''Skateland'' is a 2010 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by Anthony Burns. It premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

in January 2010. The film was released in the United States on May 13, 2011, with distribution by

Freestyle Releasing Freestyle Releasing, LLC is an independent film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2004, specializing in releasing films theatrically. Unlike most distributors, Freestyle Releasing does not put up any prints and advertising ...

. The film stars Shiloh Fernandez, Ashley Greene,

Brett Cullen Peter Brett Cullen (born August 26, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Dan Fixx in ''Falcon Crest'' (1986-1988), Sam Cain in '' The Young Riders'' (1989-1990), Governor Ray Sullivan in ''The West Wing'' (2005-2006), G ...

James LeGros James Le Gros () (born April 27, 1962) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in ''Living in Oblivion''. Career James Le Gros appeared as Rick in Gus Van Sant's 198 ...

, Taylor Handley, and Haley Ramm. The film is dedicated to the memory of John Hughes, who directed teen films throughout the 1980s.

Plot

The story takes place in a small town in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in 1983. The film follows a 19-year-old boy named Ritchie Wheeler ( Shiloh Fernandez) who spends most of his time at the local

roller rink A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located i ...

where he works and hangs out with his friends, Brent Burkham (Heath Freeman), Brent's sister Michelle ( Ashley Greene) and Kenny Crawford ( Taylor Handley). Ritchie is struggling trying to figure out his future, what he wants to do with his life and if he wants to go to college. When a

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

occurs in Ritchie's life he is forced to make these decisions earlier than he expected.

Cast

* Shiloh Fernandez as Ritchie Wheeler * Ashley Greene as Michelle Burkham *

as David Wheeler *

as Clive Burkham * Taylor Handley as Kenny Crawford * Haley Ramm as Mary Wheeler *

A. J. Buckley Alan John Buckley (born 9 February 1977) is an Irish-Canadian actor. He is known for playing nerdy crime lab technician Adam Ross on the television series ''CSI: NY'' (2005–2013) and Navy SEAL Sonny Quinn on the television series '' SEAL Tea ...

as Teddy *

Melinda McGraw Melinda McGraw (born October 25, 1968) is an American actress. She has starred in movies such as ''The Dark Knight'' (2008), '' Wrongfully Accused'' (1998), and '' Skateland'' (2010), and is also known for her television performances on ''Mad Men ...

as Debbie Wheeler * D. W. Moffett as Jimmy Houston * Heath Freeman as Brent Burkham * Ellen Hollman as Deana Trammel * David Sullivan as Luther *

Casey LaBow Casey LaBow (b. Samantha Casey Labow, Aug. 14, 1986, New York City) is an American film producer and actress known for her role as Kate Denali in '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1'' and '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Par ...

as Candy Boyce

Reception

Based on an unknown, but presumably small budget, ''Skateland'' only grossed $19,411 in the North American box office. Upon its release, the film received mixed reviews. It holds a 47% approval rating on the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film is composed of numerous songs that defined the late 70s and 80s.

References

External links

* * * * *
Skateland at Daemon's Movies
* {{YouTube, N6Odjlb8-EM, Meet the Artists: Anthony Burns 2010 films 2010s teen drama films American coming-of-age drama films American teen drama films 2010s English-language films Films set in 1983 Films set in Texas Films set in the 1980s Films shot in Louisiana Films shot in Texas Roller skating films American independent films Films scored by Michael Penn 2010 directorial debut films 2010s coming-of-age drama films 2010s American films