''The Preppie Connection'' is a 2015

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

film co-written and directed by Joseph Castelo, based on the infamous 1984 incident where

Choate Rosemary Hall Choate Rosemary Hall (often known as Choate; ) is a Independent school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational, College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Choate is currently ...

student Derek Oatis, along with a handful of friends, ran a cocaine smuggling operation on the school's campus. The film stars

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

Lucy Fry Lucy Elizabeth Fry (born 13 March 1992) is an Australian actress. She is known for portraying Zoey in '' Lightning Point'', Lyla in '' Mako: Island of Secrets'', and Lissa Dragomir in the film '' Vampire Academy''. Fry was also cast in Hulu's e ...

Logan Huffman Logan Huffman (born December 22, 1989) is an American actor. He appeared in the 2009 TV series '' V'' and starred in the 2013 film '' Bad Turn Worse''. Personal life Huffman was born in Noblesville, Indiana, where he was the first born of trip ...

, Sam Page,

Jessica Rothe Jessica Ann Rothenberg (born May 28, 1987), better known as Jessica Rothe (), is an American actress. She is known for her role in the MTV comedy series ''Mary + Jane'' (2016) and her lead role as Tree Gelbman in the comedy slasher film ''Happy D ...

, and

Bill Sage William Sage III (born April 3, 1962) is an American actor and alumnus of State University of New York at Purchase. He is known for his collaborations with director Hal Hartley. Sage has appeared in more than 80 movies, most notable ''American Ps ...

. It had world premiere at the

Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October ...

on October 10, 2015. It was released in the United States on March 18, 2016, in select theaters and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its Sun ...

Premise

In 1984

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

, a

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * Private (Ryōko Hirosue song), "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private ...

student uses connections to create a drug trafficking network at his school which leads him and his friends into the dangerous world of

drug cartel A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when th ...

Cast

Production

In January 2013, it was announced that

Evan Peters Evan Thomas Peters (born January 20, 1987) is an American actor. He is known for his multiple roles on the FX anthology series ''American Horror Story''; as Detective Colin Zabel in the HBO crime drama limited series '' Mare of Easttown'', wh ...

Bella Heathcote Isabella Heathcote (born 27 May 1987) is an Australian actress and model. She began her acting career in 2008. The following year, she had a recurring role as Amanda Fowler on the television soap opera '' Neighbours''. Heathcote has since port ...

had been cast in the lead roles of Tobias and Alex respectively, and the project had been written and directed by Joseph Castelo. However, either Peters and Heathcote dropped out or were recast, in July 2014,

was cast in the role of Alexis. The following day, it was announced that

and

had joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

took place in New York City from July 21 to August 9, 2014. with production beginning in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

on August 12, 2014.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on October 10, 2015. It was also screened at the

Mill Valley Film Festival The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual American film festival founded in 1977. History In October 1977, Mark Fishkin, Rita Cahill and Lois Cole organized a three-day film festival. It featured three film tributes, Francis Ford Coppola's ''Th ...

on October 15, 2015. In December 2015,

acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released on March 18, 2016, in select theaters and through

Critical reception

''The Preppie Connection'' received negative reviews from film critics. It holds an 11% approval rating on review aggregator 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 9 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film holds a rating of 34 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Dennis Harvey of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' gave the film a negative review writing: "Unconvincingly presented in a way that belies the factual basis of a case that won national notoriety at the time, the film will make serviceable small-screen fodder, but lacks the deeper insight or distinguishing directorial style that might have tempted arthouse distributors."

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Preppie Connection, The 2015 films 2015 crime drama films 2010s teen drama films American crime drama films American films based on actual events American independent films American teen drama films Crime films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events Films about cocaine Films about the illegal drug trade Films about the upper class Films set in 1984 Films set in Connecticut Films shot in New York City Films shot in Puerto Rico French crime drama films English-language French films French films based on actual events French independent films French teen drama films Teen crime films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s French films