Parents' Guide to

Hick

By S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Runaway teen faces violence, harsh reality in mature drama.

Movie R 2012 95 minutes
Hick Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 13+

Based on 2 parent reviews

xxMVGxx
xxMVGxx Adult
April 17, 2016
age 10+
parents: stop trying to ruin your kids fun. if they want to watch this, then its up to them. call me stupid, but the movie really isn't that bad.
wonder dove
wonder dove Adult
September 11, 2012
age 15+

Nothing special.

I mainly watched this one for Blake Lively, I found the trailer to seem different and interesting. I have to say I could barely get through it all. It was exhaustingly boring and a total snooze fest about 20 minutes into it, although the beginning wasn't bad. Not much story to tell, I found it very bland. If you're looking for something with more action than talking, skip on this one.
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Luli (Chloe Grace Moretz) wants more out of life than being a pawn between her self-centered, neglectful mother (Juliette Lewis) and drunken father (Anson Mount). In the desolate nowhere of Palmyra, Neb., all she has are her beautiful drawings and the gun she received, oddly, on her thirteenth birthday at the bar her parents frequent. (Life is like that for Luli.) One day, she decides to take off, art and firearm in tow and Las Vegas as her destination. Then she makes the fateful decision to hitch a ride with a stranger, Eddie (Eddie Redmayne), whose rage simmers just below the surface. Luli leaves him and is picked up by the beautiful Glenda (Blake Lively), a grifter with a heart of gold and a cocaine habit who appears to have a connection with the mysterious Eddie. It's a violent triangle the three make, and it can only end one way.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2):
Kids say (10):

The performances are very strong, especially Moretz's; she sometimes appears to truly be struggling to make sense of the horror of it all. Lively does fine with her role, but many shades of it were seen before in her role in The Town. And Redmayne's Eddie is simply a creep; he makes your skin crawl, making certain scenes all the more uncomfortable.

You can't help but feel awful for Luli, despite her hard exterior. She's had to craft that shell for years, living with her horrible parents. Clearly, she deserves better. But HICK, director Derick Martini's take on her hard-scrabble life, is curiously devoid of compassion and heart, even if it's sprinkled with moments when we see Luli, like a sunflower, reaching for the proverbial sun despite the darkness around her. That's because Martini has littered her world with so much desperation, brutality, and sadness that we don't quite get why she still has it in her to fight for survival. Hick is too bleak, too cold, too late to bring a shot of joy into Luli's life -- and to the viewer's experience of the movie, for that matter -- that you have to wonder whether the ending is actually feasible.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Luli. Is she a strong female character? How does her age impact how you feel about what she does and what she goes through? An actual teenager plays Luli, placing herself in uncomfortable scenes. Is that appropriate?

  • What keeps Luli hoping? How does she find it in herself to survive?

  • Parents, talk to your kids about domestic violence. What recourse do kids have? What responsibilities do adults who witness it have? How is it typically portrayed in the media, and how does that impact the way society views it?

Movie Details

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