Underplayed Gems

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys poster
Directed by
Peter Care
Genre
drama film, comedy drama, coming-of-age film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 44m
Rated
R
Rating
6.7 of 10 from 179 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

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How it feels

A group of Catholic schoolboys in the 1970s South pull pranks and create a comic book together. The story blends live action with animated fantasy sequences.

rebelliousmischievousbittersweetanimated interludenostalgicmelancholicyouthful energy

What happens

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys is a 2002 American comedy-drama film directed by Peter Care and written by Jeff Stockwell and Michael Petroni based on Chris Fuhrman's 1994 semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel of the same name. The film stars Emile Hirsch, Kieran Culkin, Jena Malone, Jodie Foster and Vincent D'Onofrio. The film is about a group of Catholic school friends in the Southern United States in the 1970s who engage in a series of pranks and general mischief. The boys also collaborate on a comic book they call The Atomic Trinity. Interspersed within the film are segments of animated footage based on the comic book. THINKFilm paid $1 million to acquire the film's North American distribution rights and went on to gross $1.8 million in limited theatrical release, making it a profitable acquisition for THINKFilm. Fuhrman died of cancer before completing the final revision of the novel. The film, dedicated to his memory, received positive reviews from critics. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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