''Skateland'' is a 2010 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by Anthony Burns. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010. The film was released in the United States on May 13, 2011, with distribution by

Freestyle Releasing Freestyle Releasing, LLC is an independent film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2004, specializing in releasing films theatrically. Unlike most distributors, Freestyle Releasing does not put up any prints and advertising ...

. The film stars

Shiloh Fernandez Shiloh Thomas Fernandez (born February 26, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the television series '' Jericho'' and ''United States of Tara'', and the films '' Deadgirl'', ''Red Riding Hood'', and the 2013 remake of '' Evil ...

Ashley Greene Ashley Michele Greene Khoury (born February 21, 1987) is an American actress. She is known for playing Alice Cullen in the film adaptations of Stephenie Meyer's ''Twilight'' novels. Early life Greene was born on February 21, 1987, in Jack ...

Brett Cullen Peter Brett Cullen (born August 26, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Dan Fixx in ''Falcon Crest'' (1986-1988), Sam Cain in '' The Young Riders'' (1989-1990), Governor Ray Sullivan in ''The West Wing'' (2005-2006), Go ...

James LeGros James Le Gros () (born April 27, 1962) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in '' Living in Oblivion''. Career James Le Gros appeared as Rick in Gus Van Sant's 1989 ...

Taylor Handley Taylor Laurence Handley (born June 1, 1984) is an American actor. Early years Handley was born in Santa Barbara, California. He attended Santa Monica City College. Career In 1998, Handley played Rory Buck in the movie ''Jack Frost''. In 20 ...

, and

Haley Ramm Haley Michelle Ramm (born March 26, 1992) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Jen Long in the police procedural series ''Without a Trace'' (2007–2008), Brenna Carver in the ABC Family drama '' Chasing Life'' (2014–2015), an ...

. The film is dedicated to the memory of John Hughes, who directed teen films throughout the 1980s.

Plot

The story takes place in a small town in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

in 1983. The film follows a 19-year-old boy named Ritchie Wheeler (

) who spends most of his time at the local

roller rink A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located ...

where he works and hangs out with his friends, Brent Burkham (Heath Freeman), Brent's sister Michelle (

) and Kenny Crawford (

). Ritchie is struggling trying to figure out his future, what he wants to do with his life and if he wants to go to college. When a

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

occurs in Ritchie's life he is forced to make these decisions earlier than he expected.

Cast

as Ritchie Wheeler *

as Michelle Burkham *

as David Wheeler *

as Clive Burkham *

as Kenny Crawford *

as Mary Wheeler * A. J. Buckley as Teddy *

Melinda McGraw Melinda McGraw (born October 25, 1968) is an American actress. She has starred in movies such as ''The Dark Knight'' (2008), '' Wrongfully Accused'' (1998), and ''Skateland'' (2010), and is also known for her television performances on ''Mad Men' ...

as Debbie Wheeler * D. W. Moffett as Jimmy Houston * Heath Freeman as Brent Burkham * Ellen Hollman as Deana Trammel * David Sullivan as Luther * Casey LaBow as Candy Boyce

Reception

Based on an unknown, but presumably small budget, ''Skateland'' only grossed $19,411 in the North American box office. Upon its release, the film received mixed reviews. It holds a 47% approval rating on the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film is composed of numerous songs that defined the late 70s and 80s.

References

External links

* * * * *
Skateland at Daemon's Movies
* {{YouTube, N6Odjlb8-EM, Meet the Artists: Anthony Burns 2010 films 2010s teen drama films American coming-of-age drama films American teen drama films 2010s English-language films Films set in 1983 Films set in Texas Films set in the 1980s Films shot in Louisiana Films shot in Texas Roller skating films American independent films Films scored by Michael Penn 2010 directorial debut films 2010s coming-of-age drama films 2010s American films