Pups

At the center of this ultra low-budget hostage thriller by self-styled guerilla filmmaker Ash is the chilling and timely spectacle of an angry teen wearing a smiley-face T-shirt and waving a loaded gun. The film contains flashes of intelligence and even humor, but never really moves beyond the power of that central image. One bright California morning, 13-year-old Stevie (Cameron Van Hoy) finds his mother's gun on the top shelf of her closet and, with his girlfriend Rocky (Mischa Barton) along for the ride, impulsively decides to rob a bank on the way to school. Stevie steps into his local branch and pulls the gun, but within minutes the place is surrounded by squa...