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The Movie: One of a group of recent indie coming-of-age pictures ("Y Tu Mama Tambien", "Ghost World", among others), "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" went largely unseen earlier this year, despite fine reviews. As "Ghost World" was adapted from a cult graphic novel, "Altar Boys" was adapted from a cult novel, as well. While the films share basic similarities, "Altar Boys" doesn't exactly match the former's memorable dialogue, story and feel. The film revolves around Francis Doyle (Emile Hirsch) and Tim Sullivan (Kieran Culkin). The two are students at a Catholic boarding school in the 70's and generally spend their time drinking and looking for trouble. When not in class, the two - along with their friends - try and put together a comic book called the "Atomic Trinity", with a nun as the villian. In their reality, Sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster, who also produced) is their evil, trying to catch any troublemakers and handing out enough homework to keep minds away from such things as comics. Francis has his mind on Margie (Jena Malone), who may have a secret of her own. Looming over the entire story is the plan by the two boys to kidnap a cougar and put it in Assumpta's office. While "Altar Boys" starts off as another coming-of-age comedy where kids talk with foul language, get in trouble and try to anger their teacher, it starts gaining more layers and emotion as it goes along. The romance between Hirsch and Malone's characters is quite beautifully played, as the two have sweet, convincing chemistry. Malone also continues to be a remarkable performer offering terrific performances in movies hardly anyone sees. Her portrayal of a troubled girl with a secret is emotional, saddening and convincing. Culkin and Hirsch are also superb as the two friends. As for the adult stars - Jodie Foster and Vincent D'Onofrio, they have a few scenes and make a fair impression with what little time they're given. The other star of the film is Todd MacFarlane's animation work - the film presents animated sequences that show the alter-egos of the kids. Although it's a little odd to go from what looks like big-budget animation to low-budget filmmaking, the technique works. Still, there are a few things that don't work. The main fault that the film suffers from is the plan of the boys to take the cougar, which seems too unbelievable. Foster's character is never really explored in enough detail, given the presence of the character in as many scenes as she's in. Some of the middle stretch feels slow, while the ending feels a little rushed. Although it's forgivable and somewhat understandable to not offer all the answers, the film never quite gets into the minds of the characters and why they act the way they do, either. Still, the highlights of "Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" really do carry the film nicely and make for a memorable - if flawed - film. The DVD VIDEO: Columbia/Tristar has crafted one of their finer recent transfers for "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys". While not a particularly visual movie - not much camera movement, what seems to be simply available light - the transfer presents it all quite beautifully. Sharpness and detail are first-rate, with only a few minor instances of softness. The animated sequences look particularly well-defined and rich. Some problems did turn up along the way; a bit of very minimal edge enhancement occasionally turned up, as did a couple of specks on the print used. No pixelation was noticed, either. The film has a fairly low-key color palette outside the animated sequences, but colors looked nicely rendered across the board. SOUND: "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" is presented by Columbia/Tristar in Dolby Digital 5.1, although this really isn't the kind of presentation that makes for aggressive sound use. Although the surrounds are used lightly for some ambient sounds and slight effects, the front speakers more than adequately handled the film's audio. Dialogue and music remained crisp and clear, with no problems. MENUS: Animated main & sub-menus that are set-up like pages of a comic and use clips from the movie. EXTRAS: Columbia/Tristar serves up an unexpected boatload of supplements for "Altar Boys": commentary from director Peter Care and screenwriter Jeff Stockwell; animation audio commentary from animation director Todd McFarlane; a gallery of animation stills; production notes; bios; trailers for "Mystic Masseur", "Panic Room", "World Traveler" and "Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys; a trio of deleted scenes; Sundance Channel "Anatomy of a Scene" 30-minute "making of" documentary; a shorter 5-minute piece about the film; an additional 13 1/2 minutes of interviews and a pair of TV spots. Opening up the DVD on the computer revealed additional DVD-ROM material, including a press kit and web-links. Final Thoughts: A very good film with terrific performances, "Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" unfortunately gets sidetracked by some concerns with its plot. Still, a solid and offbeat film that I'd recommend as a rental. Columbia/Tristar's DVD provides very good audio/video quality, along with quite a few supplements. 
Film Grade The Film *** DVD Grades Video 90/A- Audio: 87/B Extras: 84/B Menus: 85/B |