Synopsis
When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.
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Cast
- Chris PedersenJack Diddley
- Bill CoyneEvan Johnson
- Jennifer ClaySheila
- Timothy O'BrienSkinner
- Wade WalstonJoe Schmo
- FleaRazzle
- Maggie EhrigMattie
- Grant MinerKeef
- Christina BeckT'resa
- Andrew PeceEthan Johnson
Recommendations
- 83
The A.V. Club
Suburbia has the attitude and exploitation kicks of other films about youth rebellion, including more than a few Cormans, but Spheeris’ fidelity to the real L.A. scene—including performances by non-actors and musicians like Flea, who appears with a pet rat—compensates for some contrivances in the writing. - 75
The A.V. Club
Compassion and sociological acuity can only take a film so far, however, and clunky dialogue, comically broad supporting characters, and often-amateurish acting sabotage much of Suburbia's plot-and-dialogue-heavy second half. But it still shows enormous empathy and sensitivity in capturing the angst and alienation of American youth, making it seem both rooted in a specific time and place and strangely timeless. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
Although hardly believable, the story is effective, making its rather unwholesome characters sympathetic. - 75
Rolling Stone
The antithesis to the parent-friendly punks of Valley Girl, director Penelope Spheeris' stark, sobering look at the new generation gap pits aging California hippies against their disillusioned kids. - 75
Slant Magazine
In the end, Suburbia’s greatest strength lies in its assertion of youth as a political state of mind. - 70
The New York Times
Probably the best teen-agers-in-revolt movie since Jonathan Kaplan's Over the Edge. - 70
Time Out
A justifiably angry film, fast and full of violent action, though there's plenty of humour too; and the lack of originality is amply compensated for by its manifest sincerity. - 70
Washington Post
All the kids are believable and Suburbia's shortcomings are mostly in its script, not in its characterizations. [11 Feb 1984, p.G1]
