Synopsis
A group of high-school friends must come to terms with the fact that one of them, Samson, killed another, Jamie. Faced with the brutality of death, each must decide whether to turn their friend in to the police, or to help him escape the consequences of his dreadful deed.
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Cast
- Crispin GloverLayne
- Keanu ReevesMatt
- Ione SkyeClarissa
- Roxana ZalMaggie
- Daniel RoebuckSamson
- Dennis HopperFeck
- Joshua John MillerTim
- Tom BowerBennett
- Danyi DeatsJamie
- Constance ForslundMadeleine
Recommendations
- 88
Chicago Sun-Times
River's Edge is not a film I will forget very soon. Its portrait of these adolescents is an exercise in despair. - 80
Salon
No other film captures more accurately what it’s like to be dead inside during the end of the Cold War, the height of MTV and the invasion of concerned but impotent parents. - 80
Empire
A disquieting tale set in the grim realities of trashy America. Some great, often insane performances make it a memorable trip. - 75
The A.V. Club
It’s sloppily written, heavy-handed, and tonally inconsistent—but it remains striking for its bleakness and a smattering of bizarre, unhinged performances from Crispin Glover, Daniel Roebuck, and Dennis Hopper. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
This generation's postpunk worldview is rooted in nihilism, detachment, and fear of nuclear annihilation--nothing matters to them except friends, rock 'n' roll, and getting stoned. River's Edge also boasts the best cast of unknowns since Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders. Reeves and Skye are superb as the moral centers of the film, Roebuck is great as the killer, and the supporting performances are also impressive. Glover and Hopper go over the top and get away with it. - 70
Los Angeles Times
There's a lot of low-key poetry and nicely casual tension in Hunter's direction and in Frederick Elmes' cinematography--and the acting ensemble is fine. For all its flaws and the revulsion it may induce, River's Edge has something valuable: a dark, harrowing but moral perspective. - 70
The New York Times
Mr. Hunter has an extraordinarily clear understanding of teen-age characters, especially those who must find their own paths without much parental supervision. Though its Midwestern locale and lower socioeconomic stratum give it a different setting, River's Edge shares something with Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero, a novel that is also full of directionless, drug-taking teen-age characters who are without moral moorings and left entirely to their own devices. This is as chilling to witness as it is difficult to dramatize, if only because at their centers these lives are already so empty. - 60
Variety
Tim Hunter’s River’s Edge is an unusually downbeat and depressing youth pic. As group leader Layne, Crispin Glover could have used more restraint: he gives a busy, fussy performance. Others in the cast are more effective, with young Joshua Miller particularly Striking as the awful child, Tim.
