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Memorable, crazy movie

As Good As It Gets

Blistering performances.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This was a very mediocre film about teenagers: It is true that it deals with shocking themes such as incest and death, but in way that is so bland and uninspired that this seems just as a typical TV-movie about teenagers.The performances were adequate (Specially the performance of Jodie Foster) but nothing special. I was expecting so much more about this film: It wasn't completely bad, but it wasn't very interesting either.Also, the animated sequences were boring and poorly made, being very ugly, stupid and pointless. I guess those sequences tried to be some kind of symbolism about the lives of the main characters...But those sequences didn't work at all, and were just a burden for the main plot.This wasn't a bad film, but it wasn't a good film either.

Great acting, solid direction and some inventive presentation-- the protagonists re-imagine their lives in terms of comic-book fantasies, and we are treated to some wonderful traditional animation thereof-- are just the start in this complex picture.The film follows a group of '60s Catholic schoolboys who hatch a plan to play a crazy prank on one of their hated teachers. The plan, of course, goes awry. What is interesting in this film-- besides watching Culkin, Hirsch and Foster working their usual magic-- is the complexity of theme going on behind the adolescent antics. The film looks at the purpose of fantasy, the meaning of faith, the dangers of testing boundaries, the unpleasantness of unfinished business, the nature of God and the question of how one interprets His authority. The question of original sin-- never clumsily and straightforwardly stated-- permeates the film, from Margie's awful revelations to Tim's mischief. The film's real genius is its ability to play with obviously religious ideas without really doing any preaching.Behind all this, of course, is the Viet Nam war. As America loses its post-WWII innocence at the end of the 1960s, and as the flower-power generation realises that breaking the boundaries that authority sets ultimately breaks much more, so the boys learn what happens when people want to take God's power. When Tim Sullivan tells his teacher that William Blake's poetry is written "simply enough for a child," she responds with "so are the instructions for a handgun."

This film, set in the religious environment many adults grew up with tells the story of four boys, who's personal lives become intertwined with their fertile imaginations. Immitating many boys their age, they deal with personal problems and set about to enliven their dull existence with pranks. They are common enough, until they run headlong into Jodi Foster who plays their main teacher and a Catholic Nun. Their stunt of stealing the statue of the school's namesake progresses to stealing a mountain lion, which in turn initiates death. With the added concepts of visual art in comic form, the film delivers a plausible entertainment. However, the search for the reason why this film earn an "R" rating proves illusive.

'The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys', directed by Peter Case, is a coming of age story about two boys, Francis (Emile Hirsch) Tim (Kieran Culkin) who supplement their boredom at Catholic school and their home lives by playing pranks and working on their own comic book. Their main nemesis in life, who they turn into the villain in their book, is their teacher, Sister Assumpta. (Jodie Foster) I wish that I could add more to the synopsis, but there's not a lot more to tell. The film centers around the hijinks of these characters, then tries to throw in some character development that generally go absolutely nowhere.Most of the film is spent planning a prank on the Sister that goes awry, but after awhile it becomes so boring that when the climax of the film arrived I didn't remotely care. 'The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys' has been praised for its creativity and the mixed genres, (the film turns into a Todd McFarlane produced form of anime at times) but even these moments were just plain boring. Jodie Foster, as always, is wonderful in the film, but despite the fact that she is supposedly the evil nemesis, she has an aggregate screen time of perhaps ten minutes, so there wasn't enough of her to truly enjoy.Generally, films that deal with topics such as incest, ghosts, and untamed youth are at least thought-provoking, but 'The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys' didn't provoke anything in me but boredom. 'Coming of age' films have been done many times before, but they can still be effective if done well. (See a film as recent as 'The Virgin Suicides') Unfortunately 'The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys' doesn't come remotely close to approaching effective, or well done. I expected more out of a Jodie Foster production and am disappointed I didn't get even an average film.--Shelly