I don't think I've ever been more grossed out by an opening scene in a movie. The main character is tongue kissing what appears to be a thirteen year old girl over and over. The noise that it was making was particularly disgusting. Telly is only seventeen years old, but he is already a real dirt bag. He steals money from his parents and tries to deflower as many girls as he can, typically preying on girls that have just finished going through puberty. It is here that the main conflict of the movie is introduced. One of Telly's former conquests contracts HIV from him and tires to stop him from spreading his disease to his unsuspecting victims.
Over the course of the movie at least three people are given the HIV virus from Telly: the first virgin that he deflowers at the beginning of the film, the second girl at the end of the film and the guy that they beat up in the park. But what I found troubling was that the girl who knew she got AIDS from him decided to just take some ecstasy and forget all about the fact that she was trying to stop him. She herself even becomes an instrument to spread AIDS by the end of the movie due to her irresponsible behavior. This is where the movie kind of just became an ambiguous story about how teenagers behave and forgot all about its own plot.
Overall this movie mostly just felt like a public service announcement about the dangers of unsafe sex. I'm sure that back in the 90's when AIDS was an automatic death warrant this movie was very shocking and even more terrifying, but in the twenty first century where AIDS has lost most of its potency due to modern medicine this film is little more than a friendly reminder that condoms can save you from a lot of problems.
Kids is still a good movie and it's worth watching just don't expect to get any life changing message from it. Much of the point that it was trying to make back in '95 is just common knowledge nowadays, but I would say that it is still worth a watch.
Over the course of the movie at least three people are given the HIV virus from Telly: the first virgin that he deflowers at the beginning of the film, the second girl at the end of the film and the guy that they beat up in the park. But what I found troubling was that the girl who knew she got AIDS from him decided to just take some ecstasy and forget all about the fact that she was trying to stop him. She herself even becomes an instrument to spread AIDS by the end of the movie due to her irresponsible behavior. This is where the movie kind of just became an ambiguous story about how teenagers behave and forgot all about its own plot.
Overall this movie mostly just felt like a public service announcement about the dangers of unsafe sex. I'm sure that back in the 90's when AIDS was an automatic death warrant this movie was very shocking and even more terrifying, but in the twenty first century where AIDS has lost most of its potency due to modern medicine this film is little more than a friendly reminder that condoms can save you from a lot of problems.
Kids is still a good movie and it's worth watching just don't expect to get any life changing message from it. Much of the point that it was trying to make back in '95 is just common knowledge nowadays, but I would say that it is still worth a watch.