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Such a frustrating disappointment

Good movie but grossly overrated

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

To end the confusion once and for all, the film was made as THE HAIRY BIRD and, yes, the title is wordplay on the male wedding tackle (hilarious really, that cute little cartoon bird that fails at its attempts to take to flight in the title sequence is, in fact, a comically animated 'man's nether bits', and quite ballsy, huh?) but then the distributors backed off not to be offensive, and it was released in Canada as STRIKE! (bland!) and in the US as ALL I WANNA DO (passable, I suppose). There is the referral early on in the movie 'this school eats the hairy bird' which (would have) fitted in nicely with the far more clever original title.I downloaded the trailer and wasn't entirely convinced that it would be great, but I have loads of Kirsten Dunst movies in my RavenGlam collection, so what the hell, I bought it because she is in it. And I'm glad, no THANKFUL, I did. Movie only became a hit with me in the second half, mainly because Gaby Hoffman failed to impress, let me not pussyfoot around that any longer. She's mostly boring, and ensemble cast 'up your ziggie with a wah-wah brush!' she's virtually the female lead. There's too little zing in the way the character is portrayed, so there you have a Flat Critter. Okay, so RavenGlamDVDCollector will always play favorites with the prettiest actresses, but here I have a rock-solid case! Go on, admit it! Three years later Canadian actress Jessica Paré (LOST AND DELIRIOUS) would have been perfect! Dammit I know you're gonna hate me for this suggestion, but surely there were much brighter candidates for this central part?I just have to mention that Lynn Redgrave played the character of Miss McVane with a quiet rage that played off beautifully. I'm a guy, and I'm here to talk about Chicks, so if I break down, you have to know that Ms Redgrave did something tremendously right. Yes, the little folk has to stand together to have a voice!And the song at the end just takes the cake! "The Hairy Bird"! I am well rewarded for my steadfast devotion all these years towards wading through everything, including end titles. I pity YES, PITY the lot of you who walked out of the theater or switched off on your rented DVDs because you missed the cherry on top! A hilarious, passion-killing rendition of the woes of an inexperienced young girl expecting a lovely surprise, but instead having to get acquainted with a guy's pecker on the first date on the back seat of his car... (Smaller than a mailbox, but bigger than one of those cocktail thingies...) And how the tables were turned! Ouch! I was out of there like a comet, I guess I slammed the door on it... Tell me, have you heard, how she crushed that Hairy Bird... Gee, that will teach you to switch off immediately!Let me just say that Kirsten Dunst is oh-so cute, and then there's Monica Keena, the added surprise, she is lovely, ooh yeah. Enough to make hairy birds all over the world wanna dance with 'em. :)

Strike (1998): Dir: Sarah Kemochan / Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffmann, Rachel Leigh Cook, Lynn Redgrave, Vincent Kartheiser: Combination of National Lampoon's Animal House and Rock N' Roll High School but lacking the comic wit of both. Title refers to Kirsten Dunst's refusal to change. Hopefully after being part of this film she will require a major change. An all girl school is threatened with the possibility of going co-ed. This threatens misfit Dunst who is often late for classes and sabotages anything she considers a threat. Gaby Hoffmann is the new student who believes that the school should speak out. Vulgar and somewhat sexist with Dunst stashing liquor bottles about a bus and the boys who arrive innocent end up puking on everything. Directed by Sarah Kernochan with some fine location areas. This film is also saddled with several names, which can be a bitch when locating it. Dunst and Hoffmann play opposites but neither character obtains a personality. Dreary supporting work by Rachel Leigh Cook as the standard rival who will stop at nothing to expose Dunst. Lynn Reggrave plays the headmistress who cannot think for herself. She is suppose to be in charge but too often she is taking advice from people who are seen as total morons. Everything seems recycled and terribly dull but its message at least rings true. Strong co-ed theme elevates but the crude humour poise a strike against it. Score: 3 / 10

I can promise you that there are probably thousands (if Thousands saw this) that would call this their favorite movie and giggle while they say it. Strike! (as I knew it as) or All I Wanna Do as Netflix knows it as is definitely set to impress a very specific demographic but does it even hit the nail on the head in that aspect? The film is set in the sixties and there is no doubt they are trying to capitalize on the popularity of a previous similar film in 1995 called Now And Then. But this one doesn't have flashbacks or flash forwards. Instead this is about a precocious (I think that's being too kind) group of friends getting into insane trouble while trying to keep their All-Girls School from going co-ed. The girls are barely likable, obnoxious in fact, and they certainly shouldn't be the role model for anyone that this film would be trying to sell itself to. The girls are really the group of girls you'd probably hate...and instead they're put as the 'heroes' of the story and you will have a good time with their antics but you won't fall in love with the story, the setting or the characters.One of the busiest actresses in Hollywood even in the nineties Kirsten Dunst was probably a wise choice to lead this cast. She does have a lot of personality but wow is she ever obnoxious in this. I mean I understand her character is loud and bossy but that doesn't make her fun to watch. Dunst is Dunst and if you like then she did a decent job and if you don't...well your annoyance meter will run high for this role. Another teen cult favorite Gaby Hoffmann (she was actually in the aforementioned Now And Then) plays tom-boy rebel Odette. I think she's probably the strongest actress in the film and her character is probably the most likable as well. Rachael Leigh Cook is also good in her role but her role is kept too small unfortunately because I think she could have done better as more of a main character than a supporting one. Monica Keena, Heather Matarazzo, Matthew Lawrence and Vincent Kartheiser all round out the supporting cast and I honestly think if you flipped this cast around in order of importance...giving more time to Cook, Matarazzo, Lawrence...and less time to Dunst...this might have been this films saving grace.I think that they had a good idea, and good intentions but the script really held this film back. You have to consider whether something that looks fun or sounds funny on paper translates to live action because sometimes it doesn't. Writer/Director Sarah Kernochan helms her own script and that might be a stumble on their part. Kernochan is a songwriter and maybe this is just an idea she was sitting on for awhile and decided to give it a go but either way the film definitely lacks a certain amount of expertise. The demographic that the film is made for I wouldn't let my 11-13 Year old daughter see the movie and everyone else older than that will just see it as fluff. You'll get a chuckle here and there but more groans than anything else. 6/10

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** This was a really fun movie! Kirsten Dunst was great, and completely believable in her role as a mischief-making girl in the '60s. It wasn't the funniest movie I've ever seen (not by a long shot) but there were some parts that made me laugh out loud. The actor who played "Frosty Frost", as Kirsten Dunst's character nicknames him, was cute, as was Shawn Ashmore as the photographer. I also ADORED Monica Keena! The one bad part: how Monica's character turned out to be lesbian, after being being boy-crazy the whole movie. All in all, though, this is one of my very favorite movies. Rent it sometime!