The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
2/4
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Kieran Culkin, Jodie Foster, Jena Malone, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jake Richardson, Tyler Long
Rated R for Language, Sexual Content, and Youth Substance Abuse
There are some elements of "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" that work, and there are some that don't. The minuses of the film more than outweigh the positives, but at least it's not a complete disaster, thanks to some effective performances.
This is a coming-of-age story, and those are a dime-a-dozen. Done well, such as "The Way Way Back" or "Black Irish," they can be rich, rewarding experiences. Done on autopilot, the best they can hope to be is watchable. Sadly, it's the latter route that director Peter Care (making his first, and thus far only, narrative film) chooses to tell the story based on the novel by Chris Fuhrman.
Four friends are the troublemakers at Saint Agatha's, a private Catholic school in Savannah, Georgia (only iMDb identifies this...note to filmmakers: make sure that your film does a better job of setting up the plot than the blurb on the Internet Movie Database). They are Francis Doyle (Hirsch), a talented artist, his best friend Tim Sullivan (Culkin), whose motto is "serious trouble beats serious boredom," and Wade Scalisi (Richardson) and Joey Anderson (Long). They write a comic book together about their alter-egos, "The Atomic Trinity," whose nemesis, Nunzilla, is based on their teacher, Sister Assumpta (Foster). Tim devises a prank where they will drug a cougar, haul it to the school in a box, and unleash it in Assumpta's classroom. Friction occurs when Francis falls for Margie Flynn (Malone), who has a dark past, and when Sister Assumpta finds their comics.
The performances are effective, but the script that they are given doesn't allow them the latitude to really do much with their characters. Perhaps it's because Fuhrman died of cancer before the final draft was completed. The interaction between the characters is effectively realized, and the scene involving the stolen statue is amusing. However, there are others, such as the one involving a dying dog, that ring false.
Emile Hirsch and Kieran Culkin are quite good as the two leads. Both are underrated actors, and they save the film from being a real trial. Hirsch ably portrays Francis, whose hormones cause him to wilt in front of Margie, while Culkin relishes playing a troublemaker. Both have their stiff moments (partly due to the script), but they have good chemistry. Jena Malone inhabits the skin of a complex character, but the script limits her severely. There's just not enough for Malone to work with. Jodie Foster, who co-produced this film through her production company, Egg Pictures, is able to transcend the limits of her character, who until the end is pure caricature. Vincent D'Onofrio doesn't have a lot of screen time (probably for the best, in my opinion), while Richardson and Long don't make much of an impression (they're not that important, anyway).
Director Peter Care doesn't have a good feel for how to play some of the scenes. Some do land fairly well, but most don't. They either run too long or too short, or simply fail to generate the expected emotional response. Of greater concern is how he handles the subject matter of incest. There are times when he attempts (with limited success) to show how messy and confusing it can be for all parties involved, but ultimately it's treated as a gimmick and dropped as soon as it's no longer necessary for the story. Not every movie that deals with it has to be as bleak or unflinching as "The War Zone," but surely it deserves a better treatment than the way Care handles it.
Ultimately, "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" comes across as an after school special (the bland look of the film doesn't help matters) rather than a truly affecting film.
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Kieran Culkin, Jodie Foster, Jena Malone, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jake Richardson, Tyler Long
Rated R for Language, Sexual Content, and Youth Substance Abuse
There are some elements of "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" that work, and there are some that don't. The minuses of the film more than outweigh the positives, but at least it's not a complete disaster, thanks to some effective performances.
This is a coming-of-age story, and those are a dime-a-dozen. Done well, such as "The Way Way Back" or "Black Irish," they can be rich, rewarding experiences. Done on autopilot, the best they can hope to be is watchable. Sadly, it's the latter route that director Peter Care (making his first, and thus far only, narrative film) chooses to tell the story based on the novel by Chris Fuhrman.
Four friends are the troublemakers at Saint Agatha's, a private Catholic school in Savannah, Georgia (only iMDb identifies this...note to filmmakers: make sure that your film does a better job of setting up the plot than the blurb on the Internet Movie Database). They are Francis Doyle (Hirsch), a talented artist, his best friend Tim Sullivan (Culkin), whose motto is "serious trouble beats serious boredom," and Wade Scalisi (Richardson) and Joey Anderson (Long). They write a comic book together about their alter-egos, "The Atomic Trinity," whose nemesis, Nunzilla, is based on their teacher, Sister Assumpta (Foster). Tim devises a prank where they will drug a cougar, haul it to the school in a box, and unleash it in Assumpta's classroom. Friction occurs when Francis falls for Margie Flynn (Malone), who has a dark past, and when Sister Assumpta finds their comics.
The performances are effective, but the script that they are given doesn't allow them the latitude to really do much with their characters. Perhaps it's because Fuhrman died of cancer before the final draft was completed. The interaction between the characters is effectively realized, and the scene involving the stolen statue is amusing. However, there are others, such as the one involving a dying dog, that ring false.
Emile Hirsch and Kieran Culkin are quite good as the two leads. Both are underrated actors, and they save the film from being a real trial. Hirsch ably portrays Francis, whose hormones cause him to wilt in front of Margie, while Culkin relishes playing a troublemaker. Both have their stiff moments (partly due to the script), but they have good chemistry. Jena Malone inhabits the skin of a complex character, but the script limits her severely. There's just not enough for Malone to work with. Jodie Foster, who co-produced this film through her production company, Egg Pictures, is able to transcend the limits of her character, who until the end is pure caricature. Vincent D'Onofrio doesn't have a lot of screen time (probably for the best, in my opinion), while Richardson and Long don't make much of an impression (they're not that important, anyway).
Director Peter Care doesn't have a good feel for how to play some of the scenes. Some do land fairly well, but most don't. They either run too long or too short, or simply fail to generate the expected emotional response. Of greater concern is how he handles the subject matter of incest. There are times when he attempts (with limited success) to show how messy and confusing it can be for all parties involved, but ultimately it's treated as a gimmick and dropped as soon as it's no longer necessary for the story. Not every movie that deals with it has to be as bleak or unflinching as "The War Zone," but surely it deserves a better treatment than the way Care handles it.
Ultimately, "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" comes across as an after school special (the bland look of the film doesn't help matters) rather than a truly affecting film.
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