Kids
Kids
Your probable score
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Kids

Kids

1995
Drama
1h 31m
An HIV-positive skateboarder sets out to deflower as many virgins as possible while a local girl who contracted his disease tries to prevent his next target from suffering the same fate as herself.

Kids

1995
Drama
1h 31m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 49.98% from 3081 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(3101)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 11 Apr 2012
84
86th
Painful hedonism. The antithesis to the hang out film.
Rated 08 Dec 2006
20
7th
This movie has no purpose. Everything it says, it could have communicated within fifteen minutes. OK, kids have sex and do drugs. Yep. We get it.
Rated 22 Sep 2010
60
26th
Harmony Korine and Larry Clark are both gross disgusting fuckers. I am perfectly aware young people do drugs and have sex, does almost every movie you make have to involve it? It's getting dangerously close to pedo time. I did enjoy some of the soundtrack and performances (when I could understand them).
Rated 25 Dec 2009
2
9th
The verite style is very nicely done, but it's far too exploitative and manipulative to be shocking in any way.
Rated 10 May 2008
25
7th
Has absolutely nothing that can be even loosely referred to as a redeeming quality.
Rated 30 Dec 2007
85
69th
I hated the kids in this movie just like I hate the kids I know in real life that this movie captures perfectly. I'll never watch it again but it captures the worst that this generation of teenagers has to offer to a t.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
0
0th
Exploitative and borderline obscene, convicted sex offender Larry Clark used the entire film as a pretense to film little boys (or 18 year olds who look like little boys) in an orgy. Harmony Korine is every bit the pretentious Greenwich Village fuckup his name suggests, and this is the shining gem on the piled-up turd of his career.
Rated 13 Jul 2007
2
33rd
Meandering, exploitative. Acting left something to be desired. Hugely overrated.
Rated 01 Jul 2007
70
52nd
I think it's so much closer than people would expect or accept.
Rated 17 Feb 2024
70
75th
I am guessing the politically correct way to evaluate this film in 2024 is that it endorses toxic masculinity, under-age sex, and hedonism in general, and thus Larry Clark and Harmony Korine are 'bad' people. I don't think that either Clark or Korine necessarily endorse what is taking place in the film, but I do sense an element of exploitation that Clark ought to answer to. I think if Korine directed this instead of Clark, it would have been a more nuanced film. As it stands, it is a bit much.
Rated 01 Jan 2021
75
41st
"That's nice, Christ on ya neck, that's nice, I like that."
Rated 09 Feb 2019
75
69th
This mf Harmony Korine horny on main. His script combined with Larry Clark's lively direction put a really twisted spin on the idea of cinema as an observational medium: none of these characters or their actions exist for the viewer's satisfaction, and the best we can get is this brief glimpse into a day of their lives.
Rated 02 Jul 2013
65
61st
"Jesus Christ, what happened?" might be the line that defines a generation that doesn't sleep. Clark/Korine prefer a documental look rather than a morality tale, because Kids works mostly as a suspense -- two boys, one loves to sleep with virgins and he's about to pass HIV to another girl like he did to poor Chloe's character, as she slowly tries to find him/tell him what happened. In the way, a black guy almost get killed, teens smoke pot and the drunk friend gets his share. Time to wake up.
Rated 11 Jan 2011
65
24th
People suck.
Rated 15 Jul 2009
40
11th
I saw this movie when I was kid and I thought it was real. It traumatized me, and I still think Leo Fitzpatrick has aids.
Rated 27 Apr 2008
72
66th
A movie that will make you squirm much more than any horror movie.
Rated 01 Feb 2008
70
55th
a movie that is guaranteed to make you never want to have sex again...
Rated 16 Nov 2007
45
44th
very disturbing film; well made, but i'll never watch it again.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
30
12th
While the themes may be legitimate, here the odour of sensationalism is just too overpowering for this viewer.
Rated 25 Apr 2007
86
74th
Actually this is one of the movies I have just looked at too often when I was young (so I can't be very objective about), but from the incredible soundtrack (Daniel Johnston, Folk Implosion and the marvelous Sebadoh) over the characters and impressions to Harold Hunter... Clark did a lot of things right here.
Rated 02 Mar 2007
65
73rd
Great film almost documentary like in its realism.
Rated 27 Nov 2006
1
12th
aids lol
Rated 05 Nov 2024
41
33rd
Follows a bunch of kids in NYC who, if they have anything to live for, haven't figured it out yet. For those that like their realism gritty. Even as a longtime NYC resident, I found all the drug use and extremely explicit talk of sex by some VERY young-looking kids rather disturbing. Chloë Sevigny's best performance to date.
Rated 10 May 2021
34
26th
Similar to some "hood" films of the same era such as Menace II Society in that it combines nihilism with passive moralizing (even though the creators of Kids took pains to state they were trying to avoid doing so). Teenage skaters are less compelling than characters in a hood film though, and the AIDS plot device feels like it's just in there to be shocking. This film does however have some value as a time capsule of mid-90's New York.
Rated 02 Feb 2021
0
1st
Actually got -118. I fucking hated this. So much. https://esperwatchesfilms.tumblr.com/post/641993255455703040/kids-1995
Rated 15 Oct 2020
55
37th
In retrospect, it is really odd that Kids was so controversial in the mid 90's as it was a time of real moral panic about teenagers. Kids mostly plays into those fears, although there is less drug taking that one might expect. Perhaps the shock of actually seeing it portrayed on screen in a 'realist' fly-on-the-wall style made all the difference. Regardless, its limitations, both intellectually and artistically, were also the limits of that very overrated period of American 'independent' cinema.
Rated 20 Mar 2020
80
72nd
Clearly the seed of life for debaucherous high-school comedies to come (Mid 90s, Superbad). Harmony manages to be explicit while never actually reaching a dramatic climax, which is kind of spectacular to pull off this well.
Rated 08 Jul 2019
90
84th
Kids was one of the movies that defined my generation. I remember watching this movie when it first came out and being blown away by the lives that these kids were living. I remember thinking to myself that kids in New York were off the fucking walls but I also felt left out too. There were a lot of messages in this movie that were probably lost on me at the time but are more salient now as an adult. In many ways there has never been a movie as real as this ever made.
Rated 21 May 2019
30
24th
Difficult to watch.
Rated 10 May 2019
60
43rd
It was definitely captivating and affecting, which I'm sure was the intention, so that's good. It's also seemingly deliberately very nihilistic and pointless, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but makes you question the validity of the art. Maybe I've just seen too many other films like this, so it didn't really blow me away. Still, it was an interesting watch, and it was cool to see the beginnings of the careers of Korine, Sevigny, and Dawson.
Rated 04 Jan 2019
70
27th
As deeply disturbing and borderline creepy as it is, I feel I need to give it's feeling of authenticity major credit.
Rated 09 Apr 2018
21
7th
THE WORLD IS A CRUEL PLACE YOU GUYS
Rated 05 Nov 2017
77
53rd
The rawness and real was of the film is compelling, with some good performances, but the plot goes out of its way to be confrontational for no purpose. Nihilistic, with nothing more to say about adolescents than that they have sex, do drugs and can be awful.
Rated 08 Mar 2017
72
32nd
The rawness if the film is definitely a positive, it feels real and immediate, and even the bits that are obviously Korine injecting drama are kept at just the right key. I appreciate the hell out of the film and the performances and the glimpse into an inner city world with minimal judgement. But I don't really care for most of the characters, and a lot of the antics either make me cringe, infuriate me, or bore me. That makes the film a less than enticing experience to actually watch.
Rated 07 May 2015
0
0th
Eww. What supposedly justifies this?
Rated 30 Mar 2014
80
49th
Shocking and upfront, "KIDS" makes no qualms about the things that society's young teens are getting involved in everyday. Some say it's over the top and I just have to think that, perhaps, they just didn't grow up in that kind of environment.
Rated 14 Mar 2014
74
48th
73.500
Rated 19 Feb 2014
94
91st
A bleak, raw, authentic-feeling masterpiece. Harmony Korine's screenplay nails naturalistic dialogue; Larry Clark's direction is effectively dark. Impressive work, too, from a cast of little-knowns, truly convincing us that they are the tragic characters they embody, living their disappointing lives on this common-or-garden New York summer's day. Powerful and devastating.
Rated 28 Oct 2013
77
41st
Much moreso an ethnographic portrait of characters in a particular time and place than the "message" movie its made out to be.
Rated 08 Aug 2013
88
96th
There's something faux-"cautionary" about Kids that potentially damages it for viewers who rightly don't want to be preached to or manipulated by exaggerations. I didn't see it as a pandering sermon, though, but as more of a fantastic-realist anthropology piece of the same type that Korine would continue making as a director. For something released to a moralistic society, Kids' purposeful extremism is pretty daring, actually. Just enjoy, get disgusted, and enjoy getting disgusted.
Rated 27 Apr 2013
75
47th
An ugly, arresting film about being young, and seemingly invincible. Clark treats his reprehensible subjects - a pack of New York teens who steal, drink, beat someone within an inch of life, and (most centrally) attempt to deflower as many virgins as possible - with an artful sincerity, rather than an exploitative lust.
Rated 16 Apr 2013
58
29th
Innovative filmmaking and the rawness of the story and performances make this worth seeing. At the end of the day though, it's not particularly enlightening (unless you're so naive that you don't know about the horrible things that go on in some circles) and it's not at all entertaining. I typically ask for at least one of the two to consider a movie good.
Rated 08 Mar 2013
80
36th
in no way pleasant to watch
Rated 20 Feb 2013
90
91st
The crazy - and brilliant - part of KIDS is, how easy you accept these protagonists and their behavior. How simple you forget, that they are just 13, 14 years. Clark and Korine found a way in word and picture to show you a complete perverted world as normal as anything. This movie is so powerful, so nasty, so important because it never acts like it is. AIDS, sexual aggression, violence, anger: It ain't special - it's - and that's so shocking - everyday life.
Rated 08 Feb 2013
78
84th
i'm glad i live in a world where this film can be made and was made.
Rated 10 Dec 2012
80
69th
This movie was worth seeing, but definitely tough to watch. It shows a fairly realistic portrayal of kids forced to grow up in these conditions, but that doesn't make it any easier to view. Chloe's character is heartbreaking. Just, ugh. This movie just left me feeling uneasy and annoyed, but I feel as though it was meant to evoke a response similar to that and it did it effectively for sure.
Rated 07 Oct 2012
87
80th
From the first off-putting shot of two youngsters kissing, looking for all the world like a pair of mutants, KIDS is an unpleasant trip through the bowels of 90s New York youth culture, with the emphasis on sex, drugs, drink, AIDS...and chaos. And even if some of the dialogue feels dated (yo), it has Larry Clark's raw, unflinching direction, Harmony Korine's horrific script, and impressive performances from a mostly amateur cast. And what's more, it's all too true, extreme though it often is.
Rated 10 Sep 2012
80
43rd
Borders on being a PSA, but Korine's dialogue is pitch perfect
Rated 01 Aug 2012
87
66th
Korine's script is incredibly visceral in its realism. (Its authenticity is reflected in the fact that Korine was 18 when he wrote it.) Clark interprets this with youthful vigor (there are a few abstract shots that convey the restlessness of youth quite well) and portrays everything with a neutrally ambiguous morality, from the perspective of the kids in the story. Whether or not Telly's scheme to exclusively fuck virgins is sensible or not is something that the film wisely lets us decide.
Rated 15 Jul 2012
90
83rd
Yes, please, hold that magnifying glass right there. A very spot-on film with a very self explanatory title. Realistic, convincing and i will say "touching" & actually mean it. And hellz...where did that soundtrack errupt from ?!
Rated 28 Jun 2012
72
43rd
Disconcerting, confronting film of teenage life circa 1995 is an uneven exercise, with its undeniably honest, raw moments balancing those elements that feel a little scummy and exploitative. Clark certainly doesn't condone his characters' behaviour, but there is something vaguely repulsive in the way his camera lingers a little too long a little too often. Performances across the board are frighteningly convincing, with Fitzpatrick's creepy, repellent but fascinating lead a definite stand-out.
Rated 28 May 2012
66
23rd
Kids will be kids. Boys will be boys. And if a few of them gets H.I.V. in the process, well, that's the way the ball rolls. The teenagers portrayed in the film are as depraved and licentiously inane as they come, all lacking any parental guidance pertaining to sex or anything regarding healthy or sane living for that matter. Young virgins being deflowered by a seemingly harmless dweeb; copious amounts of and even somnambulic drug use and sex; Korine and Clark's degenerates maintain no limits.
Rated 18 May 2012
80
69th
Pretty silly at times ("this is how girls talk about sex, this is how boys talk about sex", ugh), but it grew on me. The acting is pretty bad at first, but settles down, and the final few scenes at the party are quite effective.
Rated 16 May 2012
87
97th
One of the most accurate depictions of American youth I have seen, as sad as that is.
Rated 07 Apr 2012
75
52nd
06 Abril 2012 - Tractament interessant del tema, que peca en algún punt de gratuit (com la baralla al parc, excessiva). No m'ha quedat clar què pensar de les interpretacions, millor l'amic que el protagonista i malbaratada Dawson. To el que dic ho he tret de Grandine -no hauria de llegir crítiques abans d'escriure. Realment no m'ha impactat gaire la pel·lícula, no crec que en retingui gran cosa, potser es deu a l'estat en què em trobo. Em fa pensar que l'estat condiciona molt l'efecte.
Rated 01 Apr 2012
85
50th
An unflinching and dedicated look at the true lifestyle of most of the kids in the world. This film rings true on all levels.
Rated 19 Dec 2011
73
64th
A very special kind of episode on an MTV reality show about teenage life.
Rated 01 Dec 2011
90
90th
Sixteen years on, the only aspect which has not dated well is the cinematography that attempts to be realistic - the shaking camera and the countless extreme close-ups - but ends up being pointlessly messy at moments, even more so now it's over used in blockbusters too. The content is still relevant even if the shock effect has lessened over the years, an extremely bleak work but a potent snapshot of adolescent nihilism.
Rated 07 Nov 2011
88
89th
One of the better teen movies, at least one teens will most likely have more of a reaction too. The film sits neatly between not demeaning the characters' actions and not glorifying them either. The seemingly improvisational dialogue and camerawork makes this feel more purposely wonky than it is, when the structure feels very compact and conclusive.
Rated 27 Jul 2011
99
50th
great movie about HIV and AIDS
Rated 11 Apr 2011
53
4th
It's hard to watch repulsive people spiral downward with no redemption whatsoever. More a warning sign than anything profound, but still pretty well made.
Rated 16 Mar 2011
60
40th
what sounds like the summary of a really weird action movie, turns out to be a really weird coming of age drama. and the point? kids like sex, drugs and...aids.
Rated 26 Dec 2010
80
73rd
Yeah yeah, it sends an important message. But I like this film for its cinema qualities, like how it was shot, the music, the terrible shit that comes out of these kids mouths, and of course, new york.
Rated 19 Dec 2010
59
25th
I understand the weight and horror of the message, but it's a sentiment that should take only 2 minutes to relay. Do I really need to listen to some brain-farting knucklehead go on about his daydreams of resisted anal sex and glue sniffing? My steadfast remark remains oak firm concerning the breed, "Well, fuck them, right?" Why should we care about these little fuck happy drop-outs that end up eating tax dollars and raping 15 y.o. girls on their way to doing what they never had the gusto to do?
Rated 17 Dec 2010
63
52nd
A very special kind of episode on an MTV reality show about teenage life.
Rated 21 Nov 2010
10
14th
Nothing endearing about any of the people on screen. Boring.
Rated 20 Oct 2010
70
89th
I have no legs!
Rated 21 Sep 2010
90
75th
Finally got around to watching this. An EXCELLENT wake-up call for 90s kids who weren't aware of AIDS (and probably for today's kids as well.) Say what you will about Larry Clark's inclinations ... This is an excellent, important film, and it's fun to see Fitzpatrick, Dawson and Sevigny at this early stage, already delivering great performances.
Rated 14 Sep 2010
34
33rd
#90s(m)#, reviews, story.
Rated 31 Aug 2010
70
51st
Interesting and unsettling, but feels too fake at times.
Rated 05 Jun 2010
70
80th
Decent.
Rated 30 Mar 2010
70
41st
I watched this film and was just irritated by it, perhaps because the Kids were realistic (at least believable) in that they were irritating
Rated 11 Feb 2010
65
42nd
The acting is decent but in the end the plot and underlying message of the film is so nihilistic and non redemptive that it's hard to really say it's anything but mediocre. There are kids like this everywhere but using the concept of wasted dropouts as a focus for a feature film seems limiting. It's decent guerilla style indie film making but that's it really.
Rated 25 Jan 2010
80
44th
90's time capsule, completely obnoxious leads, Larry Clark's questionable fixations border on the repugnant. Still a great movie.
Rated 27 Dec 2009
70
31st
very disturbing, feeling of helplessness
Rated 13 Oct 2009
85
83rd
Very good film, but does portray guys to the really extreame and that most of us are not like that!
Rated 21 Aug 2009
100
86th
I saw this movie when I was 16, and I loved it. Was a mirro image of my life at that age, munius the hiv thing... "I have no legs...I have no leggs."
Rated 11 Aug 2009
82
61st
THE BEST ENDING SHOT TO ANY FILM EVER LOL. This is a weird complaint, but it wasn't stylised enough.
Rated 31 Jul 2009
47
34th
Divisive. Not the gritty, real feeling classic some hold it up to be. It's not out right bad, not by a long shot. But the acting and direction is shoddy at best. Meh...
Rated 23 Jul 2009
70
59th
A brutally honest look into the lives of teenagers with nothing better to do than have sex, and nothing else to look forward to later in life either.
Rated 20 Jul 2009
45
46th
Rated 15 Jul 2009
4
2nd
I just threw up a little in my mouth thinking about this Larry Clarke turd called kids. This movie has no redeeming qualities except it makes me never want to have a child. This movie sucks so bad that when I see the "actors" today in other roles, I hate them no matter what. Bad Bad movie.
Rated 06 Jul 2009
86
33rd
funny, haunting, and some good actors. this is the reality of how stupid kids are and why some parents should not be parents
Rated 02 Jun 2009
72
46th
Uncomfortably close but not as shocking as rumour has it.
Rated 26 May 2009
0
12th
Spend a day, if you choose, in the company of screwing, swearing, spitting, stealing, smoking, skateboarding, stomping Manhattan teens. Still photographer Clark, shooting in a haphazard cinéma-verité mode, aims to shock. But the effect is muffled, in part by unintelligibility (poor recording, poor enunciating), and in part by sheer boredom. Peak of invention: one of the kids dips a tampon in his fruit drink (color: red) and sucks it dry.
Rated 25 May 2009
99
90th
I think every teenager should see this movie
Rated 17 Apr 2009
25
20th
So, the first time I ever did shrooms, some jackass put this on and it nearly gave me a bad trip.
Rated 08 Apr 2009
70
52nd
Memorably unpleasant. Harmony Korine's dialogue feels genuine or at least moreso than it might have been, and Larry Clark wisely keeps his view to the streets, avoiding gawking up to the New York rooftops like a tourist.
Rated 15 Feb 2009
75
14th
I didnt really care about this movie at all. The kids in it kind of annoyed me, and all seemed victims of their own self destructiveness. Darwinism in action, pretty sad and scary if anyone is actually like these kids.
Rated 13 Feb 2009
10
4th
Rated 11 Feb 2009
50
23rd
I used to like this a lot.
Rated 29 Jan 2009
54
28th
It's a 'involved' film, and as such great cinematography is not it's goal as much as getting the message through. Didn't turn out bad, though.
Rated 25 Jan 2009
80
88th
DARCYyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!! Great movie about kids growing up (and being stupid) too fast.
Rated 19 Jan 2009
60
46th
okay, but overrated
Rated 14 Sep 2008
81
73rd
A really disturbing movie with a great effect on me when I was watching it the first timeat the age of 17, but all the more worthy to watch it.
Rated 08 Sep 2008
70
48th
If you want to remember your teenage experiences (not in that extreme way you witnessed in this movie) watch this. However this movie reflects some scenes from real life as how as it happens in real life. Great acting, decent directing. An Obscure mid 90's indiependent movie, achive it goals (if there is any) in some aspects.
Rated 04 Aug 2008
64
33rd
Beginning of Larry Clark's obsession with shirtless teenage boys
Rated 29 Jul 2008
54
92nd
Guilty pleasure. Loved it in my teens.
Rated 27 Jul 2008
75
56th
Obby tipped me off to this one. Very raw look at the sexual contexts of modern teenagers and moralism, with the constant undertone of the personal horrors of HIV.
Rated 17 Jul 2008
25
12th
i think i just didnt understand the movie, its plain stupid and hopefully far from reality, at least for the kids i spent my teen years with it is, not sure about average-american-teens though

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