Directed by Peter Care / Written by Jeff Stockwell / Based on the book by Chris Fuhrman
Starring Emile Hirsch, Kieran Culkin, Jena Malone, Vincent D'Onofrio and Jodie Foster
104 mins / Egg Pictures / Rated R
Retail: $27.96 / Street: $21

The Cover

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys is a coming of age story set in the deep south. A group of Catholic school teenagers struggle with love, religion and their places among each other. The boys struggle to create a comic book and their thoughts are represented in animated sequences scattered through the film. Despite these rather ingenious plot elements, the film really doesn't give us any reason to feel for these characters (perhaps for the exception of Jena Malone's complicated character.)

There's a vileness towards the church without a bit of love or explanation. The boys hate Sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster) for no other reason than that she's a nun. Like Dogma, it takes a sometimes critical look at the church, but it's done without a bit of explanation from both sides. We're expected to hate the church just because the characters in the film do.

The problem with Dangerous Lives, is the lack of focus on any one subject or pairing. Although Jena Malone and Emile Hirsch's characters struggle with teen romance, the movie often veers away to include a rather ludicrous plot to kidnap wildlife and place it in the school. The film would have benefited greatly from some concentration on what's most interesting in the film.

The cast is amazing but still can't save the material. Kieran Culkin was much better in the previously reviewed Igby Goes Down. Here, he's rather one dimensional and we really don't care what happens. Jena Malone, is a fantastic young actress who has been around for quite awhile. She brings complexity to the best written role in the film, but instead of the much more interesting story of her home life, we're required to sit through rather cliched events like the boys attempting to steal statues from the church and getting drunk. Featured perhaps less prominently are the adults. Vincent D'Onofrio and executive producer Jodie Foster are great as usual, but saddled with rather rote and predictable roles. The characters are so briefly drawn, that we have no emotional interest in them.

The animated sequences are a nice way for the film to express the inner lives of the characters. As created by Todd McFarlane and voiced by the cast, the characters are very reminiscent of the Batman cartoon series. They're definitely dark and they're at times better than the actual film they're included in.

The film was based on the book of the same name. I have the feeling it can only be better than this.

Movie Grade: C+

Video: 4 out of 5
The animation sequences appear to be digitally transferred, so they're nice and clear. The rest of the film has a nice golden glow as well. It has great cinematography that really comes through in the transfer.
Widescreen letterbox - 1.85:1

Nun in Suit! Nun in Suit!

Audio: 4 out of 5
The animation sequences have really strong, action oriented tracks. The rest of the film is dialogue heavy but contains some nice, subtle surround and good imaging.
English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)

Extras and Misc: 4 out of 5
The extras are nice, particularly the Sundance Anatomy of a Scene TV show. It's a fantastic show that cuts together better interviews than the actual disc itself.
o Commentary by director Peter Care and screenwriter Jeff Stockwell
o Commentary by animation producer Todd McFarlane (animation scenes)
o Production notes
o Theatrical trailer(s), TV spot(s)
o Anatomy of a scene courtesy of the Sundance Channel
o Featurette
o Deleted scenes
o Interviews with cast and filmmakers
o Animation illustrations

Overall: 3 out of 5
For the good extras and the interesting animation, I've given this disc an overall 3 out of 5. You should really rent the disc before you buy it. I found it to be a film that was too hard to fall in love with.

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