Lee Marshall of Screen Daily wrote that "Clark, being Clark, pushes things a little too far so a not entirely constructive tension is set up between the need to show and the desire to shock." See also Rob Gonsalves of eFilmCritic, wrote that the film "is about people lost in a haze of contempt and despair, trying to wrest some love or relief out of the situation." Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a ragingly controversial feature that makes it very tricky to distinguish between insightful and incite-ful." Todd McCarthy of Variety described it as "Beautifully crafted but emotionally dispiriting and alienating in its insistence on spotlighting only the negative aspects of life". Ed Gonzales of Slant Magazine noted some redeeming elements in an "otherwise familiar Kids procedural" in which "the parents are all monsters of some kind and there’s an excuse for every teenager’s bad behavior". Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 46% approval rating based on 13 reviews.
A protest screening held in Sydney, hosted by film critic Margaret Pomeranz, was shut down by the police. The film was banned in Australia due to its graphic sexual content and portrayals of underage sexual activity after it was refused a classification by the Australian Classification Board in 2003. Clark says that this is because of the producer's failure to get copyright releases for the music used. The film has not been released in the United States since its initial showing at the Telluride Film Festival in 2002. Clark was arrested and spent several hours in custody, and McAlpine was left with a broken nose. Clark is alleged to have been angry over McAlpine's remarks about 9/11. Distribution Īlthough it was sold for distribution to some 30 countries, the film was not shown in the United Kingdom after director Larry Clark assaulted Hamish McAlpine, the head of the UK distributor for the film, Metro Tartan. The arrangement was to film using digital video, but Clark and Lachman used 35mm film instead. The film was given a $1.3 million budget. Clark ultimately used most of Korine's script, but rewrote the ending.
Dissatisfied with his own draft, he hired Harmony Korine to pen the screenplay.