My Friend Dahmer
- Director: Marc Meyers
- Writer: Derf Backderf; Marc Meyers
- Producer: Giorgio Angelini; William K. Baker
CGiii Comment
Does this film give an insight into the making of a serial killer? No. Not at all. Because...
This is a fiction...with a few grains of truth. Derf Backderf, the writer of this parasitical nonsense, went to school with Dahmer...then capitalised on the [dubious] ‘friendship’ that [supposedly] existed between them. With a friend like him, enemies would become extinct in next to no time.
[Too] much of the film is made-up of a compliant Dahmer being encouraged [by Backderf & Co] to act weird...in their lingo, to spazz out. It - truly - is excruciating to watch.
There’s nothing wrong with the performances, direction nor the production values. As a film, it’s pretty accomplished, albeit it monotonously repetitive. However...it’s the source material and its writer that are problematic...they are just about as toxic as Dahmer became [yes, folks, we don't mince with words].
Backderf and his cohorts were passive [aggressive] bullies...in the right legal hands, a case could be made holding him [and Co] accountable [in part] for Dahmer’s crimes. Backderf has written the evidence himself...ask yourself the question: Beyond all reasonable doubt, could you say that this passive aggressive bullying acted like a building block to Dahmer becoming a serial killer?
Now, that would make an interesting film!
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys in the Midwest United States between 1978 and 1991 before being captured and incarcerated. He would become one of America’s most infamous serial killers. This is the story before that story.
Jeff Dahmer (Disney Channel’s Ross Lynch) is an awkward teenager struggling to make it through high school with a family life in ruins. He collects roadkill, fixates on a neighborhood jogger (Vincent Kartheiser, “Mad Men”), and copes with his unstable mother (Anne Heche) and well-intentioned father (Dallas Roberts). He begins to act out at school, and his goofball antics win over a group of band-nerds who form The Dahmer Fan Club, headed by Derf Backderf (Alex Wolff, "Patriots Day"). But this camaraderie can’t mask his growing depravity. Approaching graduation, Jeff spirals further out of control, inching ever closer to madness.
Marc Meyers’s MY FRIEND DAHMER is the haunting, sad, funny, true story of Jeffrey Dahmer in high school, based on Derf Backderf’s critically acclaimed 2012 graphic novel of the same name and Meyers’s own 2014 Black List script.
Cast & Characters
Anne Heche as Joyce Dahmer;
Vincent Kartheiser as Dr. Matthews;
Alex Wolff as Derf;
Dallas Roberts as Lionel Dahmer;
Ross Lynch as Jeffrey Dahmer;
Cameron McKendry as Moose;
Christopher Mele as Mr. Fedele;
Tommy Nelson as Neil;
Carmen Gangale as Store Manager;
Jack DeVillers as Oliver;
Harrison Holzer as Mike;
Tom Luce as Vice President Walter Mondale;
Miles Robbins as Lloyd Figg;
John Vella as High School Teacher;
Zachary Davis Brown as Freshman Boy