Teen movie icon
John Hughes returns to the genre he helped revolutionize as producer of the first screenplay written by his son James Hughes. Maddox (
Blake Shields) is an intelligent but moody teenager growing up in a suburb of Chicago. High school student Maddox believes schools aren't designed to educate so much as they're used to control young people and bend them to the will of the state. Maddox wants to throw off the yoke of the school's authority, especially after he hears tales of a student named Stanton who attended the same school years before; Stanton openly defied the school system and was sent to a mental hospital for his troubles. Maddox and his friends try to find out the truth about the legendary Stanton as they plot a large-scale rebellion of their own. New Port South features a cast of young faces, including Brad Eric Johnson, Will Estes,
Melissa George, and
Gabriel Mann; the film also marks the directorial debut of Kyle Cooper, who previously directed music videos and designed title sequences for a number of major motion pictures. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide