Typical uber-bitchin' indie flick.
No real plot here, just a lot of socially dysfunctional trash acting the part in southern Ohio. It's interesting like a train-wreck so it doesn't get 1 star. The train-wreck qualities aren't enduring enough to grant it a higher rating though. Supposedly it was originally given an NC-17 but was trimmed down to an R. It makes you wonder how weird the uncut version was.

Documentary-ish as all Harmony Korine films are . . .
I bought this thinking I hadn't seen it - alas, yes I did! I definately remember the scene of the boy in the tub filled with murky water eating a candy bar, and his mother tap dancing in the basement. . .It's not quite as good as it's rated, but I - well, I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, but it is interesting. If you can find that dark place that people retreat to after complete decimation - wrap your head around that - and you can see these people, sadly, but look around they're there. The whole cat thing I could do without - and it's really disheartening if that goes on - but the kid Soloman played by Jacob Reynolds shows some potential in recoverying - although, it's pretty obvious his mother would like to keep him a little boy forever. I've like Jacob Reynolds ever since I saw him in "the road to wellville" - he's not only interesting looking, but he's quite an actor - I'm gonna have to see more flicks he's been in.

90 minute ode to torturing cats.
Watching this film, I was reminded of a a term Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert used to employ to describe schlock near the same level as Gummo back in the day. That term would be "geek show". And no other combination of words describes this film better.

The film revolves around a character whose name I didn't catch. Filmmaker Korrine must've realized before casting began that he was in trouble. This lead character is completely void of any interesting character traits other than the fact that the actor playing him looks like the result of a brother-sister union. Gummo follows this unfortunate character (along with other distasteful characters that populate the film's tornado-ravaged town) through a series of "oh-so-disturbing" scenarios that seem to exist simply to shock the viewer rather than to build towards a cohesive plot. Within the film's ninety minutes viewers are subjected to children struggling to recite essay-length dialogue peppered with every curse word you can imagine and very little else, a brother pimping his mentally challenged, overweight sister, and a group of girls examining a pet cat's nipples (among other places) to determine whether it's pregnant.

Even with all this, Korrine does manage to succeed in some arenas. The scenes with Chloe Sevigny and her sisters(?) were so good that I yearned for them to appear more frequently. In fact, they should've been the movie. And Korrine DOES establish an authentic and memorable setting with his rural Ohio town. But still, Gummo falls short. Trash connoiseur Howard Stern and Jerry Springer accomplish what Korrine does with Gummo on a daily basis. And at least they aren't so pretentious as to try and pass it off as art because of indie/ironic soundtrack selections. But of course, you can't criticize films like this without the risk of being grouped in with all the other middle-America squares who just didn't "get it". Sadly, that's not me. I've seen and enjoyed movies more shocking than Gummo and will continue to. The difference between Gummo and those films is that Gummo settles for being a sideshow and sacrifices a plot in doing so.

Exploitation
This film could have ended arbitrarily at any point without sacrificing any meaningfulness, since it had none to begin with. I saw it out of curiosity. The fllm is a mess - it's basically the lowest of lowlives engaging in reprehensible behavior. I wish the tornado had dropped a few houses on these people. They're right out of Deliverance - except that movie was entertaining.
I just waited for this to end. Thank God it finally did.

A must-see for film buffs. This is an important movie.
Harmony Korine outdoes himself in this film by successfully mixing three film approaches/components together: scripted dialogue, improvisation and documentary. This story about the impovershed and somewhat isolated town of Xena, Ohio presents a combination of social commentary, uncomfortable personal interaction and the beauty and tragedy of life. Everyone should see this movie once. It might disturb you, it might make you laugh, but it will definitely effect you.