My second favorite genre of movies to watch are coming of age movies. This is one of the best I've seen since Stand By Me. There are few other films similar that I'm going to revisit again soon.
All of the actors/characters are great in this. Val Kilmer did a really good job playing an abusive father. Noah Fleiss (Joe) was amazing in this. He was very believable. I actually felt bad for him throughout the movie.
When Ethan Hawke came in, I was hoping that he'd help Joe turn his life around and adopt him and his brother. But what we got is just as good. The mother who was played by Karen Young was great in this as well. And of course Joe's brother Mike, who was also really good in this!
The ending was good and well written. Although,
this is definitely one of those movies that could have been longer. I would have liked to have seen what happens to Joe in the juvenile facility and after his six months is up.
The negatives: 1. Joe's friend Ray kind of bugged me a few times. And 2. It needed to be much longer.
Overall, really good film. I highly recommend it! The next coming of age film I plan on reviewing is "King Jack". I will then make a list of the coming of age films I've seen ranked.
