The story focuses on a 15-year-old girl. She flirts with a stranger who is extremely dangerous in the Northern California suburbs. Therefor, she must prepare herself for the frightening and traumatic consequences because of her fool.
Disregard the incoherent ending, which violates the source material (Joyce Carol Oates story): in her debut, Chopra has made a disturbing tale of sexual awakening set against the 1980s new context of shopping malls; Laura Dern is extraordinary as the lead
The movie is almost uncanny in its self-assurance, in the way it knows that the first hour, where 'nothing' happens, is necessary if the payoff is to be tragic, instead of merely sensational.
