This is a solid story from first-time director, Tommy Stovall. I like to be surprised with twists in dramatic films, such as this, and the first half of the film led me to believe that there wouldn't be any. Oh, but there was! I'm not one to spoil a good plot twist so I'll leave you all to see it for yourself, but know that it was a pretty decent twist. There was one point in the film where I actually cheered out loud in the theater because Stovall did such a great job of developing his main character, Robbie, played by Seth Peterson, he made you really love it when good things happened. One scene I particularly enjoyed was the church scene - CREATIVELY executed.
The story is a very serious topic - one that would generally make me uncomfortable watching, but it was put together well and for a small budget project, turned out great.
The only major criticisms I had were 1) the acting of the primary child actor was not fabulous - there's a crying scene that's hard to take serious because you can tell he's "acting" and 2) Robbie's colorful neighbor character didn't seem as developed as you'd have thought she should have been. She was cute and funny, but it seemed like she was missing an endearing scene or two to help build her relationship between her and her neighbors, who she considered family.
Seth Peterson, Farah White, Brandy Little, Cindy Pickett and Bruce Davision were particularly good in this film. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate this film a 7.5 to 8. Go see it, the subject alone and how it's dealt with should be seen by everyone. Hate is not a family value. Thank you Tommy, for making this film.
