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Relative evil (Ball in the house) - Jonathan Tucker, Jennifer Tilly, David Strathairn, Tanya Wexler

Threat advisory: Under evaluation

Movie propaganda

"Home sweet home" can be murder.

Seventeen-year old JJ White (Jonathan Tucker) is on his way home after six months of court-ordered rehab, accompanied by his affable therapist, Dr Charlie (David Strathairn). Waiting to welcome him is a freak Spring blizzard, a tepid bowl of fruit punch, and his eccentric blue-collar family - his unyielding stepfather, Bull (Dan Moran), his sweet but oblivious mother, Phyllis (Deirdre O'Connell), his seductive aunt, Dot (Jennifer Tilly), his befuddled uncle, Ernie (Larry Neumann Junior), and his younger brother, Benji (Nathan Kiley).

Also waiting for JJ is the wreckage of his unsavoury past, including heavy fines from his last DUI and car accident, and a $3500 drug tab to his "best friend" Bobby (Ethan Embry). Even working extra shifts at the local steel mill, JJ can barely keep the wolves at bay. If his financial obligations seem onerous, JJ's personal troubles may well prove fatal. Exasperated by the heavy toll of his stepson's binges, Bull is persuaded by Dot and Ernie to sign a life insurance policy payable if JJ dies before his 18th birthday - just a month away.

Trapped in his shadowy house by the lingering snowstorm, JJ tries to remain straight amid the surreal chaos unfolding around him, unsure whether the pressure he feels is a delusion, or the world really is conspiring against him. Ultimately, faced with Bobby's death, Dot's menacing attention, his girlfriend's heartless abandonment, Bull's apparent complicity and the overwhelming odds against staying clean, JJ must choose between his colliding impulses for destruction and endurance.

In the offbeat style of her acclaimed feature début, "Finding North," Tanya Wexler's Relative evil offers an astute social satire that is at once visceral and expressionistic, humorous and tragic. Inspired by events in the life of screenwriter Matthew Swan and filmed on location in Chicago by leading German cinematographer Gero Steffen, it is, finally, a dysfunctional family noir about a kid trying to survive while indulging in such all-American pastimes as baseball, alcoholism, rehabilitation and tough love.

Persons of interest

Jonathan Tucker .... JJ
Jennifer Tilly .... Dot
Dan Moran .... Bull
David Strathairn .... Dr Charlie
Larry Neumann Junior .... Ernie
Deirdre O'Connell .... Phyllis
Ethan Embry .... Bobby
Aleksa Palladino .... Lizzie
Amy Zimmerman .... Cindy
Nathan Kiley .... Benji
Greg Sandquist .... Officer Waters
Matthew Swan .... Screenwriter
Tanya Wexler .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Relative evil (Ball in the house) official movie site
Relative evil (Ball in the house) QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Studios and distributors:

21st Century Pictures

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Media intelligence (DVD)

Audio: AC-3 Stereo Sound
Languages: English
Picture: Widescreen 16:9
Special features:

Trailers: Upcoming releases

Security censorship classification

MA 15+ (Adult themes, medium level coarse language)

Surveillance time

95 minutes (1:35 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

DVD rental: 23 February 2004
VHS rental: 23 February 2004

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