Comingsoon: When tragedy strikes the family of 13-year-old TJ (Devin Brochu), his father (Rainn Wilson) retreats into severe depression and the kid is left alone in an unforgiving world with no way to rebuild. Enter Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a chain-smoking, foul-mouthed heavy metal nihilist who shows up out of the blue and soon, along with Nicole (Natalie Portman), a girl who works at the grocery store, becomes the only person that TJ can count on.
A strange, unpleasant film that lacks the tools to successfully get its point across; it knows what it wants to say but not what it wants to be. Full review by Chris Pandolfi.
Metro Times: For those not versed in dated mall lingo, a "hesher" was a particular breed of long-haired, pre-grunge headbanger, similar to a burnout; but usually distinguished by more grime and a nastier attitude. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has attitude in spades as the title character, a living personification of the scraggly social misfits who'd do donuts in suburban parking lots.
Detroit News: Hesher is a beautiful mess.
With his long, scraggly hair, skin-and-bones bod and obscene, amateurish tattoos, he looks like some heavy metal washout.
But then one of the beauties of "Hesher" is you never really know who he is, or where he came from. He's a wastoid of mystery.