Stolen Summer

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Summer</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="501" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 147 WIDTH="495"><div> <IMG SRC="13c2668c0.jpg" border=0 width="102" height="140" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <B>DVD  <script language="JavaScript"> function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write("<a href=javascript:popUp('http://buybox.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=reelmoviecriticc&link_code=xsc&creative=23424&camp=2025&path=/dt/assoc/tg/aa/xml/assoc/-/B00006AFEP/reelmoviecriticc/ref=ac_bb1_,_amazon')><img src=http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/remote-buy-box/buy1.gif border=0 alt='Buy from Amazon.com' ></a>"); document.close(); </script> <noscript> <form method="POST" action="http://buybox.amazon.com/o/dt/assoc/handle-buy-box=B00006AFEP"> <input type="hidden" name="asin.B00006AFEP" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="tag-value" value="reelmoviecriticc"> <input type="hidden" name="tag_value" value="reelmoviecriticc"> <input type="image" name="submit.add-to-cart" value="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" alt="Buy from Amazon.com" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/add-to-cart.gif"> </form> </noscript>  </B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Stolen Summer </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Wingdings 2" ><B>êê</B></FONT><B>1/2 (Rating PG-13)</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By Brenda Sexton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> Too Sweet Summer </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="634" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Margaret O'Malley:  Bonnie Hunt</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Jeffrey Jacobson;  Howard Friedland</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Pete O'Malley:  Adiel Stein</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="358"><div> Rabbi Jacobson:  Kevin Pollak</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Joe O'Malley;  Aidan Quinn</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Kevin O'Malley:  Joseph Martinez-McWhorter</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Director:  Pete Jones</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="358"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="358" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>:  A tender story of an 8-year-old Catholic boy's quest.  He sets out to redeem himself with the nuns, and guarantee his place in heaven, by converting a Jewish boy to Christianity.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B>  In the opening scene of "Stolen Summer" Peggy O'Malley (Bonnie Hunt) is assembling her eight kids, piling them into the station wagon, and heading off to church.  As she quizzes the older one about his activities lately, she frequently turns around as she's driving to give him a slap, all the while beseeching her kids with pleas like,  "God gives you 168 hours a week.  Don't you think you can give him back one?"  Fireman Dad (Aidan Quinn), meanwhile, is back at home drinking his first beer of the day.  Thus is captured the essence of the typical Irish Catholic family of the 60's.</div> <bR> <div> Pete (Adiel Stein), the fifth out of these eight kids, is an almost too cute second grader, whom we first meet as he is being warned by his teacher, a nun, to clean up his act over the summer break if he ever wants to get into heaven.  Pete takes this message to heart and discusses his concern with one of his older brothers.  How can he redeem himself and earn a sure spot in heaven?  His brother tells him that over the ages, Catholics became saints by converting Jews to Christianity, and all saints certainly go to heaven.  Pete decides he will find a Jew and convert him to Christianity.  He starts by locating a temple a bike ride away from his home, introduces himself to the Rabbi and gives him the details of his quest.  The Rabbi couldn't be more supportive and graciously allows Pete to set up a stand at the entrance to the temple offering free lemonade and a ticket to heaven.  Amazingly, Pete doesn't get one taker-- even for the free lemonade.</div> <bR> <div> Pete's sympathetic brother bikes over to visit him at his lonely stand and their attention is captured by a fire engine racing by, blaring its siren.   A second later, the Rabbi rushes out of the temple, dives into his car and speeds away.  Pete and his brother jump onto their bikes and race after the fire engine and the Rabbi.  Turns out it's the Rabbi' house that is ablaze and it's Pete's father who is heroically saving the Rabbi's son trapped inside.  Unfortunately the boy's babysitter, an older woman and secretary to the Rabbi, is not rescued and dies in the blaze.  As soon as Joe O'Malley knows the Rabbi's son is safe he severely scolds his two boys for being at the scene of a fire "You run away from fire-you don't run to it!"   Clearly he rules his kids with an iron hand.</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile the Rabbi is eternally grateful to Pete's dad for his bravery. And Pete decides the Rabbi's son, Jeffery (Howard Friedland), should be his subject for conversion.  He stops by Jeffery's temporary home and convinces him that heaven's the place to go and that Pete can insure Jeffery's spot there, if Jeffery will complete a series of tests, a decathlon in fact.  </div> <bR> <div> Jeffery easily agrees to this arrangement and the boys are off to the beach.   Jeffery  succeeds at all of the challenges, except for the final test-a swim out to a buoy and back in the rough waters of Lake Michigan.  After several failed attempts, Pete does the swim and counts his strokes for Jeffery to show him it can be done.  "51 strokes out, 55 strokes back," Pete tells him. They're good pals, and Pete is earnest in wanting Jeffery to succeed.</div> <bR> <div>  In the meantime we learn that Jeffery suffers from leukemia and his state of remission has reversed.  Back at the O'Malley home, Joe has gotten wind of Pete's quest and orders him to stay away from the Rabbi's son.  Additionally, the Rabbi stops by and offers Joe's oldest son, a high school senior who dreams of going to college to become a doctor, a scholarship to college.  The boy is momentarily overwhelmed by joy until his father aggressively and arrogantly rejects the Rabbi's offer, accusing him of creating an insulting publicity stunt..   Joe's wife Peggy sits quietly by as her son beseeches her to save this opportunity for him.</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile, Jeffery is determined to complete the final challenge of his decathlon to heaven.  Without Pete by his side he returns to the beach and determinedly enters the dark ominous waters of Lake Michigan, finally completing this last segment of his decathlon.  Then it's back to the hospital to see if his life can be saved.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>:  The performances of the major adult figures in this film are outstanding.  Bonnie Hunt gives a fantastic performance as the practical, overburdened yet sensitive Mom.  Aidan Quinn, her bigoted, blue-collar, close-minded husband makes a perfect match.  Additionally, the wise and gentle Rabbi, Kevin Pollak, is exceptional.  These adults truly captures an era and society of middle-class, and the blue-collar Irish Catholics that probably still exists today, though seemed to be at their heyday in the 60's.</div> <bR> <div> Pete and Jeffery's characters are less convincing.  First, Pete is so adorable and good-hearted that it's unfathomable that he is a major mischief-maker in his second grade class.  With Jeffery's character, we never really feel his desperation to hold onto life, that this quest is of critical importance to him because his life may be cut short by his disease.  Actually, we're not sure that is even the basis for Jeffery's dedication to Pete's mission, it could be that he has no friends and believes completing this challenge will insure him of Pete's friendship.  It's also never clear whether he's actually converting to Christianity though he does begin to bless himself at the dinner table while his Jewish mother is absolutely aghast.  Ultimately these gaps leave us less emotionally invested in his character.  I also found the dynamics between Pete and Jeffery simply too cute at times, making me wonder who the actual target audience is for this film.  The cute aspects would appeal more to children while the conflicts of bigotry and close-mindedness, the central essence of the film, would not.</div> <bR> <div> Though centered around religion, don't expect much of it in this film.  There is, for example, no comparison between the Catholic and Jewish religions, no explanation of their differences, though that is supposedly the core of the relationship between the boys.</div> <bR> <div> Being prepped by the intensity of the "Project Greenlight" HBO series creates some pressure and perhaps some prejudice in critiquing this movie.  For twelve painful weeks we have witnessed the infighting and confusion Pete Jones is subjected to in making his directorial debut movie.  It's reminds me of that expression, "That's more than I needed to know."  The HBO series doesn't spoil the movie for me; in fact it made me want to judge it more gently, having developed my sympathies towards Pete Jones' efforts.  Unfortunately, even though I was routing for it, the movie simply didn't hold up for me.  I cherish the scenes with Bonnie Hunt and Aidan Quinn, but suffered through most of them with the kids.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Rating PG-13 (some language)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Brenda D. Sexton © 2002</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Brenda@reelmoviecritic.com</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Bonnie Hunt:  <I><B>Return to Me</B></I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Kevin Pollak: <I><B>The Whole Nine Yards</B></I></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Aidan Quinn:  <I><B>Songcatcher</B></I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="286" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Pete Jones: Debut</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="286" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>