Oh dear.
I could tell that I was in for a rough trip after the first 10 minutes of this film. After about 5 minutes in, I was thinking - OK, this could be interesting, happy family, (obviously) troubled teen, drama ensues? After another 5 minutes I realised that this was going to be a chore to watch. Unfortunately I’m not very receptive to American drama - especially when I can’t identify with the characters. Maybe this has something to do with being Australian, and our hatred of Psychotherapy.. or something - I’m not sure. So back to the 10 minute mark. Here we tragedy - something terrible happens and I find myself wondering if I have enough socks for the work week, rather than being involved on the horrible scene displayed on the box. This is because it wasn’t horrible, well at least not in the sense that was intended. It was horrible because of the appauling over acting - the horribly cliche’d slow motion and ‘moving’ music. Scenes like this may be able to manipulate some hyper sensitive Oprah fans; but not me.
OK, I’ve had my whinge. The story that the film told had the potential to be quite thrilling and maybe even disturbing. There are a number of themes that the film attempts to convey. There is childhood abuse, teenage suicide, grief, family breakdown and more. There is no lack of movies on these subjects. Subjects like these however, are due some amount of respect and if the viewer is expected to empathise with the characters - we need to feel like we are being given a message. This film did not make me feel that way. While there are genuinely shocking moments in this film, they seem to lack any kind of substance. It seems that the creators decided to find a bunch of topics they thought would challenge a viewer - purely as devices for the manipulation of the emotions of someone watching. Maybe the original intent was to get a message across - but if this ever existed it was well and truly lost in the direction.
I will give the writers credit for addressing subjects that are as taboo as these. I just didn’t think they pulled it off. A film that did this successfully should challenge you as a viewer and leave you thinking when it’s finished. At least it wasn’t consistently cheesy. At times I felt as though it had turned around and was beginning to become something genuine. The ending was predictable and disappointing.
Overall I felt this movie had real potential. I have to admit that Andy Garcia wasn’t too good and I think this is what got me through. Vincent Karthesier was as annoying in this as he was on Angel. Unfortunately it was just that little bit too predictable to have merit as a challenging drama.

THE EXTRAS

No extras other than the usual scene selection, as this is the Rental version.

CONCLUSION

Andy Garcia plays Michael Hunter, a Psychologist who loses his son to suicide. Some years later his relationship with his family has completely broken down and his career is at a standstill. An ex-student introduces him to a troubled young boy, Thomas Kaffey (played by Vincent Kartheiser) as she thinks that Michael is the only one who can help him. Michael tries to discover what happened in his past to cause his bleak outlook on life. He becomes personally involved as paralells to his own son’s shocking past become apparent in Thomas.