Synopsis
For Ritchie Wheeler (Fernandez), a carefree teenager growing up in a small Texas town, Skateland is more than just a local roller rink…it’s a fading symbol of friendship and good times. Now, everything’s changing and the only thing Ritchie can hang on to is his budding romance with the sweet and beautiful Michelle (Greene). But one fateful night will force Ritchie to face the future and make the most important decision of his life.
From far away I can see how Skateland was suppose to work. Caught somewhere between Dazed and Confused (epic) and Adventureland (not epic), Skateland struggles to find its identity much like the main character Ritchie. At times it wants to be playful and free, jumping from a skating rink to random parties with friends and good times. Other times it wants to get serious by involving Ritchie in life-changing situations like his parents getting divorced or constantly bringing in his stressed out sister, who struggles to keep the family together. There’s nothing wrong with having fun and being serious in a film like this; that’s what makes coming-of-age films so powerful.
The problem with Skateland is that it can’t find a flow to it all. One minute everything is going well, the next minute someone is getting into a fight or yelling. It’s constant little ups and downs throughout the film that seem to have a random pattern of cropping up. If you can picture a rollercoaster ride where you’re going through randomly sized hills blindfolded then you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
There’s no organization at all with the story. It’s as if the writers and director had a bunch of great ideas for the kids and families in the film to go through, but simply couldn’t figure out how it all worked smoothly together. The solution seemed to be to bunch them all together and hope for the best. I’ve seen films do this before. Mostly comedies take this pattern where there are a bunch of singular funny moments, but connecting them together in a smooth flowing story seemed to be an afterthought. Regretfully, this is what hurts Skateland. You’ve got great, passionate acting that is going through a disorganized story.
Skateland had some potential, but the story just needed a bit more organizing. It’s better than Adventureland, but not quite the caliber of Dazed and Confused.
On the plus side, the Blu-ray portion of the film is pretty solid. The filmmakers wanted to capture that 80s feel (lots of soft shots, plenty of natural lighting, tons of colorful outfits) and they succeeded. The movie visually looks nice in HD. You get little to no graininess or artifacts in the film. The best moments visually come at the skate rink and when the group is out and about in the sunlight. Very rich yellows, deep reds and blacks help to make this movie look good on Blu-ray. The music didn’t hurt either thanks to 5.1 DTS-HD remastering.
As for the features, you only get deleted scenes. I would have liked a bit of commentary or a behind the scenes featurette. I know for young filmmakers this is probably not the first thing on their mind, but it would have been nice to see something a little more. Heck, I’m positive there would have been plenty of room for a gag reel (I know, I know I’m reaching). Anyway, the deleted scenes are nice, but there isn’t nearly enough here to be satisfied with.