User Reviews

I read the reviews on-site and many off-site before watching this and saw they were very polarized, so I even went through some European reviews, which treated it quite a bit nicer but which were also pretty polarized. I did notice that, as of this writing, 20% of the people voting here on IMDb gave it a 10, which is significantly higher than even George Clooney's latest film, "The American" received, although it has a somewhat higher overall score. The major complaint I read amongst all the reviews was about the ongoing narration but, I thought, it's only a dollar rental and if it's too intrusive I can always watch something else. So, I decided to give it a spin.

Imagine you are watching a young man in a room, alone with the open casket of his mother, who had just passed away from cancer. He's thinking that the wig the undertaker put on her, to hide her hair loss from the therapy, was unbecoming. He would rather see her for the last time as she really was at the end of her days, bald-headed. This is an important thought of his, which sets up a subsequent scene that would otherwise be totally inexplicable.

How can a film-maker express this thought? By introducing someone into the room with which the young man can have a conversation about this? No, that destroys the solitude of the moment. By having him speak this thought aloud to his mother's remains? Not very likely. By creating a completely new scene where someone is present and then create an artifice to have a conversation about it? No, that adds unnecessary complexity and bulk to wade through, confusing the storyline.

What Schumacher does is to use a narrator to give the viewer a short-cut directly into the minds of his characters at times - many times. This makes the film somewhat more like a visual book than a movie. It wouldn't do for most movies but it was effective here. (I got a good chuckle from the vapidity of the last thought of Sara's that we are exposed to.) It is a different approach but I, for one, enjoyed it. I most probably would not of enjoyed the book this film is based on, as I don't think there was enough plot substance here to make an enjoyable book for me but I do think there was sufficient substance for a film. 6.5 out of 10.

I finally got to see this movie and I have to say, I really did like it. I know that this movie has been getting terrible reviews and slammed by just about everybody, but I would like to back this movie up a bit.

1 - When I first heard about this movie and saw the trailer, my first thought was this reminds me of "The Rules of Attraction" and "Less Than Zero," two of my favorite books and movies. So I immediately went searching for the book "Twelve." Found it, read it, and LOVED it. I guess you sort of have to be into these types of stories to enjoy them. But needless to say, the book reminded of "Rules" and "Less Than Zero," which is why I liked it so much, except "Twelve" takes place in the present, which I can relate to, and not the 80's, even though I still love them.

Realizing this right now as I type this, don't watch this movie or read the book if you are not into these types of movies/books. If you are, then I highly recommend it.

2 - After having been a fan of the book, I was very anxious to see the movie. I finally saw it, bought it without seeing and wasn't sure what to expect, and I can say it was better than I expected. I was beginning to let the negative reviews suck me in, but I was pretty pleased with it. I think the main reason why I liked it is because it stayed very true to the book. Obviously the book is better, but the movie was pleasing for me.

3 - I was very happy with the casting in this movie. I think Chase Crawford did a great job. Very believable as White Mike. I hadn't really seen him do anything because I don't watch "Gossip Girl," so it was nice seeing what he can do. I really like Emma Roberts so I enjoyed her just as much as Molly as I always do in any role she portrays. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, small part, but very strong performance. I only knew him as a musician, never seen him act, and was impressed with him. He too, was very believable. Most of the actors in this movie were very believable. The two individuals who stood out most to me were Billy Magnussen and Emily Meade. I have never seen them in anything else before, and I thought they were absolutely great. I hope to see more of them. I also loved Ellen Barkin's appearance in this movie. She was great as always.

4 - A lot of other comments or reviews, slammed the narration of Kiefer Sutherland in this movie. I will admit in the beginning it seemed to be too much, or some parts didn't really need to be narrated, but the majority of the narration, I thought was needed. I did not think it was out of place. It reminded me of the book once again. The narration was informative, descriptive, and at sometimes comical, or comic relief in my opinion.

5 - I thought the style was done very well in this movie. The music, the party scenes, the atmosphere, the different groups and cliques, the suspense and fear, the sadness, the chemistry between the two leads, etc. This movie pulled it off. I was worried before I saw the movie and with all of the bad reviews that it would have been too much or not enough, but NO, I was pleased.

This is my overall opinion on the movie. The only thing I did not like about this movie, and I wont give any spoilers to anyone, I felt like the end was rushed. It seemed like the "Event" at the very end, came and went too fast. Still an impressive performance delivered by the actors, which helped the scene out for me, but I felt like not enough time was spent at the end. I guess to understand what I mean, you would have to read the book then see the movie. My recommendation.

But I will say that although the very end had a slight minor change, again no spoilers, I was happy with the ending. That was a major concern for me, but I thought the very end was simple and sweet. Which worked.

I honestly really hope this review helps people who are interested in this movie. I'm going recommend it to people who are into these types of stories/books/movies. I think what helped me the most was that I knew what was going on, which might be a spoiler for some people or people just might not like that, but just know that if you watch this movie, its a lot like the book. And don't let the negative reviews stop you from seeing it. Check it out and see for yourself.

TWELVE is a film that is at first terrifying in its message about the irresponsible, uncontrollable drive for physical gratification among the wealthy youth of New York, and then a film that makes us profoundly sad that this is what we in our permissive, no established behavioral boundaries society have produced. Joel Schumacher knows his game and once again forces us to examine what we have produced in failing to give our younger generation the security for learning guidelines for social interaction. Jordan Melemed adapted Nick McDonell's novel for the screen and the flow of the story is in the form of offscreen narration by Kiefer Sutherland.

'Twelve' is the new play drug in the party circles of New York City and is supplied to the kids by Lionel (50 Cent), all other drugs being the purview of White Mike (Chace Crawford), a lad whose mother's death from cancer has left him aimless, electing to deal drugs rather than join his confreres in going to the 'proper colleges'. White Mike watches as his high-rolling life is dismantled in the wake of his cousin's murder, which sees his best friend arrested for the crime. White Mike believes that his fellow youth don't need anything, they just want everything and the nexus of his philosophy is drugs. A grossly dysfunctional family of boys - Chris (Rory Culkin), Hunter (Phillip Ettinger) and Claude (Billy Magnussen) - have 'famous parties' in their parents' absence especially for the local bedbunny Sara (Esti Ginzburg). Another sad character is Jessica (Emily Meade) who takes 'Twelve' by mistake and then becomes addicted while her floozy mother (Ellen Barkin) and her supplier Lionel alter her life. The murder of White Mike's cousin and the subsequent effect it has on the rest of these young people leads to a disastrous conclusion. Their lives are as empty as their drug-addled brains.

A story of decay and decadence and misplaced ideals, TWELVE is not pretty to watch, but the performances by some of these young actors make it memorable, forcing us to look at what we've done to our youth.

Grady Harp

Twelve is the drug passed on several young hands by drug dealers White Mike (Chace Crawford) and Lionel (50 Cent). White Mike is the main character of "Twelve", a former college student that drop out his studies, his friends and his family after the death of his mother; and after that he deals with his suffering by selling drugs to other people that seems to have a pain just like him but what we see is a crowd of young getting high in parties, having fun and more fun, and some drama.

This story reminded me of Bret Easton Ellis book "Less Than Zero" where the relations between drug dealers and their rich young clients are presented in a giant wave of repetition where the lives of all characters seems to going downhill, and no one of them can't do anything to get out the vicious circle of drugs and dangerous pleasures. The difference between Ellis book and this film (adapted from a book written by Nick McDonell) is how both medias work with the theme and here in "Twelve" the tragedies might lead to a possible solution, sometimes positive, other times negative. But while you don't get there to the solutions you're gonna walk over and over the same dull routine of futile characters that is very difficult to feel empathy.

White Mike is the notable exception between these characters and the only who I could relate a little, despite his selfishness in dealing with everyone, turning his back to the world, selling drugs to several people but without using it. You can sense that he's there is this world to suffer and suffer again, but he doesn't release that he makes many other lives suffer too. Not only these characteristics must be appointed but also the fact that he didn't need to do this "job", he was a bright student, had friends and all, but the only thing he hasn't lost was his good looks and his fine clothes (which is quite unusual considering his line of work). Crawford builds brilliantly the only interesting character in the film, the one who gets you hooked in every moment he appears, and the only one who makes the world go round to all the other characters, who most of the time are dead, shallow, ignorant and whining.

And the main problem why we can't connect with some of the supporting figures is because we haven't got enough time to feel their pain, feel their tragedies (if there is one in the lives of rich teenagers who happens to have good education, good clothes and all their parents and their money can buy). They walk, smile, have good looks and are annoying and that's it (Rory Culkin doesn't enter in this list, he's quite good). The screenplay could have done so much better also in terms of presenting a more intriguing and thrilling story; the dramatic problem here is that we can't feel the pain and misery of everyone involved in a world like the one presented in "Twelve". It should have make me feel sad, angry, depressive for seeing how wasted these characters was; instead, it only give me repulsive and detractive feelings towards all of them. But the final message of living the best life that you can saved the film a little, but too little too late. It helps (specially if you consider to which character I'm talking about) but until we reach this moment the movie already lost its course.

It's more problems of a good screenplay than a direction problem, but Joel Schumacher should have interfered more with what had in hands, and exclude the annoying voice-over made by Kiefer Sutherland as the narrator who sees everything and everyone but he's not in the story. Another case of a expandable narration, we, the audience can figure out what's happening unless the writer is indifferent to the powerful use of images and needs to explain everything.

It almost got there in being a good film. There's some good acting (specially Crawford and 50 Cent), some good scenes (White Mike's past remembrances), also some dumb moments (the party's shootout at the ending with the blonde guy expecting a war and causing one). If wasn't for script problems, lack of empathy for the characters and a subtle drugs glamorization this film would be in my list of good films. 5/10

I for one thought that the narration by Kiefer Sutherland was one of the better things about this movie. The narration throughout the movie is what makes it different from other films. It also explains some of the characters because there isn't enough time to show everything on camera.

I liked this movie. It's about college drop out drug dealer, White Mike, whose mainly selling weed to his rich high school friends in New York City. His supplier, played by 50 cent, commits a couple of murders, that doesn't play a major role except that most of the movies' characters know one of the guys. The other major plot is this kid, Chris, likes to throw parties at his house. He throws a party for the hottest girl in school, and things end badly due to his crazy brother. I just thought the movie was interesting as it told the tale of how rich white kids waste their money and have parents whom are never around.

FINAL VERDICT: I liked the narration and how it shows all the characters without getting confusing. I recommend it.

After making his abominations of Batman with 'Batman Forever' and 'Batman & Robin,' Joel Schumacher lost a lot of respect from basically all of the film-going community. However, to me, he has had enough solid flicks like 'The Lost Boys,' 'Phantom of the Opera,' 'St. Elmo's Fire,' and '8MM' to at least have some credibility.

Unfortunately, his newest film 'Twelve' is one more addition to the negative side of his filmography. It tells the story of White Mike (Chace Crawford), a young wealthy drug dealer in New York City whose already complicated life becomes even more problematic when his cousin is murdered and the prime suspect becomes Hunter (Philip Ettinger), White Mike's best friend.

Perhaps the most obvious issue about 'Twelve' that negatively affects the rest of the film comes from Kiefer Sutherland's constant narration throughout. It's a common mantra among screenwriters to "show, not tell," but writer Jordan Melamed decided to throw off those typical conventions and tell every single detail of every single moment through the voice-over narration. This contributed to the other problems of the film, including the stilted dialogue & awkward acting. It's hard to deliver lines well when the actor is being forced to randomly pause mid-sentence to let Kiefer Sutherland explain what is going on in the scene.

Ignoring the issues caused by the overdone narration, it's hard to find much to like about the film. Joel Schumacher's direction is interesting enough, and the cast is nice to look at, but that's about it. The story is nothing special and is easily overshadowed by other "drug-induced youth" films like 'Less Than Zero' and 'Holy Rollers.' For this reason, 'Twelve' will never be more than just a mediocre attempt at something that's been done much better many times before. I'd like to see Schumacher return to what he was able to do in the late '80s with 'St. Elmo's Fire' and 'The Lost Boys,' but it doesn't look that will be happening anytime soon.

Final Verdict: 5/10.

-AP3-

One reviewer that gave this film a perfect rating here also stated Joel Shumacher is an "astounding filmmaker". There are not many films that are worth watching in Joel Shumacher's catalog. Maybe Tigerland is his best film, and that's just worth a casual watch. He will always be the man who killed the Batman franchise for more than a decade. After his last film Blood Creek was released in a handful of theaters it went straight to DVD. As I'm sure Twelve will.

The reviewer went on to add this film was a Sundance selection therefore it would "must have exceptional parts". I think the reviewer must not watch many films to come out of Sundance. Every year there are good/great films to come out of the festival, but far more bad films are also unleashed on this world from the very same festival.

If you have seen any teen drug films then you have seen this one. Only this is one of the bad one. STAY AWAY

Didn't expect much when my girlfriend picked this movie out of 3 and my expectations weren't lifted.

Everything is repeated a gazillion times. The narrator is the most important character in this movie. Apparently it is too hard for the modern actors to study in dialogs so the narrator tells the entire story... Any chance for tension is spoiled by the narrator telling the plot...

I don't get this desire of singers to play in movies. It doesn't do well for your career.

I should have drank some 12 before I saw this movie... Maybe it would have been interesting after all

I hesitated a couple times before I finally decided to rent this film out. Basically the film revolves around teenage individuals who live in the city of New York, and have a position in the social scale of partying. The film is lead by Chase Crawford from "Gossip Girl." In this he stars as "White Mike," a sober drug dealer who has never taken a drug or sip of alcohol. The section of his life of which the film chooses to observe takes place after the death of his Mother of him he had lost to cancer. This leaves him drifting throughout the dullness of New York dealing drugs to his ex-classmates and a particular girl named Jessica, who is hung over from a new drug called "Twelve" and wants more. As she finds herself played by this drug the events in the film escalates into plots of murder, sex and drama leading to the sleek finale of where the mess that explodes at an 18th birthday.

I have to say the best thing about this film is the way the characters interact with each other. Although I am not a fan of Chase Crawford, his performance towards the end of a lost soul left numb by the death of his Mother caused me to feel sympathetic for the guy. Crawford's performance is unlikeable and blank at times but it stands almost unnoticeable by the witty performances of the ensemble.

The film leaves us to deal with a range of characters at different levels. Emily Meade, Jeremy Allen White, Rory Culkin, 50 Cent and Esti Ginzburg all give the film a variety of drama's in different tones. Emily Meade plays Jessica, she is my favorite character with her strong individuality of a girl who knows what she wants yet has a weakness to the drug Twelve, progressing to methods of desperation when she discovers she has no money for one last fix. Rory Culkin delivers another likable performance as Chris, a guy who lives alone in his parents townhouse, throwing parties for the sake of if it, while giving into his weakness of women as he finds himself manipulated by a blonde social princess, Sara Ludlow. He deals calmly and accustomed to his Brothers large explosive egotistical personality. Emma Roberts who stars as Chase Crawford's love interest, tries hard yet innocently to spend time with him. His reaction of always wanting to leave her causes frustration and desire of him healing from grief and committing love to her.

These characters are pleasing to me as I am interested in stories about rich kids of take advantage of their wealth, money and power. These stories fascinate me ever since I read the novel, Less than Zero.

Keifer Sutherland's deep Sin-City-meet's-Ghostface tone of narrating gives the film a dark downbeat pace. His smooth voice embodying the senses of sadness, corruption and pleasure.

The only problem I had with this movie was Rory Culkin's brother Billy Magnussen who performed annoyingly and just plain lame at times. The character Magnussen portrays has just escaped from rehab after assaulting a officer there. His douchebag outbursts, crude comments, and self centered cockiness could have been portrayed with a better actor like Ryan Phillippe or Channing Tatum or just someone better. This stupid brainf****d character however gives a chilling intimidating ending tying the ribbon to this dark interesting film.

The film is not perfect, but for a straight to DVD feature I am pleased with the character driven plots. It doesn't waste time or dwell on certain topics like most underrated films, it's not stereotypical ignoring the use of character's we've seen before. It's cinematography and tone is similar to Daydream Nation starring Kat Dennings as the lead.

I like this film. Check it out.

I wanted to like this film because it was visually pleasant, filled with pretty teenagers and with some great scenes. But the happiness about it ends here.

A narrator at the beginning seemed to be a good idea, but during the course of the story we don't get rid of him. And i said "get rid" because the excess of explanations diminish film's thickness and turn it into a predictable road. There's a lack of self explanation in the narrative that makes it mediocre.

We like what we see on the screen but never know exactly why. The film does not communicate with us nor is compelling.

I can't agree with the number of bad reviews this movie is getting. The movie is well well acted. Though it deals with issues within the drug scene and social strife of coming of age movies, this movie is not a Hollywood Happy Meal. Its probably not meant to be seen accompanied. The movie speaks to you and for once the author and director has a dialog with the viewer. Regardless of the storyline, if one is or isn't involved with drugs or social pressure, it talks about how ourselves relish in our sufferance forgetting that a better life is our decision. It may be slow at times and maybe it should have been released without so much storytelling, but I like when directors use new ideas. The movie is very good for what it wanted to portray and I am very happy to see how Emma Roberts has grown as an actress.

I've never seen anything that any of these actors have been in before, so I can't compare their work here. However, I really thought Billy Magnussen, Chase Crawford, and Emily Meade stood out in this film. I didn't expect their performances to be that believable, but I think they did a really wonderful job. Magnussen is a VERY convincing psycho-junkie, Crawford does a really great job with his character's inner good v evil, and Meade is really fantastic as a desperate clueless teenager with too much money. All other characters weren't worth remembering in my book.

I actually really liked the movie's narrative style and language. Kiefer Sutherland has a nice voice for the part, and it was timed really well. Makes me wanna read the book.

Joel Schumacher a name behind some terribly fun stuff and too many out of the track movies. While I actually liked his badly reviewed "The Number 23", this new offering from Shumacher is a bore. The plot of the movie is something with high potential though too many movies relying on the similar theme about teen frustrations, drugs et cetera et cetera have been attempted many times before. But what lacked here is the proper narration of the story. The huge problem is it takes too much time to introduce its characters to stabilize the movie and most of these are played by too many lame actors. Also the constant background narration by Kiefer Sutherland has been a bump in the flow of the movie. While in movies like Fight Club, the background narration added thrill and were used in the esthetically, here these narration were actually bumps and slowed down pace of the movie. A creative cinematography and nice editing was also lacking. So, At the end of the movie all slow paced movie with zero intensity.

I don't even know where to start. Acting was maybe even okay in some cases, for example I really saw the concern of Emma Roberts' character and Rory Culkin's character's fear alongside with believing in a better future. But Chace Crawford, who is supposed to be the leading man, was probably the worst. I didn't see anything, I mean ANY emotion whatsoever on his face during the whole movie. He just was there, staring into space, as if being thoughtful and concerned, but the minute anyone talked to him, he was his usual careless and happy self again. And though the acting overall was not good, it probably was the best part of the film, because everything else was even worse. The camera work. Awful. Stupid angles that were supposed to make you feel how high some character was were just the worst. But the real weakness of the movie is probably the script. Characters were not making sense at all. One moment the drug dealer Curtis Jackson was playing was tough, smart and professional, the next he was an absolutely another person who agreed sell a dose when a desperate client offered herself as a virgin. The leading character made no sense at all. Plus, I doubt a drug dealer can be this successful if he becomes friends with each and every random person that buys from him. A spoiled rich girl saying she actually realizes how "narcissistic and spoiled" she is, is, well, also highly unlikely. The most annoying thing abut the film was the feeling you're listening to an audio-book. Kiefer Sutherland may be a decent actor, but when I heard his idiotic narrative for 5 minutes, I was ready to strangle him just to shut him up. So partly also because of the stupid narrative I wasn't able to watch a movie for a minute so that I didn't hate it.

To conclude, this may seem a cool movie considering the creators and the cast (because that's what it seemed to me. Don't think I hated this because I generally hate Chace Crawford or movies of this kind - I don't), but trust me, it's a pain to go through with watching this. May as well be the worst movie of the year so far. I haven't been this disappointed in a while.

The screenplay is hectic and rambling, above all, in the beginning when it is difficult to follow different names and references to names and places changing fast (probably okay for those knowing New York / Manhattan well). Contrast between flashbacks, the main character's reflections, and the real street life is also too big. The best in this movie are Chase Crawford as White Mike, Rory Culkin as Chris Kenton and Kiefer Sutherland's voice (as narrator). The rest are rather ordinary, schematic... Well, the book the screenplay is based on was written by a 17-years-old guy, but the movie could have been more fluent.

Twelve can be a warning movie against drugs and addictions, but it is not a masterpiece - especially if considering the name of the director, Joel Schumacher.

Where to begin with the flaws of this film?

To start with, the film relies on constant (and I mean REALLY constant) narration from a 3rd person perspective (Keifer Sutherland) because the script doesn't feel it is strong enough to convey the characters thoughts and feelings.

As soon as the film starts we meet the main character known only as White Mike. White Mike's situation is described with very sketchy detail but we conclude that he works as a drug dealer for rich New York kids.

However, White Mike isn't the only character, nor does he appear to be the focus. The film is riddled with pointless subplots such as Sara (one of the rich New York girls) manipulation of two men her own age. She never encounters White Mike.

Another example of a pointless subplot was the arrest of White Mike's "best friend" (I use the term lightly because they are only in one or two scenes together) for the murder of White Mike's "close cousin" (again using the term lightly because this relationship is conveyed poorly). To top this, this subplot is never fully resolved.

At the conclusion of the film it is clear to us that these subplots that seemed to weave circles around us had no point in terms of plot nor conveyed any moral standpoint from the creators. Instead, Kiefer Sutherland ends the film by dribbling on about some life and death bullshit that seems totally irrelevant to the majority of the subplots.

My final criticism would have to be the title of the film. "Twelve" refers to a fictional drug taken by one of the movies characters, but it is rarely mentioned and seems to have no symbolic gesture to it. Maybe the novel focused more on this fictional drug.

I have to praise the film for a few things. Firstly, two actors from my favorite show ever (The Wire) are in this film, even though they are brief cameos i still enjoyed them. Secondly the only actor who was unable to act was Maxx Bawer (who I don't seem to recognize from anywhere) the rest did a decent or above job. My favorite performance was from Curtis Jackson who played a cold drug dealer from Harlem. Maybe it's just because I am a sucker for these types of characters but I seemed to really enjoy 50 Cent's performance.

If you are looking for a nitty and gritty crime drama, Twelve, although it may seem, is not what you are looking for. This film might be directed more at female viewers as a few of my friends compared this film to a long episode of Gossip Girl. The only other reason I could see to watch this film would be for what appears to be Curtis Jacksons first great appearance.

This is basically a TV movie drama that revolves around drugs, teens that are either addicted or superficial/materialistic or both. The thing is everything about this movie just seemed cheap, even the dialogue. None of the characters are likable and even irritating to watch. Cause the stupidity of some of the characters really does get annoying after a while. I know this movie is trying to show how stupid decisions can really mess your life up. But it sort of felt like a documentary showing how bad drugs are with a whole lot of drama thrown in. It might be a okay movie to show youngsters to stay away from drugs but it sure ain't a entertaining one to watch. I sort of liked the message of living in a fantasy or false reality when it comes to some these teens look to while being very judgmental shows how people like them can be easy targets. And how there actions to other people can lead to there own downfall. And how popularity isn't everything in life and by trying to please everyone you end up hurting yourself. So yeah I liked few of the messages but it all doesn't get put together in one coherent package. And the direction of it all is just boring to watch, maybe because it's over the top and doesn't come off as being all that realistic. Yeah, movies don't have to be realistic to be enjoyable but this one needed to be. It sort of comes off kinda comedic at times because it almost comes off as a skit. The only thing that stands out about this movie is the cast and that is about it for the most part.

3/10

Like many others, I can't understand how this film #1: gets bad reviews and #2: wasn't nominated under either the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards.

The movie was unbelievably gripping. It unfolded with just enough twists to leave you almost white-knuckling your seat. The acting was also really solid. I'm loving Curtis 50 Cent Jackson's performance, and see nothing but up for Emma Roberts.

The story was real. It didn't give you any fluff, and gave a wonderful depth/insight to the main characters, much to the delightful assistance of Kiefer Sutherland's narrations. I also enjoyed the artistic flashback clips, which, I felt provided just a touch of light to an otherwise dark stork.

Now I want to read the book. I suggest you either do the same, or see this movie.