Holes

Plot

A wrongfully convicted boy is sent to a brutal desert detention camp where he joins the job of digging holes for some mysterious reason.

Release Year: 2003

Rating: 7.0/10 (25,648 voted)

Critic's Score: 71/100

Director:
Andrew Davis

Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight

Storyline
"But if you forget to come back for Madame Zeroni, you and your family will be cursed for always and eternity." Those were the exact words spoken to young Elya Yelnats the day he forgot to repay the gypsy Madame Zeroni. From then on his family was cursed with bad luck. One hundred years later Stanley Yelnats IV is accused of stealing a pair of cleats from a major league baseball player and sent to Camp Green Lake (a dry lake bed in the middle of the desert). It never rains at Camp Green Lake, it hasn't for one hundred years. The secretive and mysterious Warden has each inmate spend every day digging one hole to "build character." But when an artifact from the famous "Kissin' Kate" Barlow is found in a hole, the Warden forces the boys to work double time leading Stanley to deduce they're digging because the Warden is looking for something. But what? And how is the mystery of Camp Green Lake connected to Stanley's family curse?

Writers: Louis Sachar, Louis Sachar

Cast:

Sigourney Weaver
–

Warden Walker

Jon Voight
–

Marion Sevillo
/
'Mr. Sir'

Tim Blake Nelson
–

Dr. Pendanski

Shia LaBeouf
–

Stanley Yelnats IV
/
'Caveman'

Khleo Thomas
–

Hector Zeroni
/
'Zero'

Jake M. Smith
–

Alan
/
'Squid'

Byron Cotton
–

Theodore
/
'Armpit'

Brenden Jefferson
–

Rex
/
'X-Ray'

Miguel Castro
–

José
/
'Magnet'

Max Kasch
–

Ricky
/
'Zigzag'

Noah Poletiek
–

Brian
/
'Twitch'

Zane Holtz
–

Lewis
/
'Barfbag'

Steven Kozlowski
–

Lump

(as Steve Kozlowski)

Ski Carr
–

Guard

Roma Maffia
–

Atty. Carla Morengo

Taglines:
The adventure is down there…start digging April 18.

Details

Official Website:
Official site |

Release Date: 18 April 2003

Filming Locations: Anderson Street Overpass, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $30,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $16,300,155
(USA)
(20 April 2003)
(2331 Screens)

Gross: $67,325,559
(USA)
(10 August 2003)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

Cameo:
[Louis Sachar]
the author of both the novel and the screenplay for this movie appears with his wife and daughter in the scene where Sam is selling onion juice.

Goofs:

Continuity:
When Stanley is fighting his hat is alternately off/on between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]

[Barfbag walks towards a rattlesnake]

X-Ray:
Hey, Barfbag. What are you doing?
[Barfbag takes his shoe and sock off and steps on the snake, which bites him]

Barfbag:
[yells]
Aaaaaah!

User Review

The Secret to Sucessful Kid's Movie

Rating:

Its not often one sees a movie that really seems to understand what its
like
to be a kid. Too often, children are portrayed as precocious
twenty-somethings trapped in the bodies of fifth graders: children whose
wisdom and goodness would make Socrates look like Homer Simpson. (For
further study see Jerry Maguire and Contact). On the other hand, movies
made for the ten and under crowd often take place in a world free from
violence and pain, where the worst thing that could happen to a kid is a
stolen bike or a serious grounding. Holes makes neither of these
mistakes.
The kids and teens are just as dumb as I was, and the world they live in,
while not being seriously naturalistic, is, at least, properly
serious.

The movie gets going as Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf) is mistakenly
accused
of stealing a pair of valuable shoes, and is sent to a boy's correctional
facility. Except, this juvenile camp feels like Boy's Town if it was run
by
the guards from The Shawshank Redemption. There Stanley is indoctrinated
by
the gruff Mr. Sir (John Voight with crazy hair and a brilliant
performance).

The only activity this camp provides for these wayward youth is digging
holes. The camp's philosophy on this matter is `You take a bad boy, make
him dig holes all day, and it turns him into a good boy.' Whether or not
this theory works is doubtful, because Stanley soon experiences many
cruelties and humiliations at the hands of his fellow reprobates. Don't
let
the cutesy nicknames fool you (X-Ray, Zig Zag, Armpit, Zero), these kids
are
just like your friends in the sixth grade, or to quote Rushmore, `With
friends like you who needs friends?' Not that the other campers are as
bad
as all that, nor does the movie focus on the cruelties of youth. The kids
come around, but never completely, and the movie (like Stanley himself)
doesn't worry about them too much. Both of them have bigger things on
their
mind.

The story of Holes switches back and forth between the present and the
past.
Like the palindromic name Stanley Yelnats it begins at opposite ends
chronologically and works toward the center. Where the end of the past
story and the beginning of the present story are explained. The
transitions
are gentle enough that the viewer does not feel jerked around too much.
Even though the transitions are entirely organic, I can excuse the random
transitions because, like I said earlier. The filmmakers actually have
something on their mind. They really do have a story to tell.
Furthermore,
Louis Sachar, the writer of the book and the screenplay seems to have
gotten
the tone just right for a movie for kids – just enough silliness and just
enough bitterness. Stanley's father job is unreal (he is seeking to find
the cure for foot odor), but Stanley's emotions are very real. As someone
in the movie says (see the movie to find out why), `Peaches and Onions!
That's the secret.' Holes isn't the most brilliant movie of the year, but
it is funny without being offensive, and sweet without being maudlin.
Most
of all, it goes further in capturing what it is like to be young without
portraying it as too horrible or too saccharine. The bitter and the sweet
together is the secret of Holes' success.