The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)

I sat down unsure of what the movie was going to offer. My best guess was a coming-of-age film. It clearly had Catholic elements as well, though I wasn't sure if that was just a backdrop.

After watching it, I still wasn't sure. The movie tries to be light-hearted, but is too angry and cruel. The Catholic elements tend to weigh a bit against the religion but even there the movie vacillates. The movie doesn't try to stay out of the argument, mind you, it just seems very confused as to what it thinks.

The animated sequences, meant to illustrate the lead character's emotional thinking, are the best element of the film. And even they aren't terribly well done. They don't give much extra insight into his mind, nor do they progress the main movie.

I generally try to find a way to recommend a movie, even if it's a qualified recommendation. Most films have entertaining qualities that some can enjoy. And some have clearly enjoyed this one.

If you like comics, there are a few nice references to existing titles plus the characters created by the boys (and featured in the animated sequences). Or, if you are a Jodi Foster fan, she turns in a decent performance as the nun.

Overall, however, I'd just avoid this one.

4 out of 10.

Fmovies: '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

"Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" is very similar to "Stand By Me," with the nice addition of a non-stereotyped girl and a stereotyped nun (played by producer Jodie Foster) in the mix. Young love is shown the sweetest I've seen in a long time (oy, I'm still apologizing to a certain boy in my head when he was so sweet to me at that age and I didn't know how to handle it; oh well, I didn't have a script based on a book to follow.) Emile Hirsch and Jena Malone are marvelous, especially with the very serious sides of their lives, though the lousy parenting is only vaguely shown with shouting. While the gambits of their crew are a bit unbelievable as they try to put fantasy into their real lives, their fantasy comic life through Todd McFarlane animation is a lot of fun (I was a fan of McFarlane's HBO series "Spawn.") I've never seen a super-hero with such sensitive eyes! (originally written 6/23/2002)

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys fmovies. THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS (2002) *** Kieran Culkin, Emile Hirsch, Jena Malone, Jodie Foster, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jake Richards, Tyler Long. Funny and poignant coming of age story centering on two Catholic school adolescents (Culkin and Hirsch both superb) whose penchant for juvenile acts of defiance is only underscored by their innate desire to fit in and be loved while pitted against their arch nemesis, their teacher Sister Assumpta (a dourly cheeky Foster, who also produced the project), a one-legged harridan from Hell. Based on the novel by Chris Fuhrman and written by Jeff Stockwell and Michael Petroni, the film's strengths in storytelling are in its dynamic duo of troublemaking loners and are punched up with a wise peppering of Todd McFarlane's vivid animation depicting the boys' creative flairs as a Greek chorus to the plotline at hand. (Dir: Peter Care)

"The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" is one of the best books I've read in awhile, so I was pretty stoked to see how it translated to film. The good news is, this coming-of-age tale (revolving around the themes of first love and adolescent mischief) remains faithful to its source, while expanding (successfully, I think) upon what was written in the book. This worked very well in Terry Zwigoff's "Ghost World," but there are times in "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" where the tone threatens to go from comedy-drama, to flat-out drama, to flat-out comedy. It always manages to regain its balance, though. The story revolves around Francis Doyle (Emile Hirsch) and Tim Sullivan (Kieran Culkin, who's very good), altar boys with a comic-book fixation and a resentment of authority (represented here by Jodie Foster's peg-legged Mother Superior); also on hand is Francis' love interest, Margie (Jena Malone), who reveals herself to be a complicated, tragic figure.

As far as revisiting adolescence is concerned, "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" is accurate, funny, and even sad. However, it suffers from an over-emphasis on close-ups during key dramatic scenes, and the lead performance of Emile Hirsch is surprisingly weak (when he emotes, it looks exaggerated and fake). Overall, though, this is pretty good. 3.5 stars out of 5.

Group of Catholic schoolboys in the mid-1970s are obsessed with comic books, girls, and wreaking havoc on their most hated teacher, Sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster, in a nun's habit, somewhat uneasily cast but still quite good). A surprisingly rich, rewarding film about adolescence puts other, more popular films in this genre to shame. The scruffy, nostalgic era is captured nicely, and the young players really shine. Spiked with wonderful animated sequences, the film failed to catch on with its target audience yet is otherwise intelligently crafted and often very moving. Foster also served as co-producer. *** from ****