HESHER

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This geekboy fantasy about a young metal-head stoner slacker aspires to magical realism but falls woefully short. Writer/director Spencer Susser sets up an overleveraged atmosphere of tragic aftermath. Traumatized pre-teen T.J. (David Brochu) lives with his depressed, heavily medicated dad Paul (Rainn Wilson) and grandmother (Piper Laurie) after the death of his mother in a car accident. Paul was driving during the accident and T.J. was in the back seat.

At school, T.J. is tormented by a bully who happens to be son of the salvage dealer who possesses his family's totaled car. T.J. fantasizes about retrieving the car as a monument to his deceased mother. Enter Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

Hesher is a skinny Motorhead-loving anarchist who loves to smash things up. He inserts himself into T.J.'s home after T.J. inadvertently runs Hesher out of an empty house where the punk was squatting. On his frequently revealed chest Hesher has a tattoo of a guy blowing his brains out.

Despite having no source of income Hesher drives around an old van when he isn't intimidating anyone he comes in contact with. Hesher becomes a catalyst for familial healing even if his appalling behavior hardly warrants any such catharsis. "Hesher" is an experimental film that attempts to be transgressive. It isn't.

Rated R. 100 mins.