At first I was confused but after a few minutes realized that This Boy’s Life isn’t A Bronx Tale even though they both came out in 1993 and co-star De Niro– for some reason I though DiCaprio, who is in today’s flick, also played De Niro’s son in the other but he doesn’t. Lillo Brancato was the actor in A Bronx Tale.
Simple plot here, set in the late ’50s: Single mom and her teen son move around a bunch looking for opportunity and wind up in Seattle where somehow she meets a car mechanic who lives in a tiny town several hours drive away. They date a bunch and he’s just so charming, nice to her friends, friendly to her son. Meanwhile the boy’s getting in trouble time after time.
Solution? Boy moves up to live with the mechanic, who has three teenage children of his own (though we never learn where the mother is or went), and get straightened out. If the trial goes well, the adults will marry. They do and, of course, the mechanic is not quite so nice and charming. To sum up: he keeps telling the boy that “I’ll either cure you or kill you.”
Given that this film is based on the autobiography (best seller, written years later) of the son, DiCaprio’s character, I can’t say the story isn’t realistic. But like so many movies based on true stories, it isn’t great either. De Niro is terrific, Barkin and DiCaprio aren’t bad and that’s the best I can say for it.
not recommended
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