David White (dawh1)
I thought this film was marvelous. Beautiful portrait of growing up. However, given all the priest and altar boy scandals these days, I think the title leads people to believe it's on a different subject. I kept watching to see if the priest was going to make a pass at Francis or Tim. In response to one of the alleged goofs, I think the bus said "Immaculate Conception" because St. Agatha's School and Immaculate Conception share activity buses. The schools don't have outside activities on the same day. Notice they said "Activity Bus" and not "School Bus." Meaning they aren't used for home-to-school transportation but only for school-to-field-trip transportation.
Michael Margetis
I came across this indie gem one day at my local Blockbuster. I looked at it and it seemed like it would be an o.k. way to kill two hours. There was really nothing else in the videostore, so I decided to rent it. Boy, am I glad I did. I really appreciated the movie and related to it, after all I do go to a Catholic High School. 'The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys' is actually a great coming-of-age tale set in the Catholic school setting of the 1970s. Just by reading the title I thought it was about pedophile Catholic priests or something, but it's really about two friends who are the altar boys at their church/school and their adventures as they discover what's life is all about... or their interpretation of it.The two boys in 'The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys' are Francis Doyle (Emile Hirsch - The Girl Next Door, The Emperor's Club) and Michael Sullivan (Kieran Culkin - Igby Goes Down, Home Alone). They are two fifteen year old rebels that have a passion for comics and writing and illustrating their own. They despise their tough-as-nails and strict one-legged Catholic nun school teacher, Sister Assumpta (played by Two Time Academy Award Winner Jodie Foster - The Accused, The Silence of the Lambs). The two boys make themselves their own creative superheroes in their comic and have Sister Assumpta be the evil motorcycle peddling nun from hell that the two superheroes battle, along with the boys' other two friends who provide superheroes for their comic too. The film switches from real-life to the creative comic book setting during conflicts in the story, and I think that it's done very stylish and neat. The two boys rebel against their teacher and misbehave in front of her constantly, especially Michael (Culkin) who drives her absolutely nuts. The boys rebel by doing other things that the nun doesn't know about like, drink, smoke pot and steal and damage church property. The film contains some funny moments, and as the story unfolds Francis (Hirsch) becomes interested in the girl who lives next door to him Margie (Jena Malone - Saved!, Cold Mountain), a cool, nice, beautiful and independent girl with a deep and dark secret that challenges Francis. I won't give it away though.There are many great aspects to this film. Most notably is the acting. Emile Hirsch is nothing short of incredible as the genuine misfit Francis and Jena Malone is equally as good as the sweet yet complex Margie. Jodie Foster is hysterical and always a pleasure to watch as the uptight Catholic school nun and 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent's' Vincent D'Onofrio has a somewhat small role as an interesting Catholic school priest who smokes like a chimney. The stand-out of the film however is Kieran Culkin. He is definitely the most talented performer in his family, and he gives an astounding performance as Michael Sullivan that puts him on the top of the list of the best child actors working in Hollywood currently. Culkin gave an equally amazing performance in Burr Steer's neurotic and darkly hilarious film debut 'Igby Goes Down' which was released the same year as 'The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys'. Peter Care does a fabulous job with this, his feature film debut, and the valley's Todd MacFarlane (creator of Spawn) provides the comic book illustration for the animated scenes. All in all this is a great coming-of-age movie, with a lot of heart and intelligence. It has some flaws like dragging a little towards the beginning, being a little unclear towards the end and having some freaky and unnecessary ghost sequence towards the middle of the film. I'd recommend this to anyone who attends Catholic High School because it is a great movie but it's also something you could relate to. Next time you are at the videostore and can't find anything to watch, maybe pick up 'The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys'. Chances are you won't regret it. Grade: B+MADE MY TOP 300 LIST AT #245
Pepper Anne
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys is based on the bildungsroman novel by Chris Furhman, who, unfortunately died of cancer during the revision of his novel, which was later published by a friend. Judging by the last chapter (although it is narrated from the first person point of view of Francis Doyle), I assume that the novel is based on Fuhrman's own actual childhood experiences and developed into a comic book of the same title. Unfortunately, while both the novel and the movie are quite good, the movie lacks some of the structure as well as more significant, yet "controversial" images than does the film (for obvious reasons on this latter point--they are catering to younger audiences and pre-teen sex doesn't go over well with your always alert conservative censors). Likewise, the novel, which is set in Savannah circa 1970 and deals with heated issues of racism (and our characters recognition of the fallacies of generalization). It was risqué enough to develop a movie which contains among its characters a young school girl who has not only engaged in an incestial relationship, but also attempted suicide. This is the story of four boys in at Blessed Heart, a Catholic School for Boys. Francis Doyle (Emile Hirsch) and Tim Sullivan (Kieran Culkin) are figures that model Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (although Francis is ruled by considerably fewer rules than Tom's Aunt Polly reserved for her own boy). Tim Sullivan is the inspiration for the gang, living the credo that danger and trouble is their only defense against boredom. Partly, their only defense against the absurd rules of society and the meaningless ritual of adults (our character Tim is of the Holden Caufield variety), is a comic book (The Atomic Trinity) which the friends create, which parallels their various coming-of-age experiences with pranks and first love and so forth. Part of the screen time is shared with animated scenes of our comic book heroes at work. Francis and Tim seem to differ on their goals, however. For Tim, his goal is the revolt against Sister Assumpta (Jodi Foster) who embodies most of the absurd rules as head of the Catholic School. For example, she is the one who confiscates Tim's copy of a book by William Blake (I think it was called 'The Creation'), and as such, is seen as an unruly censor. Tim is out to defy that absurdity. His character is the bildungsromane type more Francis. His character is much smarter, much more aware of his surroundings. But sadly, it is all he is focused on. As you see in the comic book scenes, he is the hero who is only concerned with bringing down the flaming skull, which is actually Sister Assumpta. Blessed Heart represents everything finds wrong with the world around him.Francis, too, may be disgusted with the hypocrisy of the Catholic teachings and Blessed Heart in general, but his disgust with the world and likewise his concern is Margie Flynn (Jena Malone), his first true love. Flynn is an utterly sad character in a film where you might just expect boyhood pranks on unsuspecting authority. Flynn is a young quiet girl who attempted to kill herself because she thought she was going crazy and hated herself for an incestial relationship she carried on with her brother. Francis, through his real actions and through his comic book hero image, tries to rescue the frail Margie Flynn. She is the girl he is forever in love with, and her frailty may in part be part of the oppression he sees (like Tim). They don't tell much about her parents or brother in the movie, but in the novel, they are divorced and Donnie Flynn is a real sadistic creep, at least towards Francis and the other boys. Margie Flynn is really a difficult character to endure, particularly for younger audiences, considering the circumstances. The story starts out like another 'Heaven Help Us' type (only more intellectual and much funnier) of Catholic School boys run amuck, but the introduction of Margie's character puts a weird spin about things. I'm not sure that they developed her character enough for this movie, although much of the focus within the Flynn-Doyle relationship was on Francis and not really Margie. Maybe if Emile Hirsch didn't always act so spaced out all the time, this aspect of the story might've been more effective. Meanwhile, when the four boys's comic book is confiscated by Sister Assumpta, the boys (Tim in particular) get the idea that they're going to get retaliation on Blessed Heart and, in particular, Sister Assumpta (amongst all other things that they think need revolting against in that William Blake revolutionary sense that Tim abides by) by releasing a panther (in the novel, it was just a bobcat) into the school. By doing so, they would be declared the local legends of danger. This is going to be their mark of importance. This is when each of the boys start questioning their loyalty to this unofficial pact of a crusade for danger. Francis and Tim (the closet of the four friends), too, start questioning just how far they're willing to go because, their idea of importance changes. For Tim, it's all or nothing. For Francis, he's second guessing just how easy (and necessary) such a prank would be and also, is meanwhile, wrapped up in his own little world with Margie Flynn.This is one of those coming-of-age films with young characters who have a heightened sense of self-awareness and such in the style of 'Stand by Me' and hell, even 'Fandango' and so forth. It's funny and it's sad. Overall, it's a pretty good movie worth catching. Live dangerously!
