The Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys (DVD)

...nowadays.
it's set in the 1970's, Francis (Emile Hirsch) and Tim (Kieran Culkin) are two irreverent, trouble-making friends who attend the same Catholic high school. their archenemy is sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster), an immensely strict nun, who rules the school with an iron fist. seeking a more even playing field, Tim and the artistically gifted Francis, with the help of a few friends, create a comic book where their superhero alter egos ...
...Francis also finds himself in the clutches of his first relationship, when he becomes romantically involved with a fellow classmate, the reclusive Margie (Jena Malone). aside from the sudden addition of a third wheel threatening Francis and Tim's friendship, Margie also harbors and later reveals a dark secret, which adds to Francis' mounting confusion. when Sister Assumpta strikes with an especially serious blow to the routine of the boys' lives, ... more

this film actually made me cry which is pretty hard to do nowadays.
it's set in the 1970's, Francis (Emile Hirsch) and Tim (Kieran Culkin) are two irreverent, trouble-making friends who attend the same Catholic high school. their archenemy is sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster), an immensely strict nun, who rules the school with an iron fist. seeking a more even playing field, Tim and the artistically gifted Francis, with the help of a few friends, create a comic book where their superhero alter egos do battle with the evil forces of Sister Assumpta.
Francis also finds himself in the clutches of his first relationship, when he becomes romantically involved with a fellow classmate, the reclusive Margie (Jena Malone). aside from the sudden addition of a third wheel threatening Francis and Tim's friendship, Margie also harbors and later reveals a dark secret, which adds to Francis' mounting confusion. when Sister Assumpta strikes with an especially serious blow to the routine of the boys' lives, they rally around their shared animosity for the woman and engage in an impossibly dangerous revenge mission.
The film genuinely captures the tumult of attempting to make sense of life in early teen years. as rebellious and confrontational as Francis and Tim may be, they also desperately seek to ask questions in an environment where guidance is practically non-existent. as the focal point of the movie, Emile Hirsch is superlative as Francis. he hits the full range of his character's emotions, and gives you a protagonist who is easy to identify with. Kieran Culkin's performance, at times, feels forced, but his character is the most difficult to grasp, and thus his role appears to be the hardest one to pull off convincingly. Jena Malone, more or less, played this same character in last year's Donnie Darko, and she's just as effective this time around. As for the film's two stars, Jodie Foster is adequate as rigid Sister Assumpta, but Vincent D'Onofrio is basically in sleepwalk mode as Father Casey, the less austere academic authoritarian.
McFarlane's animation, which depicts the stories told in Francis and Tim's comic book, provides a nice jolt to the proceedings, especially when the pace begins to slow midway through the film. although Francis and Margie's relationship is involving, it also unfolds in a very labored manner. care would've been better served streamlining this aspect of the story, but he sprinkles in enough comic moments throughout to mostly keep the film as entertaining as it is provocative.
the dangerous lives of altar boys is able to evoke emotions without painstakingly going out of its way to do so. it's the type of film about growing up that we don't see often enough these days: realistic, urgent, and not sugarcoated in the least.
 

...less