Never Rarely Sometimes Always – Review

Never Rarely Sometimes Always – Budget Unknown – 1 hour and 40 minutes

Please Note: This is a review of the movie only. Not a statement or view on pro-choice or pro-life.

Click on a vendor to purchase (FTC Affiliate Disclaimer)

Blu-rayTM
Theater At Home

Autumn sings He’s Got The Power at the school talent show when someone screams slut in the audience (FTC Affiliate Disclaimer).  Rattled, she plants her feet and continues to sing.  Autumn has more than a song on her mind.  She skips school to get a pregnancy test at the women’s clinic.  While the doctor warns her of false-negative results, Autumn’s test is positive.  Afraid, Autumn goes home and pierces her nose.  Her next appointment reveals she is 10-weeks pregnant.  Her reaction to the news concerns the receptionist.  Autumn expresses that she is not ready to be a mom and doesn’t believe she will change after the baby is born.  The receptionist asks her about adoption and Autumn doesn’t see that as an option either.  Then, the receptionist asks Autumn if she is abortion-minded.  When Autumn’s silence says yes, the receptionist plays her a pro-life video.  She goes home and starts looking up alternatives online.  In researching, she learns that Pennsylvania requires a parent’s written consent to get an abortion for minors.  Autumn doesn’t want her parents to know so she tries to cause a miscarriage.  Nothing works.  She goes to work and her cousin Skylar sees she is sick.  She finally admits she is pregnant.  Skylar steals money from work and the cousins go to New York to get Autumn an abortion.   This venture will ignite painful truths Autumn has been keeping inside for years.

At first, it’s hard to believe these to girls can go across state lines without their parents noticing.  When you discover they are being sexually harassed, verbally tormented, and sexually active, it’s easy to see the abject neglect they have lived through.  During the opening scene, you believe you know the father of Autumn’s baby.  As she answers questions with a ‘Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always’ answer, you realize you have no clue.  Also, you and Autumn have no idea of the pain she has suffered until she answers those hard-hitting questions for the first time.  As Autumn goes through the physical and emotional pain of this journey, it’s Skylar that develops psychological scars when they run out of money.  This movie does not glorify abortion, it gives an honest account of what someone goes through when they have to get one.  Especially when they are a teen going across state lines to hide the truth.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars

If it’s positive, is there any way it could be negative – Autumn

Don’t you ever just wish you were a dude – Skylar

Click on a vendor to purchase (FTC Affiliate Disclaimer)

Blu-rayTM
Theater At Home

Top of this Post

Troop Zero – Review

Troop Zero – Budget Unknown – 1 hour and 34 minutes

Click on a vendor to purchase (FTC Affiliate Disclaimer)

Theater At Home

Christmas Flint is raised by her widowed father, Ramsey “Bossman” Flint, and his reluctant assistant, Rayleen.  Christmas’s love of reading and space never allowed her to fit in with other girls.  When girls spread rumor’s that she peed the bed, things at school got worst.  While she sat in the tree with Joseph, labeled a girl-boy by his classmates, she overheard Principal Massey talking to her Birdie Scout troop.  Persad, a representative for NASA, wants to add scouts to the golden record.  The golden record will be played in space.  Any intelligent life will be able to hear it.  The troop that wins the Birdie Jamboree will be added to the record.  While Massey’s Troop 5 is not excited, Christmas is hit with a new determination.  First, she asks the current troop if she can join them.  They cut her hair and stuff her into a locker.  Then, she buys a Birdie Scout rule book and learns the rules for making a troop.  First, she has to find four other members.  Since the rule book doesn’t say they have to be girls, she picks Joseph first.  Then, she finds Anne-Claire, who consults the lord before she joins.  Christmas decides she needs someone tough in the troop, like Hell-No Price.  Hell-No is the school shake-down artist.  Hell-No will only join if her muscle, Smash, can come along.  Now, Christmas has her 4 members: Joseph, Anne-Claire, Hell-No, and Smash.  Second, they have to find a Troop Mother.  Christmas turns to Rayleen.  Rayleen says no because little girls give her the creeps and she has to work.  But Bossman won’t hear it; he cuts her down to 2 days a week and hires her to be a Troop Mother.  Third, they have to get a troop number.  So, they go to Principal Massey and asks for a number.  With hesitation, the only number in the state of Georgia is Zero.  Rayleen is the Troop Mother of Birdie Scout Troop Zero.  Finally, to join the Jamboree each girl will have to earn a badge.  While it sounds easy, Rayleen has to instill confidence in each girl to find their special talent.  However, Rayleen has to find confidence in herself to stand up to the establishment so Christmas can achieve her golden dream.

With a song and a special mark of solidarity, this troop stands firm against anyone who teases or berates them (FTC Affiliate Disclaimer).  They have to overcome the expectations of others based on their socio-economic standings in life.  While she is teased for bed-wetting, others in the troop are teased for having less money and less grace.   Principal Massey and Rayleen constantly tell them ‘they want too much from life’.  And they aren’t going to be much more than what they are now.  This disgusting world view is still passed on to children every day.  When these kids form a troop, they stand against society’s expectations and prove that having less can make you too much to handle.  While you won’t have an urge to buy the movie, you will enjoy it.  Parents, there are a few swear words but not enough to make you uncomfortable while watching it with your kids.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars

No, I set myself up to change my whole life – Christmas

You don’t come back down until you reach them, aliens. Maybe they can come down and babysit – Bossman

I’m not a friend. I’m a grown-up – Rayleen

When we get put in a locker, its because one way or another we put ourselves in there – Principal Massey

I love your hair.  It’s so abstract – Joseph

Let me ask – Anne-Claire

I wasn’t doing it to be nice. I was just using you as bait – Hell-No

Top of this Post