DVD Review: Elsewhere

Ever get frustrated with the cards life has dealt you and wish you could just go Elsewhere? Well that is exactly what Jillian (Tania Raymonde- “Lost”), self-nicknamed “the Bitch,” of Goshen, Indiana wanted. An angsty and sexually promiscuous teen, Jillian becomes entangled with a Mr. X online, a supposed secret admirer who finds her “hott” and promises to help her leave her small-town life and mouthy mother behind.

When Jillian turns up missing, the town sheriff – apparently one of Jillian’s former escapades – is entirely nonchalant, chalking her up to be another teen runaway. So it is up to Jillian’s best friend, Sarah (Anna Kendrick – The Twilight Saga, Up In The Air), and her unlikely computer geek sidekick, Jasper (Chuck Carter), to put the pieces together and find her. After a few unsettling text messages, hacking into Jillian’s racy online social networking account, and getting attacked by several possible Mr. Xs, Sarah and Jasper are in for a predictable teen scary movie – minus the twist ending.

I wish I could say that Elsewhere is a compelling film rich with humor and depth, but the funniest line comes after Jasper’s comment that Jillian has gotten hundreds more online messages in one day than he has ever received and Sarah responds, “You don’t have boobs,” and the places where depth might actually occur are left hanging with a drugged-out ex-boyfriend, a crazy homeless woman, and a shy extremist preacher. The intended main message of the movie seems to be “stay away from ‘myface’ websites,” but it, too, manages to fade blandly into the background like each character’s personality and be replaced with an unfair moral that “cops and religious people are creeps.”

Still if you, like I do, have a penchant for witty computer nerds, I suppose the hour and 46 minutes is worth sitting through (preferably while multitasking) to see the shy girl and sweet geek get to be the heroes for once.

Review By: Alexandra Pauley