Antwone Fisher (Derek Luke) is in his mid-twenties and has joined the Navy because he is homeless. Fisher is on the verge of being thrown out the military because of his aggressive behavior. He was born in a correctional institution a few months after his father was murdered, and his mother abandoned him to the foster care system. At the foster home of Mrs. Tate (Novella Nelson), a supposedly, sanctified, religious woman, he was physically abused with beatings for doing normal things all kids do. Nadine (Yolonda Ross), who cared for Antwone when Mrs. Tate went to social services with her other foster kids, sexually molested him when he was just six years old. Small wonder that Antwone is still technically a virgin at the age of 25, who reacts violently to his shipmates when he is teased about his home life or relationships with women.

One of his fights lands him in the care of Dr. Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington) for psychiatric evaluation. He only gets three sessions before Davenport makes his recommendation, which could be expulsion from the service. Antwone clams up at first until he realizes that he can use the help of the good doctor. When Davenport is at home with his wife Berta (Salli Richardson), it's clear that something is going on, or more to the point, nothing is going on between them. The cure they need is one that Fisher does not need. In spite of his upbringing, he does know what love is and how to love.

Antwone and Davenport become friends as the sessions continue and when Antwone comes to Davenport's house for therapy, he charms Berta so quickly that he gets an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner. Meanwhile, there is a budding romantic relationship between Antwone and Naval clerk Cheryl Smolley (Joy Bryant). One of the differences between them is that she has a home and family to travel to for the holiday and he would have nowhere to go, if not for the Davenports. Antwone has never been around a loving, supportive family on Thanksgiving day, and when he starts getting razzed about missing the cooking of a mother he never had, he controls himself well enough to get up and leave the table without verbally or physically lashing out at Berta's father.

Eventually, Davenport suggests that Antwone will only clear his mind and get on with his life if he searches out his biological family. With the help of Cheryl, who takes emergency leave to accompany him from San Diego to Cleveland, Antwone finds his mother and extended family.

One could say that certain events in the story are predictable. But the film is based upon a true story, and the books "Finding Fish: A Memoir" and "Who Will Cry for the Little Boy: Poems," written by Antwone Fisher, the screenwriter. If this is the way it happened, we feel it's best the story is told as close to reality as possible. This feel good film, Denzel's directorial debut, has a number of what we call "great movie moments." One is a love scene with Antwone and Cheryl, where both are fully clothed. The events leading to the moment when he says, "I've never done this before" evoke memories of the most tender and important moments in your life. Later, when Antwone is reunited with his mother and he tells her things and asks questions, he is on par with the best performances of actors such as Denzel, Russell Crowe and Robert De Niro. Luke and Viola Davis, as his mother Eva, create the most powerful scene in a movie George has seen this year. If it doesn't move you, you're already dead. Derek Luke's performance should merit an Oscar nomination, even though this is his debut on the big screen.

Denzel Washington is being mentioned as a nominee for Best Director, though it will not be for technical wizardry such as you can see in the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings films, or the soon to be released The Pianist. What Washington has done is to capture family drama from the ugliest of moments to the very best ones. Mrs. Tate and Nadine are people in the community that any ethnic group would like to disown and pretend they never existed.

People like Cheryl, who is a supportive woman and every man's dream, and the relatives of down and out Eva, who open their arms to Antwone, would be too good to be true were it not balanced by the negative events in the film. Sometimes that balance is lost in films when you are trying to get real (e.g. Barbershop).

This is a very good film but not a great one. It's a spiritually uplifting film that is the best of the year in the real-life, feel good category. For George, the film should have been 30-45 minutes longer. The story of Jerome & Berta was underdeveloped. In Cleveland, Antwone's extended family came together a touch too quickly. However, in the age where the kiss of death on most movies is to make it longer than two hours, these deficiencies are understandable. Sometimes imperfection is perfect.

Yolanda Ross: Stranger Inside	Joy Bryant: Showtime
Denzel Washington: Training Day	Viola Davis: Solaris, Far From Heaven