Probably the best thing about Around the Fire is Devon Sawa's performance. He plays a college bound teen who meets a group of new friends who quickly turn him on to drugs and a counter culture that is intriguing but ultimately leads to his downfall, as he uses it to escape the tragic loss of his mother and the family problems that surround it.

Although the story is heartfelt and unfolds well, it is also derivative and highly uneven. The director is careful not to use any real names of people or places in portraying the hippie/druggie sub-culture that the Sawa character falls prey to. This has a twin effect of leaving things a little vague, yet, bringing us into a real and hypnotically dazzling world.

However, the performances shine, elevating the film to a much more credible level. Sawa has grown into an actor of considerable depth and range and proves that he's at home as much here as he is in any number of his earlier, more emotionally shallow films.

Tara Reid wasn't at all convincing in her role- and I've never seen a hippie chick with that much makeup. Though the whole movie is drenched in tie-dye, the 'authentic' feel of a tour atmosphere is lacking. But the main character is easy to relate to (even if you haven't lived the life on the road) and the movie is generally entertaining. Good to see once.

After reading the comments about this movie being about how drugs are bad and how it's an anti drug movie...I feel that the commentators are incorrect.

This is NOT an anti drug movie. This was a movie about UNDERSTANDING self with or without the use of drugs.

In one scene the counselor makes a comment how people who use drugs can have no problems, some have minor problems and some all they do is have problems. So. it's not like there is a lecture on "DON'T USE DRUGS".

With a budget of just over 1 million dollars, this was an excellent example of both points of view. And no, the main character was not in rehab cause he was addicted, it was because he was busted by cops.

It's nice to see a movie about LSD/ACID and not have the characters act like total idiots or be outrageous losers. Not all ravers/hippies are losers and yes...some do actually hold jobs and get great grades in school...I was one of them.

The only problem I had with this film was that either the director had virtually no idea what acid/lsd does or weed, because the visions for lsd were not pshycadelic enough and the effects didn't match up anywhere what a real acid trip would be like.

A typical acid trip would change the person to be almost unstable for anyway between 8 to 16 hours. Whereas the characters in this film were basically only stoned for a mere matter of minutes, then were straight faced again.

Also the weed was either total garbage or the characters weren't inhaling. Pot smokers...and you know who you are...will realize that when you smoke weed, you are very outgoing and talkative and have a more poignant view on life. The stuff they smoked had to be cut with peppermint tea or lawn clippings, because their vocabulary was kinda dull and their conversations didn't lead to any enlightenment.

This film will not win any Oscars or other trophies, even though it beats out some that are nominated, but it is a good product which is not too far fetched.

Anti-drug??? No...not at all.

Also Stephen Tobolowsky is awesome, as always...would've loved to see more. Can this guy do no wrong? A few more minutes with the Doc character would have made this even better...maybe there was and is still in the can or the cutting room floor...anyways, Stephen Tobolowsky has a bit part, but he does his role great.

The hippie cop was so obvious...from first second, I knew he was POPO.

A few more minutes of film would have been greatly appreciated and the flashbacks could have been cleaned up a bit...I found them too overcast and visually harsh.

Performances were good, soundtrack was awesome. Lighting (flashbacks aside) was very well done.

Overall, I was please that I purchased this movie and with the small budget that this movie had, it accomplished much more than films with an 80 million dollar budget (League of Extraordinary Garbage...err I mean Gentlemen),Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines, Batman/action hereos, Matrix 1,2 and 3 and so many more big Hollywood Tom Cruise/Vin Diesel/Arnold/Halle Berry/Harrison Ford flicks.

Imagione...with the fraction of a paycheck that the big stars get, this movie company and many other independents can make better stories and be more interesting than the big so called blockbusters.

This film was o.k. and hell, with only minor oversights...there is no loss.

I'm glad to see that the characters didn't get all stupid or addicted or lose their entire life because they smoked a joint and dropped cid.