THIS BOY’S LIFE (1993)

SHORT REVIEW: I was so bored, I forgot that I was supposed to be impressed. This is a passable film about a boy who follows his mother into an abusive world led by a taskmaster stepfather played by Robert De Niro. Lenny DiCaprio plays the boy Toby, in a role that established him as a natural talent. For such a strong cast and an interesting story idea, there is little to see in the final product. The film slowly lumbers along from scene to scene as you await the inevitable climax between Lenny and De Niro. To be fair, as far as movies with abusive fathers go this is actually pretty good. The abusive dad is shown to be a real guy and one can understand how people outside of his home would like the man. Allowing the character to be human instead of some crazed monster makes the movie more believable. Overall this is a forgettable film because it just doesn’t have anything profound to say. It actually doesn’t have much to say at all, now that I think of it. You get some good performances and a chance to see some name brand actors at the start of their careers (Lenny, Chris Cooper and Toby McGuire.) Other than that, there’s no real reason to spend the time with this film. You only have so much time in this life, why waste it with mediocre cinema? Categories: film, movie, review, Leonard DiCaprio, Robert De Niro