Red Hook (2009)

I often watch movies claiming to be about New York City, just to see if they're even vaguely accurate.  Being a hardcore NYC-dweller, I can spot missteps in a second, then becoming completely distracted from the movie.  I'm taking "Red Hook" to mean Red Hook, Brooklyn.  Red Hook is a South Brooklyn neighborhood near the water, which now has an Ikea!  It also has the Red Hook ball fields and Red Hook Lobster.  And that's about all I know about it because I don't travel to the neighborhood that much.

It does amuse me that in the IMDB synopsis, they refer to NYU as "The University of New York City."  Lame.  Oh, they also wear sweatshirts that say as much!  LoL.  Guess they couldn't get likeness rights for for NYU.  Now I can't be the judge of what NYU buildings look like, so I'll stop being judgey for a little while.

Red Hook is about a girl (Jenny) who watched her sister be brutally murdered in her hometown in North Carolina when she was 8 years old.  Ten years later, she takes off for college in New York City.  However, she's agoraphobic and seemingly afraid of everything, especially her showtune-crazed roommate (Angela).  But quickly enough, Jenny finds a cute little boytoy (Gavin) to explore downtown with.  They even sit on a roof and go to a real live bodega.  Maybe this is more accurate than I think.  There's a lot of Sarah McLachlan-ish music which gives me a headache and I try to ignore it.

What is random and weird is the strange cuts of various NYC shots in between scenes.  You know, American flags, bridges, subways, Two Boots pizza.  I really hope they show rats and cockroaches, an important part of NYC culture.  The most annoying RA on the planet (Tim) keeps bothering everyone to join this "scavenger hunt" to do some floor bonding.  He even promises non-existent White Stripes tickets.  They're all supposed to get text message clues and rush around the city solving them.  Not a bad way to spend a day.

Poor Jenny's partner Gavin stands her up at the scavenger hunt and she is devastated.  Tim continues to encourage her to play the game, claiming that the cryptic text messages she is receiving are all about the hunt.  Meanwhile, the others continue to run around, still with the prize in their sights.  They keep getting picked off one by one, but who is the killer?

This movie wasn't as horrible as the reviews seemed to suggest, and it managed to hold my interest for 85 minutes.  The kills weren't that great, and the reveal of the killer was pretty meh, but there's worse things out there right now that you could watch.  But I'm proud to report that it's pretty NYC-accurate!  I even saw a Duane Reade!