character who is, for the most part, a complete asshole. Caleb is rude, too blunt for his own good, potentially sociopathic, and it doesn't help at all that he's involuntarily forgone sleep for more than a few days. But Scott knows there's more there, and he fights to bring it out. Even when he's being a jerk Caleb will make you laugh (Scott's had experience with this in Stepbrothers, in which he played the dick biological brother of Will Ferrell); humor is one of the surest ways to get you on the side of any character. And that deep-down sadness that he keeps at bay with an acerbic wit most likely true to Scott's own nature just makes him all the more sympathetic. Whatever messed him up messed him up good — it makes sense that Emma would develop feelings for him, no matter how hard she tries not to.
(For the record, Brittany Snow just looks weird with black hair. Whatever Krieger was going for with Brittany Snow, he surely could have found it more easily with an actress who wouldn't leave people thinking, "What?" The unexpectedness of her presence might be enough to completely remove you from the point of the film.)
DVD Bonus Features
The Vicious Kind can be watched with commentary with Kreiger and Scott, or just Kreiger. The one with both is recommended; Kreiger on his own is tedious (he himself implores you to skip it), but Scott is a wise-ass, and an entertaining one at that.
Behind-the-Scenes Footage (about 16 minutes worth of not-too-telling interviews with cast and crew), and deleted (7 minutes) and extended (16 minutes) scenes, none of which offer a whole lot of insight into the film's meaning.
"The Vicious Kind" is on sale February 23, 2010 and is rated R. Drama. Written and directed by Lee Toland Kreiger. Starring Adam Scott, Alex Frost, Brittany Snow, JK Simmons.
