Around the Fire (1998) User Reviews

An alright movie with a director who needs more credit.

[iprebo · 6/10 · 22 April 2006]

The film "Around the fire" is a fairly plausible attempt at showing drug culture and how it can negatively affect a person's life. The true thing that this film lacked was script. Not an altogether bad script, but one that could have used more work.

What, tradgically, does not get recognition is the direction of John Jacobsen. Jacobsen, who was working with two fairly unknown actors of the time, Devon Sawa and Tara Reid (who had some success earlier)used his skills as a director to truly pull the best performances from these young actors. Also Jacobsens direction in this film really parallels Mamet, in a way. He is a no-nonsense director who has not received the attention he truly deserves.

Not as bad as i expected

[theofilosarapidis · 5/10 · 16 March 2017]

Just because Tara Reid is in the movie,i was expecting it to be horrible and ultra trash.But it wasn't that bad after all.There are some really notable quotes about life and drugs and if you've had any kind of drug experience then you can really relate to what happens in the character of the movie.The plot isn't that original though and it is a little boring so that's why i rated it with 5 stars.Good movie to watch once but not another time.Oh and by the way,this is probably the only movie where Tara Reid's acting doesn't suck at all but isn't the best possible either.

Painful propaganda

[murpz · 28 July 2002]

This movie is disguised as some sort of hippie coming of age drama... but the sad truth is that this is just a thinly veiled bit of anti-drug propaganda. The soundtrack and watching Tara Reid be hot are about the only things going for this movie. Beyond that, the movie suffers from a predictable (and very bad) plot, stereotype characters, and cheezy dialog. It's like watching an After School Special that just drags on and on and on.

If you are considering watching this movie... put on a Grateful Dead CD and download pictures of Tara Reid from the internet. You'll get all the good points of the movie without having to endure the painful "Drugs are bad, mmkay?" plot. If you don't already use drugs, listening to the dialog in this movie will drive you to drugs in an effort to kill the pain.

good except for one thing....

[jeezycreezy801 · 3/10 · 26 April 2003]

Tara Reid wasn't at all convincing in her role- and I've never seen a hippie chick with that much makeup. Though the whole movie is drenched in tie-dye, the 'authentic' feel of a tour atmosphere is lacking. But the main character is easy to relate to (even if you haven't lived the life on the road) and the movie is generally entertaining. Good to see once.

Three for Tara Reid

[Comic_Book_Guy · 3/10 · 5 September 2007]

It's worth watching if you're a guy who wants to see Bunny Lebowski dressed up as a hot hippie. Otherwise, it is a very inaccurate portrayal of what life is like on tour. Despite the fact the Dead let the producers use one of the best versions of "Brown Eyed Women" available (8/27/72 I believe?), it's a thinly veiled, misinformed, anti-drug tirade that has nothing to do with how things are conducted within the hippie tour community.

The story starts off with good intentions, but if the people responsible for this movie had stuck with the real story of a misfit trying to find someplace to fit in, it would have worked. Every kid whose been on tour eventually has to deal with the drug thing, but this movie gets distracted by that impasse, dragging the whole movie into a big authority power trip. Having been on tour many times, I can tell you that the experience of it could fill a movie with wonderful characters, hilarious situations and sacred moments. But someone somewhere decided that a movie like that would be celebrating a lifestyle that Big Brother does not condone.

Derivative but fairly effective psychological drama

[vidalia15 · 7/10 · 28 October 2001]

Probably the best thing about Around the Fire is Devon Sawa's performance. He plays a college bound teen who meets a group of new friends who quickly turn him on to drugs and a counter culture that is intriguing but ultimately leads to his downfall, as he uses it to escape the tragic loss of his mother and the family problems that surround it.

Although the story is heartfelt and unfolds well, it is also derivative and highly uneven. The director is careful not to use any real names of people or places in portraying the hippie/druggie sub-culture that the Sawa character falls prey to. This has a twin effect of leaving things a little vague, yet, bringing us into a real and hypnotically dazzling world.

However, the performances shine, elevating the film to a much more credible level. Sawa has grown into an actor of considerable depth and range and proves that he's at home as much here as he is in any number of his earlier, more emotionally shallow films.

Pretty Good

[monsalbus · 7/10 · 23 November 2006]

I really liked the movie. Doing the dead show thing for many years during the late 80's and throughout the 90's I can distinguish between complete fiction and what experiences may have wanted to be conveyed. The movie has some good music, pretty decent acting and a point to make. Tara looks really cute doing the hippy thing and the girl/boy thing really does remind me of some great times and rocky roads. I can personally relate to the balancing act of school/shows/girls/drugs. All in all, it is a bit corny, but real life can be, most scripts are, and I find it to be much better than most the crap I see being made. I bought the DVD with a stack of others and actually kept it and have enjoyed watching it more than once. Worth checking out.

One of the better drug culture movies

[vampyrecowboy · 8/10 · 27 February 2005]

After reading the comments about this movie being about how drugs are bad and how it's an anti drug movie...I feel that the commentators are incorrect.

This is NOT an anti drug movie. This was a movie about UNDERSTANDING self with or without the use of drugs.

In one scene the counselor makes a comment how people who use drugs can have no problems, some have minor problems and some all they do is have problems. So. it's not like there is a lecture on "DON'T USE DRUGS".

With a budget of just over 1 million dollars, this was an excellent example of both points of view. And no, the main character was not in rehab cause he was addicted, it was because he was busted by cops.

It's nice to see a movie about LSD/ACID and not have the characters act like total idiots or be outrageous losers. Not all ravers/hippies are losers and yes...some do actually hold jobs and get great grades in school...I was one of them.

The only problem I had with this film was that either the director had virtually no idea what acid/lsd does or weed, because the visions for lsd were not pshycadelic enough and the effects didn't match up anywhere what a real acid trip would be like.

A typical acid trip would change the person to be almost unstable for anyway between 8 to 16 hours. Whereas the characters in this film were basically only stoned for a mere matter of minutes, then were straight faced again.

Also the weed was either total garbage or the characters weren't inhaling. Pot smokers...and you know who you are...will realize that when you smoke weed, you are very outgoing and talkative and have a more poignant view on life. The stuff they smoked had to be cut with peppermint tea or lawn clippings, because their vocabulary was kinda dull and their conversations didn't lead to any enlightenment.

This film will not win any Oscars or other trophies, even though it beats out some that are nominated, but it is a good product which is not too far fetched.

Anti-drug??? No...not at all.

Also Stephen Tobolowsky is awesome, as always...would've loved to see more. Can this guy do no wrong? A few more minutes with the Doc character would have made this even better...maybe there was and is still in the can or the cutting room floor...anyways, Stephen Tobolowsky has a bit part, but he does his role great.

The hippie cop was so obvious...from first second, I knew he was POPO.

A few more minutes of film would have been greatly appreciated and the flashbacks could have been cleaned up a bit...I found them too overcast and visually harsh.

Performances were good, soundtrack was awesome. Lighting (flashbacks aside) was very well done.

Overall, I was please that I purchased this movie and with the small budget that this movie had, it accomplished much more than films with an 80 million dollar budget (League of Extraordinary Garbage...err I mean Gentlemen), Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines, Batman/action hereos, Matrix 1,2 and 3 and so many more big Hollywood Tom Cruise/Vin Diesel/Arnold/Halle Berry/Harrison Ford flicks.

Imagione...with the fraction of a paycheck that the big stars get, this movie company and many other independents can make better stories and be more interesting than the big so called blockbusters.

This film was o.k. and hell, with only minor oversights...there is no loss.

I'm glad to see that the characters didn't get all stupid or addicted or lose their entire life because they smoked a joint and dropped cid.

'Around The Fire' (1998)

[mfnmbvp · 7/10 · 1 March 2012]

I was pretty unaware of this movie for a long time, and probably didn't see it until a good decade after it was made, and it seemed to me at the time, when I caught it on television, that it came off as kind of like how a made for TV movie should, so that's what I was under the impression I was watching. A few years later, and I've just gotten around to seeing it again, and it was basically just as I had remembered really, the thing that attracts most people to want to watch this is probably the drugs, and I can certainly say that it reminds me of my own time at certain music festivals, which I also wouldn't experience until a good decade after this film was made.

Devon Sawa is one of those 90's actors that all young people will remember because of his slew of teenager flicks, which is what usually draws a crowd it seems to me, so I wonder why this film is so unknown? The acting is hammy, but if you're in the mood for some mindless, at times wholesome, at times not-so-wholesome entertainment, then this will fit in nicely, but if you're looking for this to be 'SLC Punk' or 'Requiem For A Dream' then I wouldn't bother with this, because the movie's message really isn't the same. It displays both sides of the argument pretty well, the drugs are bad thing is displayed when he ends up in rehab. Whatever, this one earns a solid 7.

AROUND THE FIRE---- 7/10

entertaining i guess but PLASTIC

[groovatron11d4 · 11 April 2001]

This movie held my attention but the story line was a little plastic and had the classic anit-drug message. Tara Reid played a cool little hippie chick wonderfully though... a damn cute one too. The story was just very cliche; a young man plagued by the death of his mother rebels, falls in love with hot blond, gets into drugs, and ends up in rehab... I mean how many times are people going to use that plot?

The real shortcoming to this movie however, was not the plot. The story could have been a realistic inside look at hippie culture if it were only made to be realistic. Whoever directed this movie has obviously never been to anything more than a Kenny G concert. Throwing 15 or so extras in make-up and tie-dyed shirts in a field to recreate a Grateful Dead show is a horrifically commercialized and pathetic attempt to portray hippie culture.

Anyway, this movie did hold my attention but mostly because I was fascinated that Hollywood could make such a cheap, pitiful attempt to revitalize a beat to death plot. There were some interesting moments and hey I watched the whole thing, but there are much better movies out there. And remember kids, drugs are bad!

ugh.....

[devreser · 7/10 · 7 January 2004]

This movie was not done very well at all. Tara Reid and Devon Sawa are in this which is a big indication it isn't going to be a good movie. That's just my biased opinion. I'm an Eric Mabius fan and bought this movie thinking he'd be in it quite a bit. A little in the beginning, a little in the end. It was a disappointment.

There are lots of points to this movie to show a downward spiral into drug abuse. Very campy film about the subject at hand. They could've done a better job. I do like Eric Mabius' character because he seemed most real, along with the character "Trace". For good films revolving around drugs, steer clear of this one. Not good at all.

Devon Sawa - one to watch

[Rogue-32 · 8/10 · 10 June 2002]

Caught this on cable the other night and was thoroughly mesmerized. An insightfully written and extremely well-realized piece about a young man's torturous journey to truth and inner peace, this film manages to avoid all the stereotypical, superficial claptrap inherent in this sort of story. At its core is a great performance by Canadian actor Devon Sawa, who brings complexity, turmoil and intelligence to the part of Simon. I will definitely be on the lookout for more of his work. Highly recommended.

amazing!!

[mellowgerman · 10/10 · 28 February 2006]

Wow man! This is a great movie. Tie-dyes, drugs, free love, and great music..... what more could you ask for??? This movie is an accurate representation of the "struggle" young people could have with the act of balancing drugs and school. A small, but notable aspect of this movie is the way it depicts being high. So accurate:) It doesn't over-do it like most movies. Also, it reminds me of summers that I have with friends around the fire. good times. The other actors in the movie also do a good job. Any fan of psychedelic-era music and activities should watch this movie. It might bring back some memories, but what do i know, i wasn't around then. Regardless of what others think, i would definitely recommend this movie. I managed to pick mine up on amazon for about 4 dollars. so what do you have to lose?

An interesting look into the Touring Sub-culture

[jmb-13 · 8/10 · 26 March 2000]

Very interesting movie. I got to see it at Dobie in Austin on its second day, and I was pleasantly surprised with it.

One thing I liked about Around the Fire was that the movie had a very balanced view of drugs. Not preachy like an afterschool special, but also not sugarcoating their effects either.

WARNING - The next few paragraphs have a spoiler. - WARNING

One of my criticisms is that there was not much that indicated _why_ Simon had a major change in his life. Most people who get out of drug addictions have some kind of spiritual experience, or encounter with God that changes them. (AA would be a good example of this approach.) I find it hard to believe that he would change so quickly. It seems like one minute he is in rehab with all of these internal demons, and the next minute he is all cool again and is willing to stir rice and not sell LSD.

Other than that though, I really dug this movie and will be seeing it again. For me, it is an interesting look at a world that I have been intrigued by, but have not gone into. (I especially liked the LSD trip scenes that let the audience member see what an LSD trip is like.)

Sawa really is a great actor

[whatch-17931 · 8/10 · 6 January 2023]

This movie is hard to find, I had to watch in low res on YouTube.

Devon Sawa really is a charismatic talented actor. I've seen him in some other things including The Boys Club, and surely his most notable movie Final Destination. Sure, Final Destination is a horror film, but like many horror franchises, the first entry is the best. Sawa gives a powerful and even touching effort there.

Whatever the faults of this movie, they don't lie with the young Sawa.

Ok, I'm not here to just harp on this actor when he was a kid, but I can't help but think he could have been Jesse Pinkman had Breaking Bad come out ten years earlier.

Sawa seems to be unheralded considering his talent, but at least he does seem to be still working a lot.

Devon Sawa shows his skills

[jodest3 · 10/10 · 30 May 2002]

Overall, the movie was great! There weren't any bad scenes, boring scenes, or stupid scenes. In my opinion, it was Devon's best movie, sad thing is it wasn't that noticeable. Devon played an excellant Simon, a teen who must choose between the materialistic life his father has chosen for him or to live life freely as it comes. In this movie, you can really see how good of an actor Devon is. While watching the film, it's so good that you don't even notice it's really Devon, you think it's real and Devon is really Simon, and you can see his point of view on things. When Simon is upset, you're upset. When he's really mad, you feel mad and when he's happy, you are happy. All of Devon's emotions in this movie are awesome! I definitly recommend this movie, not just to Devon fans, but to everyone.

Well-produced, complex sleeper

[jaybeezie · 9/10 · 5 August 2001]

This movie didn't get very wide distribution, but it's worth catching on HBO or on video. The story shows the inside of two different but interconnected worlds (affluence & Grateful Dead culture) without resorting to caricatures or cliches. The cast is stellar, and while the story plods at times it is overall very sensitively written. Production quality is outstanding for a low-budget flick, too.

Extremely well produced, soul searching, spiritually fulfilling piece

[ryan-31 · 6 October 1998]

First major effort of Co-Writers as stand-alone independent film. Extremely well produced, well written, well acted film. Storyline holds up throughout; interaction between characters is genuine. Would be received very well by younger viewers in late teens or early twenties. Very fulfilling story of a young man's struggle in coming to terms with his own past, present and future.

The quintessential film that captures wook life perfectly

[msantos1116 · 8/10 · 5 November 2023]

I read a lot of the other reviews and based on much of the commentary, I get the sense that many people commenting on this did not read "the book". IYKYK.

This film captures wook life pretty well and although it may seem campy and not too serious, that is essentially what a lot of the wook drug band scene culture is like.

Simon becomes a Prep School Hippie after meeting a friend at his private school and being dragged to his first show. The movie captures the initiation into the scene pretty well and I'm sure anybody that got their start on Phish in the 90's might have a similar experience. You go to a show with no expectations and then you are hooked by the scene, the music, and the camaraderie.

The film captures the wook lot scene of the 90's perfectly. The scene where they eat gooballs is a nice touch and totally in line with how the scene was back then. Simon also has a lot of built up angst from his relationship with his parents and ends up finding a family on tour.

This isn't a movie about drugs being bad, although a lot of the movie is spent in rehab. This is a movie about wook band culture, which unfortunately includes the dark side of getting spun out on psychedelics. The plot shows Simon indulging himself into the scene and enjoying LSD a little too much and ultimately freaking out and getting arrested. The film shows some of the realities of wook band scene culture, including potential issues with drugs. Simon isn't an addict and he never was. He just took too much too fast one time and unfortunately law enforcement got involved. Many drug band aficionados can related to this without the being arrested part.

The scene where he starts to bug out is something many of us have seen on tour. Spun out wooks are all over the place. Except right now, they would be caught by somebody filming from their phone and then would be talked about on the Internet for a week or two. The film reminded me a lot of seeing shows at SPAC.

The end was really good when Simon tells his parents that he doesn't want to go to Europe with them for his graduation gift and instead flies out to San Francisco to catch up with his friends that he met on tour. I think he made the right choice. Going on wook band tour for a summer before college sounds awesome.

this movie stinks!!

[CombatShock · 5 September 2001]

"Around the Fire", a feauture length Anti-Drug commercial (watch any of them on TV as a hint to the globs of cheesiness in this film), is about an average white-boy from a rich family who gets sucked into the alluring world of psychedelic drugs, music, and the lot scene, ending up in rehab (wow, now that is an original concept, NOT).

If this film were made in the style of a docudrama and the re-creation of the lot scene had been somewhat realistic, and by someone who, heaven forbid, has ever toured or even seen the Grateful Dead before, it could have been quite good. But instead, we get a low budget, poorly directed, horribly acted, and absolutely phony adaptation of a lot scene, which is laughable to anyone who has ever been to a show before. The film makers try to be cool and realistic by offering as many cliches about the lot scene as possible, from ganja gooballs to tye dye vendors, but it doesn't work. The problem is the actors are obvious phonies, wearing brand new tye dyes and looking way too clean. If these phonies were on a dead lot they would be instantly considered tourists, if not cops by the tour-heads. No deadheads on tour even remotely resembled the "hippies" in this film. If you don't believe me then go rent "Tye-Dyed", which is an actual documentary of life on the road with the Dead, and see for yourself. Also, the films set that is supposed to resemble a deadlot is pathetically unrealistic and cheesy.

I saw this film a month ago on late night and figured I would give it a chance, but was highly disappointed. For people that have never experienced the lot-scene of the Grateful Dead, or on a lesser note, Phish, go and rent "Tye-Dyed", at least it does some justice and you see real dead heads on a real lot. For those who are experienced, watch "Around the Fire" just so you can get a good laugh out of your system. Otherwise, stay far and away, because this film is an absolute stinker.

Not even good enough for an afterschool special

[blue_blue · 4 May 2004]

This is a most ridiculous attempt at drama. A spoiled brat rich kid feels like he got the short end of the silver spoon, and decides that he needs the "freedom" and "sincerity" of a bunch of drug-hungry '90s-era hippies following SOMEone around on Tour. . . the Dead were long gone by the time this was released, so perhaps we mean Phish? Either way, it's crap, and if anyone dressed like the kids in this movie, they'd be dismissed even by pseudo-hippies. Of course it wants you to wait around for a learned-my-lesson change of heart and life, but who really cares if or where these people turn? You'd get more depth from a coloring book. It seems like it was written by a 22-year-old who spent two days doing drugs with some hippies and felt like s/he had a handle on some kind of magical scene that would lure in poor neglected trust fund children. To be perfectly fair, if you happen to be a well-to-do, feeling-sorry-for-yourself teen or pre-teen, you might like this. Especially if you haven't had enough anti-drug messages crammed down your throat, because this is yet another. Although if you're looking for any REAL reasons why you shouldn't do drugs, or any idea of what they are really like, that isn't here at all. It's as fake as the sparkly-bright tie-dyes and Tara Reid's perfect lipgloss-hippiedom.

a boring, unrealistic piece of self-indulgent trash

[James_Mulder · 11 April 2002]

The characters were one dimensional, the plot was meandering and devoid of intelligence, meaning, or originality. It both amazes and disgusts me that this film even got past the cutting room. For a good drug culture film, see Half-Baked. It's not realistic either, but at least it's funny as hell, which is its own validation. Validation is something this film lacks completely. Don't waste your time. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being superb (see Wonderful Life, or any Thin Man film, or Heinlen's Puppet Masters) and 1 being Mariah Carey's Glitter, I give this film -5 which ties it with any production Roseann has ever been even remotely involved in.

Well done film, one of Sawa's best.

[moonbrat_2001 · 31 May 2002]

I was reading all the negative comments and I have to disagree! Around the fire is in my eyes an original film that may be an eye opener for young adults. There is nothing cheesy about it at all. As for the acting, it was very good, especially Devon's role. Although he can act like a geek at times, it's part of his style, I still think he did an excellent job!

Major Disappointment

[ColForbin · 2 August 2001]

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, and then I saw it. I really felt like I was watching an R-rated afterschool special, combined with a depressing view of the (presumably) Phish scene. I will never watch this movie again in my life. It made me upset. I think Devon Sawa acted poorly in this film, but Bill Smitrovich was pretty good. Thats all I can say.