Michael Ledo William Wyatt (Emory Cohen) is a gifted high school kid with a photographic memory. He steals cars, deals in mushrooms, and likes to get high. His antics land him in the Bernville Camp for Boys, a juvenile boot camp. Here we have the typical sadistic guard (Paul Sparks); the director (John Leguizamo) who turns a blind eye to what is happening in his camp; and a nurse (Heather Lind) with Mr. Jones still on her back.William's gift allows him to make friends in all the cliques as he tries to save Nathan (Al Calderon) a kid who is seriously ill and not getting the proper medical attention he needs.The story is "inspired by true events" and is one of a number of juvenile camp films out there, all with basically the same prison plot line, i.e. new person, makes, friends, evil system, revolt. My favorite ones have Pamela Grier in them, and their was an interesting one with a ghost. This one is of a more serious nature and is made watchable because of the likeable unpredictable bad boy character of Billy Wyatt.I think they could have come up with a better title. I would avoid IMDB on this film as they have posted a plot spoiler review.Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity. Fighting violence.

hannahjudovits Brilliant cast with Emory Cohen, John Leguizamo, Mike Epps, William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, and Heather Lind, who all play key roles in bringing Stealing Cars to life. The plot follows Billy an underrated intelligent teenage boy and his life at the Bernville Camp For Boys. Throughout the film, Billy is faced with a series of challenges such as his ability to lead and his accept his past and himself. The film illuminates the lifestyle that teenagers are exposed to when living in a corrupt juvenile prison system and how support networks can be very crucial. Although Stealing Cars does not have much to do with the title, the film illustrates something deeper and more meaningful that is powerfully illustrated and beautifully portrayed through the sophistication of Billy's mind. The production itself is outstanding as each location contributes to setting the mood for the audience. In addition the chemistry between Cohen and his fellow co-stars demonstrate passion and intensity that is very present throughout the film.

Mark Turner I enjoyed the concept behind this movie and wished it well when I began watching it. A restless youth trying to find a way to blend into society? Sounded like a good idea to me, a sort of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE for a new decade. The end result left me wishing for something better fitting the theme.Billy Wyatt (Emory Cohen) is a trouble youth sent to the Bernville Camp for Boys for stealing cars. Here is where things begin to go south. The camp begins to fill out with clichés from nearly every prison movie ever seen. We have the sadistic guard who takes no guff and deals out corporal punishment whenever he can. We have various groups in the camp who keep themselves sorted from one another. And we have an anti-hero who walks around with a smart mouth and becomes friends with no group but with a single other outsider.As the film progresses the warden of the facility, Montgomery De La Cruz (John Leguizamo), attempts to break down the walls that Billy has built around himself in an attempt to help him. At least at times it seems that way. At other times the character seems to revert back to being that stereotypical warden character seen in so many films. There is no fault in Leguizamo on this matter but in the writing of the character. One moment he seems threatening and the next sympathetic.As Billy deals with his time in the camp in various ways. He breaks out on at least three separate occasions. Somehow that feels like the security in this place needs work but no one ever addresses that. He begins what could be a romantic connection to the camp nurse (Heather Lind), an employee that seems to be there for battling her own demons rather than to help young people battling theirs. Lastly he breaks down the barriers between different factions in the camp to get them to unite in a project taking on the role of leader. These separate issues never seem to quite gel before the end of the film though each of them are answered.What really does harm to the movie is the low end quality of the whole film. The look is less polished than most and not done so from an artistic standpoint at least that I could tell. The performances are just so so and the main character of Billy as portrayed by Cohen lacks any reason for anyone to feel sympathy for him, even when we learn what sent him over the edge. So much time is spent making him seem like such a jerk that by the time we should feel something for him we can't care. His quips and attempts at being a smart aleck are lame at best and unbelievable for the most part.In the end you want to care for Billy and the rest of the boys in the camp but the movie feels more like an afterschool special than a feature film. I'm certain there are some for whom this film will fulfill the needs they have and the standards that they set but for me I found it lacking. It's supposed to be based on a true story but my guess is the real story was far more interesting than its portrayed here.

Kristjan This is one of those films which didn't have too much cash to splash but tries to counter that with meaningful story and perhaps a little more alternative approach. Stealing Cars focuses around a teenage boy who basically has emotionally fallen apart, but rather than being sad and isolated starts to "rebel" and does some no good.And the film does quite a few things right, actually. It keeps the viewers guessing what's going on until the very end and has some fine twists there. But it is almost good and really misses hardly making the experience feel logical and gives the overall impression of cutting too many corners.Let's start with the title - it has almost nothing to do with car stealing, so anyone hoping to see some sort of Gone in 60 Seconds style movie will be vastly disappointed. Sometimes, of course, this kind of title with hidden meaning is completely fine, but on this certain instance, this almost feels like lying. Instead, this is essentially a prison movie, which takes place in the juvy. We see our main character Billy gaining the trust and respect of others thanks to his rather charismatic behavior and finally revealing us the key problem of his mindset. The problem there is that the writing really doesn't support that. Billy is made so incredibly obnoxious and stupid (in many ways) that it gets almost impossible to take him seriously. He often gives some really weird speeches, disobeys the orders and gets the whole collective in trouble. Still none of his comrades seemed to care and started to look him up, if anything else. The good side of the character was that he really didn't care what would come to him. He was literally fearless and this gave him a little credibility, but all in all was still rather unbelievable.Even though it seemingly was more of an alternative film, it still contains many clichés - the outcast, the sick kid, who befriends Billy, hot nurse who became a love interest for Billy and finally - surprise, surprise - a rather cruel warden. OK, he wasn't too mean, like wardens in many similar movies, but the sense of this heavily clichéd character was definitely present. And Billy himself was also a good talented kid with exceptional memory gone bad. The film used some non linear storytelling, but it only focused around the key point and could have told us a little more background.All the supporting characters were somehow dull and didn't have much depth. It was almost as if they just were there and even if they seemed to have a purpose, most of them never really opened up and didn't add much to the plot.Ultimately Stealing Cars is not a great film. On a positive note this is somewhat psychological trip which dwells into a confused mind, has few nice twists and isn't all that predictable. I understand what the producers wanted to show us, but the way it was constructed wasn't particularly convincing. Main problems are dull side characters and a monotonous plot which is hard to take seriously because of the oddly acting Billy.And one last time - that title....