Movies:
The Battle of Shaker Heights
DVD Release
- Release Date: 2003
- Widescreen (1.85:1) enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs
- cc
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
- Rating:
- Genre: Comedy Drama
- Movie Type: Coming-of-Age, Teen Movie
- Themes: Suburban Dysfunction, Managing Parental Relationships, Mothers and Sons
- Director: Efram Potelle
- Main Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Elden Henson, Amy Smart, Billy Kay, Kathleen Quinlan
- Release Year: 2003
- Country: US
- Run Time: 78 minutes
- MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
The Battle of Shaker Heights is directed by the team of Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin. Kelly Ernswiler (Shia LaBeouf) is a quirky 17-year-old whose greatest passion is reenacting battles from World War II. After meeting Bart Bowland (Elden Henson), someone who is nothing like him but shares his passion, Kelly ends up putting his battlefield knowledge to work in real life. The script by Erica Beeney was the winner of the second Project Greenlight competition. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie GuideReview
Those who watched the second season of Project Greenlight will view this coming-of-age dramedy with an eye for the changes wrought by producers Chris Moore and Jeff Balis, who cut out the more saccharine moments in an attempt to save it. Those who didn't watch will just get an overwhelming sense of something missing from the truncated 79-minute The Battle of Shaker Heights, the prize awarded to screenwriter Erica Beeney and directors Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin in HBO's reality contest. What's onscreen can be funny and charming, due in large part to the talents of Shia LaBeouf, who gives an improvisational spark to Beeney's dialogue. But this can't cover up for the massive failure to complete character arcs or resolve plot threads, circumstances complicated by the directors' famous inability to stick to shooting schedules or grab enough usable footage during the brief periods their actors were available. Still, the film's most schizophrenic element was in the script all along -- LaBeouf's Kelly Ernswiler, a Character with a capital C, who's written as a mélange of quirky (and often contradictory) traits rather than a totally believable person. Although he seems the essence of a liberal free spirit, he reenacts famous military conflicts, fetishizes weapons, and drives an army jeep. He also spends too much time lamenting his participation in a harmless revenge plot against a bully who never showed him the same consideration. Without LaBeouf making him so likeable, Kelly's character deficiencies might have been even more apparent. Ultimately, The Battle of Shaker Heights shows more promise than the first Greenlight effort, Pete Jones's Stolen Summer, but also a greater sense of how amateurs can waste their opportunity. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie GuideCast
- Shia LaBeouf - Kelly Ernswiler
- Elden Henson - Bart Bowland
- Amy Smart - Tabby Bowland
- Billy Kay - Lance
- Kathleen Quinlan - Eve Ernswiler
Shiri Appleby - Sarah; William Sadler - Abe Ernswiler; Ray Wise - Harrison Bowland; Philipp Karner - Maurice; Philipp Karner - German Soldier; Anson Mount - Miner Weber
