Armand faith. fear. a mission. religions as bricks for two boys. and the need of Heaven. a touching film about ordinaries realities. nothing new. nothing strange. only exercise of a new vision about old things. and new form of Don Quijote adventure. sure, it is not extraordinary. boring - in few parts -, common, just pink. instrument of ecumenism. story about innocence and world of adults. but not colors are important. but nuances. a friendship, an ideal, a ladder for conquer the Heaven, Brian Dennehy as Father Kelly, Aidan Quinn as fireman and father of eight children, full of frustration, the boys on beach and the confession of faith.a movie like many others. but different in few aspects. like every man. like every family. like every religion.

ed_two_o_nine I came to this film with no previous knowledge and no expectations, and I only knew about the involvement of Ben Afleck and Matt Damon when I saw their names in the opening credits. The film is generally harmless which uses the premise of a young catholic boy misguidedly trying to convert some Jewish people to Catholism. In the end the religions do not matter as the message is a message of togetherness and unity which can only be commended, however it is presented in a pretty saccharine way that Americans seem to love, and as usual in this manner even the poor do not seem that poor. The lead to boys are both okay in their roles as the main star of the film 'Patrick' is a bite ti cutesy for my liking but he handles the coming of age element okay. Other people have commented that there is an anti-Semitic element to this film but I did not see that and if anything I though the Jews came across better than the Catholics in the move. With nothing great to recommend it or nothing bad to put you off this film really is just mediocre. Would I watch it again, I do not think so but you may want to spend a rainy afternoon watching the film for the first time.

noralee I went to see "Stolen Summer" only as the final episode of HBO's "Project Greenlight." Surprise - I mostly got involved in an enjoyable movie and only was occasionally snapped back into the series and only a couple of times winced at amateurish writing or directing by first-timer Pete Jones, mostly due to the basic decision to focus the movie and too knowing lines on a 9 year old actor. In terms of the horrors we witnessed during the filming, the lack of both the rained out baseball game and even the climactic swim in the lake were not even noticeable. And there's Jeff the stressed-out producer as an extra in one of the scenes. But who can witness the yes lovely composed shot of the walk under the El without thinking again of the stupidity of trying to shoot dialog under frequent trains? The movie's success is dominated by elements that may be incidental to Jones and seemed to be accidental in making the movie: first, the terrific casting of the adults, Aidan Quinn as the pugnacious and proud Irish fireman dad, Bonnie Hunt as the put-upon Mom of 8 (for goodness sakes - 8 at her age?), Quinn's friend Kevin Pollak as the rabbi dad and a cameo by Brian Dennehy.While the secondary kid is quite magical, the lead kid is problematical both in terms of his too earnest acting and lines he has to say that just don't work. But the setting and production design won me over -- it absolutely felt like real-life families in 1972, as I grew up a decade earlier in a somewhat similar neighborhood with similar religious tensions, conflicts that are rarely alluded to in family films, and this film deals with the issues quite frankly of Catholics and Jews living on parallel streets in this life and the next. I really got caught up in the story and bawled and bawled, though the last exchanges of dialog brought me up short out of my tears. The score also helps smooth out the editing.But will Jones ever get a second shot? "Project Greenlight is essential viewing with this film.(originally written 4/5/2002)

johnsaucier1977 Despite what you may have seen on project greenlight that would depict this film as a film that was not put together well and full of problems, it's not. This film is one of those rare films that invokes some feeling and those are always good in my book. Whether you have or haven't heard of project greenlight, rent this film.